Air-Conditioning Invented In 3100 BCE? Windcatchers Yazd
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Could a 3000 year old invention be keeping us cool in modern times?
The answer to that is yes, ancient technology could play a huge role in our modern lives if the Researchers, Engineers and Architects figure out a way to make this doable in all locations.
Of course we have to take microclimatic conditions into account and it does rely on local weather, but it could possibly be that Wind Catchers may be the air conditioning of the future.
The ancient Wind catchers of Yazd, a city in Iran with some unique Persian Architecture.
The nickname of the city of Yazd is “the City of Wind Catchers”, but it’s also well known for its underground channels transporting water called Qanats, it’s ice houses known as Yakhchãls and its traditional reservoirs storing water known as ab anbars.
These are features that made the inhabitants of this city survive the hot desert climate, on a yearly basis there are only 23 days of precipitation with a total of 49 millimetres making this the driest major city in the entirety of Iran.
In 2017 UNESCO put the historical city of Yazd on the world heritage site list, and quite a large part of that decision was because of the wind catchers, this city might have the largest number of wind catchers in the world.
The invention of the Wind Catchers may have occurred in Ancient Egypt around 3100 BCE during the Early Dynastic Period, but Yazd is the city with possibly the most wind catchers in the world as they were one of the biggest reasons this part of the Iranian Plateau became inhabitable.
It’s a shame that many of the city’s wind catchers have fallen out of use over time, but the city did draw scholars, engineers and architects to it to possibly aid in our modern dilemma of Air-conditioning use and how that is affecting the climate.
Because wind catchers don’t need electricity to function they could be incredibly important in areas where the electrical grid is unreliable and expensive.
It would make air-conditioning available in places where there isn’t even electricity.
The shape of the tower, the layout of the house, how many openings the tower has, the internal blades and sections, the height and the direction in which the tower is facing are all specifically adjusted to improve the wind catcher’s ability to draw the wind down into the rooms of the building.
Some buildings have a subterranean pool where the air flows over for further cooling, which I personally think is a smart option if you have the room for it.
A wind catcher is never by itself, but always accompanied by at least one other wind tower on the same building.
The Wind catcher catches the wind, which is then funnelled down and will flow throughout the building, the cool air will flow underneath the warm air, and the pressure will push the warm air upwards which then rises and flows throughout another wind tower which in turn releases the warmed up air.
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In NY state, there is a place called Howes Caverns...the owner built the hotel over a natural vent in the 1800s so the cool air exiting the caverns could cool the main dining room in his hotel...recognized as the first air conditioning in the US.
Does it have radon
@@AgentOffice reminded of mother’s bush tysm
I visited that place a long time ago!
Epic
I have been there!! I grew up in upstate NY.
As an Iranian who studied these architectures in his Bachelor's, I enjoyed your video and its technical accuracy. Thank you.
Thanks!
What was the name of your degree course exactly?
@@anneeq008 Conservation and restoration of historic buildings. It starts with basic architecture courses but diverges into ancient ways of making buildings and how we can protect them now.
As a high school dropout, with an IQ of 72, I agree in the technical accuracy of this video as well.
Dio brando house ?
I live here in the middle east and have stood on both ends of the wind catchers or what they refer to as barajeels. It's a much more strange phenomenon than simply catching the wind because when you're at the top of the barajeel, there is a massive heat gust that hits you which is hotter than the ambient temperatures. At the bottom, you'd swear there's some type of air conditioning because the air blows with great force through a slot as long as there's open ventilation at the bottom. I've also been inside the cooling tower as well (I'm electrical engineer and design building controllers and access to the electric trunking is often times put in the towers) So what I think is happening is as the air descends downward, it begins to cool and separate from the hot air which begins to rise. The higher the tower, the faster the air falls to the open lower pressure at the base where the slot opening is. It is this constant separation between the hot and cool air that keeps the flow of air moving. Because often times there is no wind at all in the desert but when you're at the slot opening, the gust of air is constant anyway. IT actually feels like you're standing in front of a strong air conditioner with cold air blowing on your face and the flow of air is really amazingly strong.
Hello Anthony,
For this design to work does the lower floors of the house need to be sealed from the outside? I think that must be necessary otherwise the Bernoulli effect of wind blowing through the barajeels would draw air out from the tower and no air would circulate down to the living areas. It seems to me one would have ventilation coming in from the lower floors, but that is confusing me.
Where am I missing the working concept of these designs?
Thanks!
@@Snarge22 From where I was standing below the barajeels was an opening behind me that lead to the parking garage. As I entered into the hallway, there was a vent slit about 100mm wide and about 1.2M length which was below the barajeel but about ceiling height 3M and the force of the air was really astounding. I couldn't explain the effect of where this airflow was coming from. I asked one of the clients (engineer) if there was a fan from up above forcing this air down and he said no there wasn't. So I had the opportunity to go inside this ventshaft to work in the electric panel. I entered from the topside and lowered myself down. While at the top, the air flowing up was very hot but as I descended, the air became cooler and cooler until I reached close to the bottom (20M) where it felt like the air was actually being chilled.
Well knowing physics and trying to conclude why this phenomenon was occuring, I reconciled the air must be splitting away from hot / cold air where colder air fell and hot air rose. The slit at the bottom was where the heavy air (cold) came through to the lower pressure area. This is as best as I can explain it.
I wonder if with modern development, we could harness both the cold and hot winds.
@@magnusm4 I think they could. As the hot air rises, it could have the force to turn a generator and the cool air could act as a free air conditioning system. This same effect happens in mine shafts as well as early stories say the shaft air ports often times had forced wind come in making the mines very cold.
Thank you so much for this first person perspective on what the experience of these barajeels is like. It's one thing to see them online and hear the theory, but another to actually experience them.
I am continually amazed and humbled by the ingenuity of the ancients. Wind catchers. Light wells. Running water. All built to last ages.
Italy still uses Roman aqueducts.
@@nbenefiel Ancient Roman concrete is still standing while Western concrete requires continuous repairs. The interaction between volcanic ash and sea water is believed to be the reason why that concrete will even cure under water. How did they figure this out? Amazing.
They were just as smart as we are. Some think maybe smarter because if you weren't very bright, you probably didn't live very long.
@@jeffk464That's a great point.
Alien Tech for sure 😆
Wind-catcher is just a small part of entire sum of the ancient air conditioning system. You could take time to study the architecture of colonial buildings here in Southeast Asia. Since we have very low wind speed and variable wind direction, our construction mainly use air wells and positioning of gallery/balcony with overhanging roof that keeps sunlight from touching the walls. Additionally the type and thickness of the wall also important. Thicker walls give a bigger heat-sink and the type that somewhat permeable allows it to "breathe" keeping the air cool from convection of air evaporation. We allow airspace above the roof with ventilation to promote airflow and every window have some kind of holes above it to promote airflow. Some old building like my grandfather's house have ceiling as high as 15 feet and airspace between rooms alike that of office cubicle.
In my line of work this is the main problem of building construction here in Malaysia. We are now too dependent of air-conditioning and love of "modern" building design which is utterly impractical. Use of concrete ibs that is full concrete prevents water evaporation, no overhanging roof, none or impractical air wells, no air holes above the windows. I took practical students and showed them the danger of such housing. No stability of humidity level makes the room either too dry or too damp which the latter is much dangerous since it may lead to deadly spore infection of our lungs...especially the black ones that grows on damp spot. Shut the electricity and within the hour the house is no longer habitable in daytime...while at night it is too stuffy and hot without electrical ventilation.
And I haven't start on the wildlife subject. Not sure about the middle east, but here in the tropics bad design may proof fatal. You could get cobra coming out of your toilet bowl, or rats infestations, or bird nests, monkeys hanging around, venomous insects and even bees making hives if the design accidentally makes it convenient for them to make it their home.
Nice info. I lived in Malaysia for 8 years and SE Asia for over 20. I spend a lot of time in Cambodia these days. Of all places that really need to rethink building practices, I'd say this ranks toward the top. I'd love to hear more of your thoughts about this. Is there a way I can contact you?
Hello fellow Malaysian! Yes, someone gets me! I rant about this issue and talk shit about developers all the time because of the problems you mentioned. I can't stand modern houses because our weather will never be suitable for it. I dream about kampung houses often especially when the weather gets too hot.
Thanks for the information!
@@MrArthoz nice info, we have same problem here in Indonesia maybe more, like natural disasters that happened frequently, earthquake, volcanic eruption, etc. But it's beautiful place to live, can't blame the nature.
As a fellow Malaysian I have learnt valueble lessons from your comment. I agree, the developers here have been getting greedy these past 10 years which resulted in highly inflated housing prices. Even home buyers these days are brainwashed by fake advertising from developers.
My house was built 121 years ago, and it uses passive cooling. It is not as high tech as the Persians, but it helps. If it is 40¯C in the day, I open the windows upstairs and downstairs at night. The hot air is lighter, and draws the cool air in, cooling the thick brick walls, Close the windows in the day, and it is below 33¯C. I have not used A/C in years, even though summer is hot here.
That's so cool, same principle bit slightly different execution and still positive results 🤗
@@HistoryWithKayleigh you said in the video the country your in doesn't have much ac? Where are you? I'm a new sub and don't know much about your channel yet
I'm from the Netherlands, am very Dutch. You can look at my about section here to have a laugh and to get to know me a bit 🤗
They found floor heating in an old house in sweden.. Something archeologists found.. Don't remember how old the house was sense i learned it in 3e grade or something.. Nothing new under the sun/moon
My house is 1818 in NY. The east wing is a large sun room used to trap the morning sun. Works very well.
During summer opening the windows causes a cross breeze that keeps the house very cool.
Old time people sure knew what they were doing.
This is why I love old architecture! A mix of beauty, ingenuity, and practicality!
Fascinating! I'm having a ball going through some of your older content that's all new to me here in 2023! Thank you.
I had an old friend that was eccentric. He lived in a monolithic dome home made of fiberglass. He made his air conditioning from a 6” pvc pipe buried, to and under a running creek, exiting the other side. The distance was about 50 yards. He pulled the cooler air out with a small oscillating fan.
I would say he was very creative.
"earth ships" are doing the free geothermal air conditioning today... it's not very difficult or complex
*I HAVE JUST DISCOVERED* that the soviet era apartment block I live in has this system...
There have always been two vents that blow a very strong cold wind, I assumed it was coming UP by convection from the ground floor. But a quick test with a piece of paper shows it in fact coming DOWN from the top of the building. This explains the odd slightly funnel-shaped structures on the top of the building AND the greats in the floor outside that also blow cold air even on hot days... They are the "overflow" vents in case people have the doors closed to stop the system from pressurising...
WOW - I would never have known but for your video.
rly? in my country only Stalin Era apartaments have it, newer, built after 1955 don't have it
I live on the plains of west Texas. Where I live, the wind blows for most months out of the year. There are weeks where the wind never gets below 20 mph. We also experience haboobs a few times a year. A windy day here consist of sustained 40+ mph winds. We have one of the best wind research facilities in the world. Yet it baffles be that we have yet to implement technology like this. We still don't use wind turbines out side commercial use. The sun shine a majority of the year, and solar is barley making a a foothold in town. It doesn't help that the electric company makes customers jump through hoops to install solar. This is wonderful tech. I wish more people knew about it.
Florida Electric Co make it difficult as well. It doesn't help that our State legislators side with "Big Electric" and not the consumers!
For some reason, this really peaked my interest in building and structural engineering.
These designs are way eco-friendly, practical and sustainable. Not to mention they look aesthetically pleasing too.
"earth ships" are doing the free geothermal air conditioning today... it's not very difficult or complex
i can no longer find it, but there was a video of a man who was studying ancient Indian (India) technology. He showed how they were able to make ice, on a 90 degree f day. It was pretty simple, and he demonstrated with a bowl of water, taking it from warm to almost 32 f in mere moments. He even had ice forming on the surface of the water
In °C it's what ?
@@lonnpton5239 32.2
@@jonathanwessner3456 thanks
@@lonnpton5239 32F is zero C
Hi Kayleigh, it was very nice that you got interested in this subject. I am an architect and I had studied for my thesis, the great civilizations, Mediterranean Middle East, and in particular, qanats and air conditioning. As part of an economic development program in the 2000s, I presented various proposals for water retention, air conditioning, etc., in the Kirkuk region in Iraq. I had success, unfortunately the war arrived, and the project was not carried out. All architects should be interested in these different typologies of architecture around the world and adapt it according to the place. A big thank you for your presentation, I hope that many decision-makers will become aware of these construction techniques, it would do the greatest good for our small planet! Well done for your work, bacci.
I used to study architecture, i loved it 🤗
@Armando, you work sounds interesting. Do you mind recommending reading materials for non-engineers.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge Armando!
Great work, older mansions in the US, used this Air Conditioning method. And you explained how it works!
They have an evaporative cooling tower at the Grand Teton national park visitor center. It was pretty impressive to feel the cool air coming out of it during a summer visit
18th century churches have open steeples that also act as wind catchers - but only if the person ringing the bell remembers to leave the door open until the end of worship.
I didn't know 🙂
Black magic! The Devil's work!!
(Sorry, just getting sick of America's taliban morons)
The wind catchers was not the sole methode to reduce the high temperature in old times. When you go to former Asyria and watch the ruins of their kings' palaces, you will notice their own method of keeping their residetial zone in moderate temperature. Their palaces were built very massive , with very thick walls , made of the mud bricks and covered from inside with the decorated slabs of alabaster. Due to thick walls the interior was holding the temeperature average between day and night and much lower, than temperature outside during the day time. When you go to LIbya, and visit Gadamesh (oasis 600 kilometer in the desert- where during the Roman times the Third Legion was located) ) - you will see, that locals have built all the old city as the one single building- 2-3 floors, the streets as the tunnels with the vertical shaft to the top- after each several meters -above the "street"-to assure some light there. The difference of the temperature inside vs outside is shocking. The peoples dressed for outside, can get cold after some time of visiting the place even in the summer.
Stary
Besides thick walls and high cellings, the best method is evaporative. Most modern windows can be opened at the top, and bottom, as the hot air rises out the top, it draws cooler air in the lower open window. Add a frame 3 to 6 inches (90 to 180 cm) outside the window, stretch an old hemp potatoe sack on the frame, have the bottom of the sack in a bucket of water. The air movement evaporates the water cooling the ingoing air, cooling the room.
@@andefina5676 The method you describe is called evaporative; it works in areas where humidity is very, very low. Desert-dry!
my apartment is in a 19th century building with thick sand stone walls of up to 70cm - and one part has almost 4m high sealing. Only... it has huge windows. Looks great but costs me a lot of heating in winter and the thermal mass works good but the huge windows heating it up in the summer. ^^ in Europe.
@@andefina5676 did I miss something or did you just mixed up cm and mm ;) 91.5 to 183cm is 3 to 6 foot but 3 to 6 inches would be roughly 7.5 cm ro 15 cm ^^ or am I just confused about the "()"
@@bobboscarato1313 I always try to convince my colleagues not to use those cheap 'cooling' devices because those will yes cool them but increase the humidity and it's already high in the summer here plus we do not have much AC ;) open the windows in the morning, keep the blinds down? when the sun goes up and hoping the thermal mass will get us over the two to three hot days in a row... ok that was 5-10y ago, now that method does not work anymore, excluding this and the last year the 5y before were in the top 8 of the hottest summers this 18xx here :( global warming is no joke
My late grandfather's house had a 'windcatcher', as it's part of my country's traditional architecture. It cooled the house by about ~15C less than outside air. But one thing to note, the entire house design is completely different, the "backyard" is actually in the center of the home, with the building and its' rooms surrounding it, kinda like a big empty square with multiple storeys around it, there are a LOT of rooms that are all square or rectangular in shape. There are also wall openings in each room, 1 to let cool air in and 1 to let hot air out, creating a constant straight flow through the house. These had flaps that can be closed in cooler months. I do know the yard design has a lot to do with privacy, but I imagine the air flow control influenced it as well. Also the very thick walls that others have mentioned, ours were actually built out of crushed seashells and lime, it makes for very rough but very stable and cool to the touch walls. It's great for anybody living in hot desert climates, though in modern times with all the excessive amount of city pollution its very difficult to filter that out. I'm sure modern architects can come up with modern solutions for that though.
It cooled it by 15C??? So if it was 90F outside, you claim inside it would be 31F? That's a bold claim...
@@billymacktexasdetective5827 Your conversion is wrong. 90F is roughly 32C, and 31F is a touch below 0C.
In another conversion (roughly) ....
100F = 38C
74F = 23C
There's your 15C difference.
@@kmf65 Thanks for the math help. I'm still not buying a 26F degree drop from outside temp...
@@billymacktexasdetective5827why not?
@@diomedes39 In order to cool a space, heat must be removed and rejected elsewhere. What is the source of cooler air that will allow for the transfer of heat from the space to outside? The wind that is at air temperature?
So say it's 95F outside, how is a 95F wind able to cool the inside of the house to 68F???
95F = 35C
A 15C drop is 20C, which is 68F.
If the outside air is 80F...
80F = 26.6C
A 15C drop is 11.6C, which is 52F
Do you buy a 80F wind cooling a house to 52F?
Sorry, I don't, and you shouldn't either...
as an Iranian ,I'm proud of our fathers heritage and thank you for your accurate information,
as an iranian im proud of our mothers heritage
@@0cthm0 🙄
Very interesting - timely reminder that you can do a lot without electricity!
Once I drove from Nasiriyah to Baghdad in a car without air-condition in 50 degree C. I got myself a Keffiyeh (men´s headscarf), got it wet and took off with an open window. The cooling due to the water evaporation was so efficiently that my ears got numb and felt ice cold.
Great video!
Sounds very refreshing haha, thank you 🤗
I daily drive a car without A/C, I wish I had known this before our summer months ended lol
She’s Always thorough when it comes to these topics
Thank you 🥰
In areas that have 4 seasons and low water tables, using an underground air system is viable.
Ground temp at 6-10 foot depths stay nearly constant around 55F. Using a simple solar powered fan and ductwork/tubes an air circulation system can be utilized year round to prevent freezing in winter and heat stroke in summers.
Fine tuning may be needed depending on your region. Such as condensation catches in hot humid areas, pollen filters in higher allergen areas, etc but it is quite basic. Intake tube at least 2 foot above ground to at least 6 foot strait down. Elbow connect horizontal tubing at same depths for at least 20 foot to insure heating/cooling of the air finally elbow connect back to surface levels under or in your building. The smallest of fan will draw the air or even a high window opening would start circulation. Saw it on an off grid home builders show and have wanted one ever since. If you have ever had your water pipes freeze in the same year as it felt like 120F with the humidity you might also want one..lol.
"earth ships" are doing the free geothermal air conditioning today without the use of fans... it's not very difficult or complex
This reminds me a great deal of the passive solar heating and Earth cooling principles in earthship construction. Basically, sun facing glazing which is angled enough to minimize solar gain in hot seasons, and maximize it in the cold, while large pipes run under the backside of the bermed house, away from the sun. These pipes are deep enough to cool air that passes through them. The sun heats the front of the house the most, and when the pipes are opened in combination with front windows/skylights, convection draws cool air through this house.
this is it... I've never felt how cold they get, but I've watched the videos about "earth ships" and the free geothermal cooling they use, and it seems very simple, easy, and not very complicated...
@@VenturaIT well of course it's complicated, for one, cooling air dehumidifies it, meaning moisture in the pipes, meaning you need to take steps to avoid mold. That's only one thing, too. Making these windcatchers was surely very complex, too.
@@crimsonguy8696I've thought of that too, but they build these geothermal air conditioners in current times frequently in some of the hottest deserts in Arizona for example... you could ask them how they deal with mold, I've seen them put in screens for the mice and animals... they use large pipes.... does mold need more heat to grow than 55F? Even dealing with mold it's not complex as done successfully in the "earth ships."
@@VenturaIT Yeah, not saying it's impossible, and the solutions are already thought through, tested in certain environments too. Was just saying it wasn't as simple as putting pipes in the dirt.
I thought this architecture was just for decoration. Incredibly interesting.
All of my Assassin's Creed 1 questions have been answered now
Interesting and definitely one of many ancient technologies we should try to incorporate in modern buildings to help cut down energy usage/ cost in hot/ dry climates.
Agreed 🤗
We can learn so much from the ancient world 🥰
My heatpump pulls the air from the crawlspace underneath my house. More efficient and no mold under my house.
@@CHMichael THAT is a GREAT idea!
Honestly your videos are way more interesting than even history channel stuff, which I love too. Idk how you do this.
Thank you Taylor!
In all deserts, it gets cold at night. Building a giant tomb to keep the cold air of the night is impressive in scope. Besides the fact that most deserts are on cemented sea beds or bed rock making it very difficult to dig into. This isnt really refrigeration though they arent making any cold. They are just saving cold.
How interesting. I live in the desert SW, in the U.S. We use evaporative cooling here. It's very effective with low humidity, but above 20% they don't work well at all. Thanks for posting this!
That's so cool, i liked looking into this 🤗
Yes they only work in desert regions of the US for sure. In New England we are seeing increased humidity and temps. So here we need to dehumidify more than cool still. But AC are becoming a necessity. Dehumidification, shade, and air movement can be achieved more efficiently than a stand alone AC, but heat pumps can now do both heat and AC and are solving for oil/gas cost
I also live in same area, but I used to live in hot high humidity and we used evaporation cooling. It still works.
Imagine a neighborhood or town full of houses with wind catchers and solar collection panels...that would be so nice. It seems like it would be expensive to build, at first, but after the techniques became commonplace and refined, perhaps less-so. Get on this, architects!
They're working on it 🥰
Just no. Really
It would just depend on material needed to insure breathing. Like for example concrete wouldnt be good for it. Lighter more porous material would be better.
This tech would be amazingly useful in the Western US which is primarily desert. California for example would benefit greatly with this technology, as it would help greatly reduce the need of A/C units. Tinkering with it to apply without needing to much water would have to be considered however, and of course resistance to earthquakes.
With the current energy issues and the heat issues maybe it's time someone brings this up to the desert States.
@@HistoryWithKayleigh And no mention of how to dispose of the TOXIC waste of making solar panels, ( not to mention lithium batteries) or how to safely dispose of them once they fail. At least oil has a microbial organism that breaks it down.
@@Quetzalcoatl_Feathered_Serpent if you dont live here, dont tell me how to. And if water is to be used as a cooling medium, where will it come from? The effing morons in sucramento are going to destroy the dams and hydroelectric plants, not to mention millions of gallons of water dumped into the ocean because of a NON NATIVE stoopid minnow.
Since I first got into greenhouses, I have firmly believed the technologies behind this video (and the ice house). Now, 30 years later, I finally have the time and resources to do some of them and just at that time, I find you with the histories that were missing from my limited knowledge. I'm going to enjoy this ride! Thanks for the videos!
"earth ships" are doing the free geothermal air conditioning today... it's not very difficult or complex
This is a great example of how the ancients did things better than ourselves today. The mysticism is the understanding of enviornment, practicality, engineering, sustainable materials, and local agriculture. I wish we would create more structures and technology with environment and sustainability in mind.
Evaporative cooling. Great for dry regions, wont work in regions with high humidity. Houses were once built with double hung sashes. You raise the lower about half way, lower the top window half way. Cool air came in through the bottom forcing hot air though the top opened window.
Interesting and timely. I have land in the Chihuahuan Desert region of Texas and am in the process of designing an off-grid cabin for my semi-permanent residence out there. I'll look into making a form of this to help keep the place cool. Thanks for posting this!
That's really cool!! Good luck and i hope you manage to pull it off 🤗
God knows it’s needed and then again it’s dry enough for it in west Texas.
Agreed 🤗
If you're going off grid may I suggest solar powered attic fans, they may work great as a supplemental or even standalone ventilation system.
look into "earth ships" and how they use free geothermal cooling, it's the same principle... the sun heats part of the building and starts a convection circuit and draws the air up and out and the cool air comes in from below where it is a constant 55F... then you just have to play with how much volume to cool your entire interior and then maybe think about mold and bugs and mice...
I am starting to like some of these videos especially ancient architecture designs as that is something of hobby for me. A great example and probably in opinion one of the best ancient wind capture and cooling systems of the ancient world is the HAWA MAJAL of JAIPUR - it not only captures the wind to cool but has different size windows that affect the wind speed to speed up and slow down the wind which even during the hottest days can be kept cool inside there can be a difference of like 20 degrees difference from the outside its amazing to see and feel if you can go to India and visit the palace....
Oh how I loved loved visiting Yazd. I love Iran! Such a beautiful country with such friendly people ♥️
I hope to visit myself one day 🥰
Older buildings in the American South have high ceilings and a window above each door that can be opened to allow heat to escape by convection. In more recent times, a whole-house attic fan can ventilate a house when the windows to the outside are opened, sucking the air through the house and then out the attic vents. It really works well in spring and autumn, and also helps air the house out. Swamp coolers are something to consider, too, maybe with some modern updates, but they don't work very well in the humid South. They are better for some of the more western and mid western states.
Some combination of these with ever-increasingly efficient air conditioning systems or heat pumps can really decrease the demand for electricity.
Absolutely agree, i do hope they figure out something that works in high humidity 🙂
Transom windows are very useful particularly in buildings with 16 foot ceilings!
Heat pumps in cooling mode are exactly the same as domestic air conditioners. They're no more efficient at cooling. In heating mode they're quite efficient until they hit low temperatures but in cost terms they still work out to be more expensive to run than gas boilers in climates that have cold winters.
@@HistoryWithKayleigh It's called HVAC. It looks like intellectuals are determined to take us back to the dark ages. Fortunately you all will FAIL. Witness what is going on in Europe right now with heating.
I designed my house as a wind catcher. And invested in Solar energy. The inspiration comes from Ancient History research. Awesome information, you and Jahanna James did on y’alls collaboration.
Thank you! It was a lot of fun filming with her 🥰
@@HistoryWithKayleigh You’re welcomed.
remind me to never visit your place when the wind isn't blowing and the sun ain't showing. ue house sounds like a disaster
@@bobjove6511 I have metal blinds for storms. Battery reserved on solar&still tied to grid. My house has been through 2 hurricanes & no problems. You are more than welcomed to come see my house.
@John Barber It is a common slang word where I live English teacher.
If I had you or Jahanna as a history professor I'd have actually paid attention. You guys make it seem fun and interesting
100% appreciate your support of other channels!! Honest respect 🙏
I'm contemplating retrofitting my ranch style house with a passive cooling tower. A few trenches, some cleverly laid pipe, a tower tall enough to draw...it may work.
That may work very well indeed 🤗
Swamp pump...
What region do you live in? A large swamp cooler/evaporative cooler could work very well for you if you live in a dry region.
In case it doesn't work get a couple of window units!
I'm a 15 yr hvac professional. The principal is similar to how a whole house fan works. It cuts down the heat load. Most of the heat is in the attic and the whole home holds heat like a sponge. If you pull in cold air it pushes the hot air out. Knowing wind direction. Proper placement of windows and well.built structures will passively cool. However some buildings will always need hvac. Especially in certain locations
Especially when you put many tall buildings close together
@@pauledge1621 Or if the area you live in is covered in trees and the wind does not reach the ground. This would work in a flat arid climate. My grand parents lived in Oklahoma and the wind blew constantly there. Here in southern Alabama it is often still and humid.
I grew up in Hawaii in army housing without air conditioning. Many people had a window unit or two but you really didn't need one because the homes were built to allow great air circulation. In fact, one entire hallway in my house going back from the kitchen to the laundry room was all screen. We had very long overhanging roof lines that kept rain out and precluded the need for rain gutters.
The biggest problem with cooling a house is moving/circulating the air often enough before it has a chance to build up all that trapped heat from the sun.
Like Houston, TX or Buenos Aires, Argentina! I'm retired from HVAC and resided in both places!
Interesting n informative thanks South Indian Hindu Temples r built to keep the interiors cool airy at the same time with enough natural light similar vents r built for light n hot air exits. Row houses have this type of wind catchers n hot air vents. more research required in this to reduce Global warming EL NINO. etc
I used some of these ideas in my house built in 1989. The north side, the south side. The convection of heat, from low to high. We almost never close our windows and the house is always cooler in the summer and Warmer in the winter. We made a central air shaft that allows light in and warm air to rise through the shaft into attic and is drawn out through vents.
Very cool, I'd love to build myself a house with these concepts at some point.
Where do you live?
"earth ships" are doing the free geothermal air conditioning today... it's not very difficult or complex
I love the architecture and designs of the wind catchers. It’s ascetically pleasing to me.
wind catchers were very common. almost a 100 years ago my city of hyderabad in pakistan was known as city of wind catchers. but alas same is not feasible now due to high usage of air conditioner causing air to further warm up.
mm it was in India back then no?
@@jorgegonzalez-larramendi5491 I don't know , do you ?
as a HVAC-R tech this is interesting but i would like to see numbers to see how well it works in certain conditions. this is already being done it is called free cooling with a economizer. if outdoor air temp is lower then inside temp then draw fresh air in. using the stack effect and evaporative cooling is a neat idea but this will only work in arid environments with low humidity.
Evaporative cooling is state of the art. Highly efficient, problem is legionella or other bacterias and fungi very strict rules apply for supply air conditioning. In my experience you can get 6°C colder supply air by spraying it with sufficient room temperature water (going from 30 to 95%hum). However, the system looses the evaporated water so it is not useful in deserts. There I'd recomend a conventional heatpump. As the humidity is usually undesirable indirect cooling (of another medium using exhaust air) is common. Now regarding freecooling vs this passive wind channeling: The numbers compared to freecooling are easy: You save the fans. So E_saved ~ v_air^3 ~ mdot_air^3.
@@MaxMustermann-bm7qt Another idea you gave me is putting a 1000 liter water tank (1m^3 or 250 gallon) in your home and connect it to some fans to stabilize the temperature in the summer.
@@sybrandwoudstra9236 works, but makes the rooms more moist. That is the same effect that air humidifiers use for cooling. Wet cloth and a fan also do the trick.
I have seen an interesting design inside a passive solar home. It's a heat exchanger, using a "rock bin" which is a room full of small rocks. Hot air is collected at the top of the home, drawn into a vent that goes to the rock bin in the basement, cools as it flows down through the rocks and is distributed from the bottom of the rock bin.
"earth ships" are doing the free geothermal air conditioning today... it's not very difficult or complex
Hi from Iran, I just want to say all the informations was accurate, good job kayleigh. Keep up the good work.
Thank you!
Imagine my surprise when I'm watching Bright Insight and hear him shout you out for a donation! You are an extremely interesting person, I'm looking forward to this one! They are very popular in the middle east and should be popular in the American southwest as well but unheard of out there.
Thank you! I do support my fellow creators when i can 🤗
I do love these windcatchers, they're fascinating and i don't understand why we don't have them in the western countries 🙂
and likely wont be , power companies dont want the s west to know .
Everything was destroyed in the southwest USA with very few temporary dwellings still hidden from the metropolitan areas. The wars of the 1800's were devastating to Turtle Island / America.
Imagine extracting electricity from the atmosphere?
That was super interesting.
It's definitely dependent on where you live (what can be done to combat heat and cold). Where I am we have mostly dry winters, no snow here, very little rain, very very little clouds, wet summers, mild to extreme humidity, lots of thunder storms. So, my solutions: 1) in winter: if there is sun (and outside is warmer than inside), open doors/windows until just before sunset/until the air starts cooling, then close everything up, to keep the heat in. 2) in summer: when (if) it gets cooler in the afternoon, open doors/windows until you go to bed. Keep them closed during the day. It's considerably cooler, as long as humidity and heat have not persisted for days, if heat has persisted I find it more effective to have a fan blowing air out of a room, on the sun-facing side of the house (bonus if you have a fan to blow air in from the non-sun-facing side, or into the house from a cooler room).
Using my thermometer I have noticed that even though a winter wind feels colder (because of evaporation off of your skin) the actual temperature is most often warmer than the inside of your house, so on warmer winter days I set up my fan to bring warm air into the house through a window on the sun-facing side.
I thought this would be easy to explain. lol. This may or (probably) may not apply to you :P
Thank you for this lovely and extensive response 🤗
The functionality of ancient architecture will always amaze me! Such a great topic and wonderful video!
My family come from the city of Yazd. What you do not realize is that Yazd has a moderate but dry climate with four seasons, and it snows in Yazd and the region in winter. It is hot in June, July August and not all year round. In traditional architecture of Yazd, homes have summer area and winter area. The summer area is open and the winter section has windows and can be closed.
In Italy the ancient Etruscans buried their dead in surface tombs, one of which might be the Cucumilla. The Cucumilla is most unusual as it has two center towers, one square and one round. Perhaps it incorporated a function known previously. IF the Greek Dark Ages was caused by intense light AND HEAT, the design inside the Cucumilla could have been how a large meeting area was cooled.
Ant's and Thermintes be like: yeah we have these millions of years now.
I am reading about insects. They have a lot of shits done before we even learnt to speak
Im from iranian Azerbaijan and we have a cold dry climate here. A architecture student friend of mine who attends Tabriz university said that his lecturer said Mosques where built in the region with two doms atop each other and that in the summer months the cavity in-between housed doves and in winter they closed it off and the droppings provided heat. I haven't been able to find any sources for this but I thought if true it could be a interesting video for you to make.
Such an excellent summary of engineering and history with a balance of photos, animations, and your face
Yes, I researched this a couple years back, Egypt & Ancient Persia both used this type of cooling ventilation, Iran's are possibly older. They both also invented taxation, Persian king Artaxerxes (pronounces Our taxes) is the father of modern taxation. Then we have glass windows.. Much older than realized & ice... Transporting& using ice, centuries before refrigeration was invented.
You could use these wind air conditioners as wind electricity as well. Using a series of smaller propellers within the protection of the tunnel would allow easy access for repairs and would protect from environmental hazards. It would remove individual homes from a grid system that ultimately fails in extreme situations. It would be easy to maintain and fix, and certainly cheaper. It would be perfect as well for those areas that have extreme weather. The whole debacle in Texas last winter could have been completely avoided.
Once again, ancient technology teaches us we don’t know as much as we think we do.
Thank you!
It could very well be used for that as well, it's incredible 🤗
The ancient world has a lot to teach us😍
Please excuse me, I’m not being nasty but as someone within the industry I can say this won’t work and is impractical.
These small props running small dynamos would barely make a single small light glow. You may get a small trickle charge into a battery. That’s all.
In this town solar would work much better as there would be few clouds.
As far as Texas is concerned, the problem was cold not heat. First the dynos still would have frozen, second you would have air below zero being blown down the ducting freezing the house so you would need to close off the airflow stopping the dynos. Heating takes a lot of power so they wouldn’t be sufficient.
Again great idea, keep it up but in this case wouldn’t work. Sorry
Could be but they've got the best environment on the planet for solar panels, they'd be better off using their resources on those.
Texas’s problem is they didn’t spend the money to winterize their grid….. blame your state government for not doing the basics of governing. While extreme cold snaps are rare in Texas, they aren’t unheard of and this should’ve been protected against and could have been protected against, they chose not to because they didn’t want to spend the money and didn’t care what happened to people in an extreme winter weather event. I don’t live too far from Texas and in my community our electric grid was winterized, we experience the extreme cold a little bit more than Texas but not much. My state is a small rural state too, and we could afford it, Texas has no excuse. The only thing we had problems with in my state when that happened was the gas companies, and that was more because of their greed than a problem of our infrastructure.
A windmill generally requires 20-25 mph min. to produce minimal power. Even where I live wind frequently blows and people assume it would work but a look at average local wind speeds online shows 9-10 mph. not even close or I'd have several up.
While looking for a house years ago we went through a house built in the 1910s that had a pump from a sand point well discharging into a huge radiator about 10 feet wide and 6 feet high at a 45 ° angle that shared the gravity flow coal heater and cooled the house. The catch basin was pumped back down another well returning the water underground. Kansas.
The drawback of AC is that multiple units blow hot air around a city and when concentrated together in a smaller area, they create heat islands which raise the external urban temps.
That can happen with or without AC. It more reliant on the building design, color, and density.
I live in the PNW of the US, and even we are now being forced to use airconditioning that we have never needed before. Day and nighttime temperatures were the highest we ever recorded. This could help in both cooling while using cisterns filled with rainwater to cool in summer. While also able to use the ground to help heat our homes in the winter with geothermal units.
For sure! Would be amazing if it could get implemented 🥰
@@HistoryWithKayleigh Definantly. A Builder in new construction will have to build a test home in our type of area to prove its effectiveness. But with Solar, Wind Towers and Cisterns, and Geothermal, we could cut energy cost and help lower the times of high power consumption and brownouts. Catching rain water regulations will also need to be redefined in many States and Counties.
Changes are needed if we are to survive, The Planet will do well on it's own. Each of us will need to raise our voices to force the changes needed.
Thank You for bringing attention to this with possible solutions. Why History is important to understand and to examine mistakes along with the successes.
Absolutely agree, I'll keep my fingers crossed they make it work 😍
When it's humid they do not work nearly as well , evaporative cooling requires dry air not wet
They missed a trick here it could also be used to generate a small current of electricity, using convection current.
It’s becoming increasingly more and more apparent that older civilizations had technology that allowed them to tap into unlimited, free, clean energy as well. The modern day “controllers” are well aware of this and done everything they can to keep this information from the public.
Great video and highlights of some historically significant passive cooling design strategies. I'm a mechanical engineer who has included a few of these in my own building systems design, but their practice is uncommon and I'd guess that most architects and engineers in the USA have never included any of these strategies in their designs. Modern A/C makes it too easy to just throw in some A/C and be done with the problem quickly and easily. One local architect that stands our for using wind and adiabatic towers in multiple projects is EHDD in San Francisco, CA; The Carnegie Center for Global Ecology and the Zion Canyon Visitor Center are two project examples that come to mind.
Just came from Johanna James video where you two Collaborated on a topic of Doggerland and other Ancient Sites...
We had so much fun filming that video 🥰
@@HistoryWithKayleigh just subscribed to your channel, I find your idea of fun interesting, thanks I'll be looking forward for more fun in the future...
Haha happy to hear that 🥰
Great video kayleigh. Very informative. The ancients knew more than we give them credit for.
Luv that teeshirt, Kayleigh. Just goes to show how brilliant ancient people were. Thanks for growing my brain.
Always cool to see stuff like this. I believe around the same time when the Egyptians were around they used to spray the walls of their sleeping quarters with water. With 0% humidity the water would quickly evaporate causing a quick drop in temperature where the walls were sprayed causing ice to form and cooling down their sleeping rooms.
Love you videos!
Thank you 🙂
"earth ships" are doing the free geothermal air conditioning today... it's not very difficult or complex
Factories always had tall Smoke Stacks to provide better draft for the Boiler Room.
Wind Catchers pull air Up and out of the building. The lower tower might bring in the cooler air. Hot air wants to rise so the taller tower will create the draft.
When I was attending Michigan Tech and growing up travelling to the UP I was always fascinated by the old smelter towers and how much wind was at the base. Felt really cool too on hotter days. I've had thoughts over the years developing a structure around one to preserve and utilize the differential capabilities.
@@jafinch78 Constant wind makes it feel cool even if air is hot, a combination of thermal mass and wind tunnel effect can be combined ,making life bearable .
@@obiecanobie919 I recall they also have a sun screen design also that helps keep the building cool now that I think about. Something like shades and still lets air flow. Some sort of honeycomb or repeating design. I forget if at night they open up the building also to heat exchange to remove more heat from the structure which definitely is made from a large thermal mass... even if sunk in the ground will warm up during the day and can be cooled off at night.
Thank you ! I am a builder and hope that we can implement this things for a better society . I would like to see more about fountains and food gardens . Very cool !
Would a wind catcher system work in a place like Louisiana or somewhere it’s like 100 degrees and 80 percent humidity? I’m amazed at the ingenuity of people from all over the world and throughout time! Thank you for covering this!
you can use some plants to get ride of humidity indoors I don't know what type of degrees you talk but summer in Iran is near 48 or 49 degree Celsius
That’s actually really smart to use a plant! I’ll try to look up what plant it is. I’m using Fahrenheit. So 49 c is about 118 f. So, very hot
In Puerto Rico, that Arab infused Spanish culture dealt with heat using the same principles. Many homes had vented crawl spaces, very thick walls, rooms had walls with ventilation openings and in the center of the home was a high ceiling leading to windows above the roof that were open/closed via rope lines. No rain came in through these windows, in effect, an operable skylight setup. This worked very well. Thanks for the video.
I'm excited for this one! While I was living in the Arizona as a child I read about these!
I hope you'll enjoy watching! 🤗
Are these the wind catchers from ancient persia..looks a lot like one of them. Very interesting! Makes me wanna bang my head against a wall for not continuing my history studies..but that's in the past now. Can't wait for this one👍🏻
Greetings from Netherland
Indeed from ancient Persia, although they most likely originated in ancient Egypt 🤗
Just a couple hours left before the premiere starts🥰
@@HistoryWithKayleigh, see..Egypte, didn't know that. But seen the area couldn't they be from an even older periode like from sumeria? I really should have continued my studies..😟
I'll shut up..
Cool thing about this design is that termites figured this out a lot faster than we ever did.
Speaking of cooling.....Kayleigh....you are SO COOL that when you walk into a house, the furnace TURNS ON!! :)
Reading "Dune" I imagined many of the buildings in the capital city of Arrakeen looking like the building @ 00:59
I visited some ancient sites in india and it was explained to me by the tour guide how they had air condition going back at least 2000 yrs. My trip was over 10 yrs ago and I mostly forget the explanations but I remember in some cases it involved flowing water through the floors and walls. They claimed the rooms could be kept at 72 degrees all summer
That's great, water is a great way to cool a building
That is true, similarly to the Romans, which had a water irrigation system that channeled cold water underneath the homes, while they had tall ceilings with high windows to allow for hot air to escape while the cool water rushing below would send a rush of cooler air up a shaft in the floor to maintain the coolness in the room.
THAT would work.
Ft. Macon in the Carolinas had brick-arch casemates all along the fort walls, with a huge volume of earth over the arches as protection against bombardment. The interior of each casemate had plaster lathe given a few inches of air gap between the brick and the plaster, and a hole in the top of the plaster for hot air to enter, cool on the brickwork, sink around the outside of the arch, and re-enter the room at the floor through small holes in the baseboard. This was something like 1820 off the top of my head.
In 1940 they put the fort into service again against the dubious risk of German coastal raids with four WWI era French surplus howitzers in a battery on the beach. The troops slept in the fort, where the army put a coal-fired stove in because the fireplaces were deemed inefficient. They ran the stovepipe through the top air hole.
I don't know if they took the pipe out during the summer but it struck me as a classic case of technology lost to 'progress'.
Dinosaurs and Pyramids are exactly what got me interested in all of this fascinating history like the channel.
I can’t believe I’ve never heard of these fascinating ancient inventions! I’d very much enjoy seeing a more in-depth look at wind-catcher types and functionality. ✨👍🏽Very cool.
I'll be doing that in the future for sure, first i have a stack of videos to create haha 🤗
@@HistoryWithKayleigh Good morning Kayleigh. The mark of the beast will be IN the right hand or IN the forehead. It is spiritual and physical. Most of the world worships the beast by keeping sunday, friday, Christmas, Easter, Eid, Diwali, etc. There is something physical coming that people will have to take if they want to buy or sell. Muslims go to the mosque on fridays. Our Lord Jesus never ate shrimps or pork. Prayerfully read Leviticus 11:43 and Revelation 21:8. If you make yourself abominable, that is a sin! Repent.
Happy new year! The new covenant will not save you if you continue being rebellious and stubborn against the word of the Lord. It is a sin to steal and a sin to forget the sabbath (saturday). *1 Samuel **15:23** KJV - For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.* Witchcraft, sorcery idolatry, witches, sorcerers, idolaters will be cast into hellfire. Only they that are washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus and keep his commandments shall be kings and priests. There is no such thing as a sunday rest or sunday sabbath in the Bible. Only the seventh day is blessed, sanctified and hallowed. Isaiah 66:22,23 says that from one new moon to another and from one sabbath to another shall all flesh worship before the Lord in the new earth. Matthew 7:21-23 proves that not everyone that says Jesus is Lord will enter the kingdom. We need to do the will of the Father which is to obey and honor our Lord Jesus Christ. He kept the sabbath, new moons and holy days while he walked the earth. Why do you keep sunday, Christmas, Easter and January 1st which he never kept? Repent.
I just discovered your channel and after reading your "About" page I must say you're a very funny person. The concept of wind catchers is pretty cool. It would be awesome if it caught on here in the American South, well all over really. Designing them around hurricanes and bugs would be a challenge though. I'm looking forward to watching more of your content.
Thank you🤗 happy to hear my humor in the about section is appreciated 🤗
I live in Texas and the weather during summer, is getting hotter every year. I wonder if a design like these would benefit a house here.
Very interesting. A similar system, cooling by wind catchers, is found in some Mayan constructions in the south of Mexico, inside them the temperature is pretty cool.
"earth ships" are doing the free geothermal air conditioning today... it's not very difficult or complex
I live in Las Vegas where this summer 2021 has been the hottest on record with last year the longest dry spell ever recorded. This system would be great here! One could stand the huge concrete culvert pipes on end with a manufactured fan on top modeled after roof turbine ventilation fans. Have it dip deep into the earth, exit a chamber that routes and divides it throughout the house keeping in mind that the air must have a path to exit. The inner chambers would have to be accessable for clean out and repair. So genius!
When it's hot and humid instead of using the air conditioner I open the east window with my 22" fan blowing out then I open one window on the shady north side of the far west bedroom. This pulls shaded air through the house and keeps things bearable(not comfortable) in July and August. I also use three smaller fans as needed but even all fans on high speed costs less than air con,like maybe 1/4 the cost. That's all money I can save for winter heating which can be a long season here. Not as economical as a good passive cooling system but it does ok for now. I have done this for twenty years here but when I grow elderly it might not be enough.
At least you're not running your ac 24/7 🤗
What an interesting architectural and functional building ventilation system!
Kayleigh!! Please do a presentation type tour w Jahanna, Jimmy, Ben, Brien F. and any other awesome hunters!! Get Graham on board too!! Love love love the fresh eyes and enthusiasm you have for hunting! Thank you!!
Just watching now thanks for the link and pleasure to meet you look forward to working with you in the future and the team of course .. all the best Phil aav
Thank you! Looking forward to that🤗
@@HistoryWithKayleigh honour is mine all the best Phil aav
damn as a mechanical engineer i would really like to work on a design to retrofit current homes with something like this. if only i was back in school! this would make such a great thesis.
It would for sure 🤗
I saw this years and years ago, for years I was searching for more information on these design techniques. Thank you for making this video!
🤗
I live in Arkansas and our Summers are hot and so humid. Some of the older homes had, for a lack of a better word, reflectors at the upper windows of the house that would help airflow pull hot air out of the homes during the day. Kinda neat.
I never heard of these. It’s interesting and you’re right that it’s a proven system we can benefit from even now. Thanks for doing this video 😊
You're welcome! Happy to hear you enjoyed it 🥰
My building is somewhat like this with passive ventilation, it's hollow in the middle and catches wind from all directions. So whenever there's wind it cools down the apartment pretty fast which is great for summer nights I get more wind coming from the inside to the outside than the other way around here.
That's really cool! 🤗
I am impressed & intrigued by this ancient technology, History with Kayleigh 🕊Thank You for creating & sharing this video!
When renovating my home I asked my architect to include a wind catcher. I found it unbelievable that she had never heard of them, let alone studied them in her degree.
subjects "down to earth" like this need to be addressed !
It feels great to dive away from megaliths blocks and civilization collapses sometimes x) and remind us we're closer than all the simple people than we often think about ;)
Absolutely! I love all aspects of ancient history 🥰
This has been truly fascinating. I've been being mis-directed every time I type into my browsers of how to find these types of resources and am very glad that this came across in the you-tube pop up. Thank you so much for expounding on this type of experience with science and culture. LT680 Southwest Mo.
Happy to hear you enjoyed it 🤗
As a hvac/r student, this is very interesting! Thanks for sharing and you have earned a new subscriber.
Love love love this video
Awesome information and first time I seen a video like this or you’re channel
Subscribed. 😊