Brilliant principle

Chemical cooling – can it work?

In Alexandria, people are fleeing to the beach in their thousands because of the heat.(Bild: AFP or licensors)

In Egypt, the heat leads to power cuts. Then there is no light, the air conditioning systems stand still. A concept from physical chemistry could provide a cooling solution. Author and scientist Christian Mähr explains what is actually a very simple principle. 

The University of Alexandria has currently opened its library in the evening for students who have to prepare for exams and have no electric light at home due to the power cuts. The emergency lighting doesn't always work at the university either, but there are plenty of candles. However, open fires in a library were never a good idea at any stage of history.

You can provide a makeshift light in the event of a power cut, but what about the heat? Can you cool a room without electricity? You can. When I read the newspaper reports about the heat-related power cuts in Egypt, the "ISES" solar congress in Hamburg, which I attended in 1987, inevitably came to mind. During the conference, there was also a huge exhibition with all kinds of inventions relating to solar energy.