http://web.science.unsw.edu.au/~stevensherwood/WillettS11.pdf
While in a doomsday scenario, there is no escape, however, the more realistic near term situation is that days of high heat and high humidity will persist for short summer durations. There are a host of other problems that will arise with climate change but the one I am focusing on here is heat.
The temperatures shown above are averages. Our target is to prepare for A2, some places in the world this will simply not be feasible (above ground).
So the goal is to survive the heat wave. This is where most traditional preppers will come unstuck. They can sit in their bunkers with guns and food. It will depend on their location in the world, the time of year and the heat wave as to how long they will last.
- Reduce the temperature
- Reduce the humidity.
- Decrease the core body temperature.
Symptoms
From this article;The combined effects of heat and humidity can do a number on your body. And for many people this leads to heatexhaustion or, worse yet, a heat stroke.
So, how do you know when you’re suffering from a heat-related illness?
Here’s a list of the seven ways you know you’re in trouble:
1) Profuse Sweating
This is an indication your body is trying to compensate for a higher core body temperature. Sweat is a salt-water solution and as the moisture on your skin evaporates it helps to cool the skin. Sweating also pulls water and electrolytes from your body and can cause the next symptom on the list.
2) Dehydration
Your body is 60% water. Sweating wicks water out of your body to help cool you skin and unless you’re replacing those fluids, you could be moving into the heat illness danger zone.
3) Fatigue
If you all of a sudden feel abnormally tired, while in the sun, it’s an indication you could be in the beginning stages of a heat-related illness.
4) Muscle Cramps
Sweating aids in dehydration, which aids in the development of muscle cramps. Muscle cramps are caused by loss of essential minerals — through sweating — like potassium and calcium.
5) Headache
You may start out the day feeling well, but if you’ve been out in the heat for an extended period of time and you develop a severe headache. This is an indication you’re dehydrated and could be slipping into heat exhaustion.
6) Nausea
This is the caused by the dip in electrolyte levels and dehydration.
7) Dizziness/Weakness
This symptom is also directly attributed to dehydration, partially caused by vomiting and lack of hydration.
Remedies
Reduce the temperature
It may seem like the simple solution will be to run air conditioners. This is certainly the first approach to take. However, it is not without risk. In addition, this is not feasible in the long term. Energy costs will go up with carbon taxes (in whatever form), and the energy infrastructure may not handle the load. Should we end up with a bad temperature event (say +35C WBGT) then it only takes one power outage to lose a lot of people. Power outages seem to be increasing http://www.climatecentral.org/news/weather-related-blackouts-doubled-since-2003-report-17281 however, few (2%) of these events are directly related to actual heat, in the west. The thing to watch for is rolling blackouts which are a factor in the developing world.If (and when) temperatures become too extreme then the only option is to change our working habits. While you may be able to function in air conditioning you cannot work outside.
Night Owls
During summer and if your work situation suits, you can block out the windows and sleep during the day. Do your work at night. Costs go down productivity goes up.During the daytime sleep you can now be much more efficient in your cooling because you are not creating as much body heat.
Firstly, blocking out the windows should be done using insulated panels rather than black plastic. Remember we only have to make one room dark and cool.
Now for our sleeping arrangement.
One option is a water bed. Set the temperature at about 27C and the heat will be pulled from your body. A short term power outage would not be a major issue.
Also by reducing the volume of air to be conditioned the energy required to cool that volume will decrease. It is reasonable then to consider something like a bunker bed. Take a bunk bed (or 2 joined together for a family), enclose 3 sides and the roof with plywood and hook up a personal space cooler. 4th side would be a heavy curtain. A baffle would probably be required so that the air is distributed because the person closest would get a draft.
If the power fails the cooler won't require as much power so solar panels would work, also a diesel generator would probably be a good backup.
Run water through a coil in a chest freezer then through a radiator. Don't forget to empty the coil when done otherwise it will crack. Freezer should not be in the same room that you are attempting to cool.
Dehumidify
Run tank water through a coil in a freezer then through a fan forced radiator, moisture will condense on the pipes and drip down.
from here:
Calcium Chloride is a very easy to come by salt. Known as "Ice Melt" you can purchase it in 50lbs bags. Also, pool supply stores will sell it as a water calcium hardener. "The anhydrous salt is also widely used as a desiccant, where it will adsorb so much water that it will eventually dissolve in its own crystal lattice water." -wikipedia
And here is the process.
You'll need to design a two tier system. You can use things like thin/cheap plastic storage boxes, or 2 liter bottles with the tops cut off and stacked, or ziplock bags and little duct taped ingenuity. Regardless of how you choose to do this step you're going to need a top container that will drip into the lower container.
The upper tier will contain the calcium chloride crystals. It will be open air and, if you can manage it, blowing air over it will increase uptake. You will need to place many pin sized holes in the bottom of the upper tier; this allows the crystals to dissolve and drip into the lower tier.
The lower tier can be empty at the start and it will begin to fill with the dissolved solution. I think a better option than a drip reservoir is to use kitty litter to catch the moisture and lock it up.
Place the system wherever you'd like to in the room, but I would suggest it is close to your intake air. This gives the Calcium Chloride the first shot at the moisture.
When the thing is full of water you simply empty your lower tier, replace your Calcium Chloride in the upper tier, and that's it, that simple.
Another option:
Charcoal Briquettes
People swear by charcoal briquettes for removing humidity. There is no particular brand you should use over another. Charcoal not only dehumidifies the air, it also removes odors. Perfect for my room. I bought a cheap bag of charcoal at the dollar store and filled an inexpensive basket. That was placed on the top shelf in the closet area. I'll see how well it works.
The charcoal will last for 2-3 months. After that, they can be used in a barbeque without infusing the food with any weird taste. One product, multiple uses.
Reducing your core body temperature
Less work
Don't do anything strenuous at, or above, 28C WBGT.
Clothes
You have to lose the heat close to your body. So wear clothes that breathe. There are also clothes made to cool called cooling vests. The ones that utilize ice packs are probably better than the motorcycle versions.
There are underclothes worn by racing car drivers. Starting with Proban cotton for breath-ability extending through to http://www.freshairsystems.com/store/cool-suit-systems-en/. These systems use dry ice to cool water and it is pumped around the body and recirculated through the dry ice. Having to lug around a box with you may seem over the top. But there may be times where there simply isn't any choice.
There are underclothes worn by racing car drivers. Starting with Proban cotton for breath-ability extending through to http://www.freshairsystems.com/store/cool-suit-systems-en/. These systems use dry ice to cool water and it is pumped around the body and recirculated through the dry ice. Having to lug around a box with you may seem over the top. But there may be times where there simply isn't any choice.
Drink lots
Flush the heat out.
Calorie Restriction
Reducing calories reduces your metabolic rate, which reduces your temperature. Reducing your body fat, will allow the body to cool quicker. The only reason elephants can survive in the tropics is through pumping blood into their ears where it is cooled.
Meditation
Crushed ice
Recent evidence from the field of sport science demonstrated that cold fluid consumption can act as a heat sink to blunt the rise of core body temperature. Furthermore, the addition of crushed ice to beverages substantially improves its heat storage potential, resulting in decreased core body temperature and enhanced endurance performance.
http://jmvh.org/article/crushed-ice-ingestion-a-practical-strategy-for-lowering-core-body-temperature/Freeze water bottles when you know that a heat wave is coming.
Drugs
dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is a hormone shown to decrease body temperature in mice. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12037127
Long term use is probably not recommended, and it is illegal in some countries.
We have the biotechnology, or will have soon, to select (or mutate) for dwarfism. If that is possible, then humans could adapt. Here are 2 examples where humans have evolved to suit different environments;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_floresiensis (just for arguments sake I am going to take the average height of females at 167cm, LB1 was 110cm. That is 65%, damn close to the 30% reduction mentioned earlier)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaghan_people These, on the other hand, evolved to handle colder temperatures through a metabolism change.
Of course adaptation is the stuff of science fiction, but so was going to the moon.
Adaptation
The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) resulted in dwarfism in mammals (http://westerndigs.org/global-warming-caused-dwarfism-in-ancient-american-mammals-fossils-show/), 30% in fact, not the annihilation of all mammals.We have the biotechnology, or will have soon, to select (or mutate) for dwarfism. If that is possible, then humans could adapt. Here are 2 examples where humans have evolved to suit different environments;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_floresiensis (just for arguments sake I am going to take the average height of females at 167cm, LB1 was 110cm. That is 65%, damn close to the 30% reduction mentioned earlier)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaghan_people These, on the other hand, evolved to handle colder temperatures through a metabolism change.
Of course adaptation is the stuff of science fiction, but so was going to the moon.
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