rolf wroteOh man so you want Lebanese turn off their air conditioner and let their 5 fridges go without electricity for a few hours a day? This is a whole other level. [...] 24h hour electricity sounded to me like a option for a quick improvement. However it always come to the same problem of will - are those who can make a difference willing to let go of the current system?
Blindly? Of course not. Even I said that I wouldn't do it without good evidence of viability (data, acceptable costs).
Perhaps I should've been less ambiguous. If I can generate and depend on around 22h worth from renewable energy
at home and without damaging the batteries, then I would seriously consider it, and should I need the extra two hours, then I can easily switch back to the grid, as everyone else does when EDL power comes back on. Anyway, these are all hypotheticals. Maybe someone else can tell us the real world numbers to be expected for an average Lebanese household in all seasons.
rolf wroteMaybe green energy will have unforeseen negative consequences on the environment, wind and heat energy absorption messes with the climate ("weather patterns"). I only found one study which observes a wind farm generating a type of turbulence which "leads to a warming near the surface at night and a cooling during the day" in the range of .5 to 1.5 degrees C. This actually sounds like a nice side affect to have, for some places.
Wind farms' climate impact recorded for first time
Apparently, it's a non-issue, in the short term anyway. A local peak temperature increase of 0.2°C is much less significant when compared to an entire city choking with cars running on fuel. From the studies I've read, cars stopped at a traffic light can increase road surface temperature by up to 2°C , which is 10x more, and you also get to enjoy all flavours of toxic gases and particles while you're there.
rolf wroteMaybe one way to improve winter insulation in a typical Lebanese house is to put thick curtains on all walls, from inside (even the ones without windows) and many carpets. All this can be removed in summer.
That's not a bad idea, and it's definitely better than nothing, but it doesn't do anything for the ceiling. I think the most efficient internal building modification is to install wood panels containing insulating materials such as foam. Wood panels can be decorated with painting and what not, and can be removed. Their downside is that they can reduce room volume, depending on thickness. For windows, double glazing is the norm for insulation.
nuclearcat wroteBtw, A/C is actually very sustainable, same as refrigerators. It is efficiency over 100% (usually 200-400%, if i am not wrong), it means if it spends 1kw of energy, it may generate 2-4kw of heat at winter (especially at Lebanon), just because it is heat pump.
I'm no engineer, but I've always wondered if one can recycle thermal waste from ACs. One idea I had is to connect all the building AC exhausts with insulated tubing to a closed water circulation system, where they will heat the water, generate steam which will go into a small steam turbine and drive a dynamo to generate DC electricity which can be stored in batteries. No idea if it's been done before and how cost-efficient it would be. If any engineering student is reading this, maybe consider the idea for your next project.