More and more energy is used for cooling. If we reflect more sunlight it will not be absorbed and turned to heat: in doing so we save energy
Long description
Learn from Rome.
Looking at a detailed heat map of the city of Rome it is clear that the Tibe is cooler than the city itself. And what is relevant: the river cools the buildings facing the water. In the accompanying video this is clearly visible. In Amsterdam most buildings in the old city center are facing a canal. But there is no continuous flow of cool water. Pumps could do that but there is an alternative: that is if we prevent the water from heating up.
The sun warms the planet, hitting Amsterdam at midday with roughly 1000W per square meter. For the canals this means that most of this energy is absorbed and stored as heat. But in summer we don’ t want this heat. What if we bounce this sunlight harmlessly back into space? A white surface will do that, just like ice in winter. Now we need this ‘ice’ in the heat of summer. So let us use a long white swimming pool cover to create a reflecive floating surface that reduces the rise in water temperature (only part of the canal will be covered so boats can still pass).
The cover is only used in summer: when summer begins this cover is taken out of storage and towed to the canal. A small tug boat can transport the cover and deploy it where it is needed. Nothing of the protected historical center has to be changed to create a cooler Amsterdam that uses less energy
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