It will cool half their downtown, cut air conditioning energy use 75%, and drop carbon emissions as well.
The project involves running a five-foot-wide pipeline hundreds of feet below the sea, which will then suck up thousands of gallons of frosty water and discharge it through air-conditioning units around the city, helping to cool off entire buildings. The warmed water is then dumped back into the ocean at a level and temperature that won’t harm nearby aquatic life.
If these buildings were designed intelligently in the first place, i.e. with ventilation strategies that took advantage of the persistent ocean breezes via windows that opened (what a concept!), atria and cooling flues, etc., these buildings wouldn’t need air conditioning. And how much of the air conditioning is necessary just to keep conditions tolerable for people wearing business suits?
Forgive me, but this is insane.