A qanat can be little more than a shaded pond. It doesn't have to be underground. Air around it is cooled, then drawn by the wind tower through the house.
OK, that makes sense. All you need for that is a source of water and a low-humidity environment. I guess well pumps use less energy than air conditioners?
Comments
A traditional Persian method of cooling was to build windcatchers combined with an underground intake that was routed underground where it cooled.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Qanat_wind_tower.svg
That seems like a great idea if you happen to build near a functional qanat. It's irrelevant to 99.9% of the locations where humans build homes.
It's unlikely to work well for offices and high rises, granted.
But it wouldn't be too hard to imagine this kind of set-up being modernized and applied to many suburban homes in the US Southwest, for example.
A qanat can be little more than a shaded pond. It doesn't have to be underground. Air around it is cooled, then drawn by the wind tower through the house.
OK, that makes sense. All you need for that is a source of water and a low-humidity environment. I guess well pumps use less energy than air conditioners?
[deleted]
...in very specific environments, at huge cost.