廢舊塑料瓶搖身變空調

By+Mila+Luleva

Summer is finally here for most of us in the Northern hemisphere1）. Jackets go safely in storage， and we all start dreaming of that beach holiday and cocktails. Unfortunately， summer is not so pleasant when we are stuck inside behind a desk， with a non-working air-conditioning system. In this moment， suddenly， all these daydreams disappear， and the anticipated2） season becomes something that no one wants.

Now， if this is a problem for us sitting in our comfortable offices， imagine how people in a bit less fortunate places must feel—like in Bangladesh for example. The temperatures and humidity during the summer months over there can be hard to bear， while air conditioning is not really an option for the majority.

But as one smart person has said once， where there is a will， there is a way. A creative inventor from Bangladesh designed a new type of air conditioning system called the Eco Cooler. One that does not require electricity， and it is made of the world&apos；s most common waste item—plastic bottles.

The Eco Cooler is super simple to build—no prior3） engineering or construction skills are required. The size of the system depends on the size of the windows in a room； as to mount4） it， a window should be removed and replaced by it.

So， a regular board should be cut in the size of the window. A grid5） of bottle-neck sized holes should then be cut onto the board. Then， the funnel6）-shaped bottlenecks， cut from the plastic bottles， should be fit into the holes. The next step is to fit the design onto the window frame with the wider side facing outwards. And this is it.

The Eco Cooler then works by capturing the winds and sending them inside the building. It can reduce the temperature of a room by as much as 5 C—a difference that can be quite significant when looking at comfortable 25 C versus7） sweaty 30 C.

The idea of the inventor， Ashis Paul， was to show his great product to as many people as possible， and help them build one themselves. For this purpose， he received help from the Grey Group， a multinational advertising firm， who volunteered to advertise the Eco Cooler for free. Another group of volunteers from the Grameen Intel Social Business （a Dhaka-based IT company） also provided free assistance to local people， helped them build and install the units8）， as well as taught them how to make them themselves.

Yes， the Eco Cooler is not a super high-tech air conditioning system， but it is one that can make a big difference.

夏天又到了，對于家里裝有空調的人而言，炎炎夏日可能并沒有那么難熬。然而，在孟加拉國等南亞國家，其夏天最高氣溫可達45°C，許多生活在鄉村的窮苦人民都居住在沒有電的鐵皮棚屋里，買不起電扇、空調，只能在酷暑中苦苦掙扎。幸運的是，該國的一位發明家用舊塑料瓶設計出了一款生態空調，給大家送去了福音，一起來看看他是怎么做的吧！

我們生活在北半球的大多數人終于迎來了夏天。夾克被妥妥地收了起來，我們都開始夢想著那海灘邊的度假和雞尾酒。不過，要是我們只能窩在屋子里伏案工作而空調系統又出了故障的話，夏天可就沒那么愜意了，我們可就倒霉了。這個時候，所有那些幻想突然都消失不見，翹首期盼的夏天變得誰都不稀罕了。

不過，如果上面的情況對我們這些坐在舒適辦公室里的人來說都是一個問題的話，那想一想那些生活在條件沒有這么好的地方的人們會是什么感受吧，譬如住在孟加拉國的人。夏天的幾個月里，那里的氣溫和濕度可能會令人難以忍受，而使用空調對于大多數人來說又真的是想都不敢想。

不過，正如某位智者曾經說過的那樣，有志者事竟成。孟加拉國一位很有創造力的發明家設計了一種名為生態空調的新型空調系統。這種空調不需要電，并且材料用的是世界上最常見的廢品——塑料瓶。

生態空調的制作方法極為簡單，無需前期工程或施工技術。空調的大小取決于房間窗戶的大小；安裝的時候需要拆掉一個窗戶，然后再換上空調。

因而制作時，需要先將一個普通板子裁成窗戶的大小，然后在上面打出塑料瓶瓶頸大小的一個個小孔，使其成網格狀。接著從塑料瓶上切下漏斗狀的瓶頸，將其塞入小孔中。下一步是將這個板子嵌進窗框里，瓶口較大的一面朝外。然后，生態空調就做好了。

制作完成后，生態空調就可以工作了，其工作原理是把風吸過來，再輸送到屋子里。它最高可以將房間的溫度降低5 C——如果是拿舒適宜人的25 C和讓人汗流浹背的30 C相比的話，那么這5 C的改變可以說是意義重大了。

生態空調的發明者是阿希斯·保羅，他的打算是向盡可能多的人展示自己這個很棒的產品，并幫助他們自己動手制作一個生態空調。為此，他接受了跨國廣告公司葛瑞集團的幫助，這家公司自愿免費幫他宣傳生態空調。來自格萊珉英特爾社會商業公司（一家位于達卡的信息技術公司）的另一群志愿者也伸出了援手，免費幫當地人制作并安裝生態空調，還教他們如何自己動手制作。

沒錯，生態空調并不是什么超牛的高科技空調系統，但它卻能讓這個世界大為不同。

1. hemisphere [?hem?sf??（r）] n. （地球的）半球

2. anticipate [?n?t?s?pe?t] vt. 期盼；期望

3. prior [?pra??（r）] adj. 先前的；事先安排的

4. mount [ma?nt] vt. 安裝

5. grid [ɡr?d] n. 網格

6. funnel [?f?nl] n. 漏斗

7. versus [?v??s?s] prep. （比較兩種不同想法、選擇時）與……相對；與……相比

8. unit [?ju?n?t] n. 裝置

Eco Cooler宣傳視頻中的降溫原理說明圖