Hacker News Reader

> .. as a person stands next to or beneath the panel, the body heat radiates towards the chilled panels to create a cooling sensation ..

I'm not sure that is an accurate description of the physics. Maybe the air next to the panel is cooler, accounting for the cooling sensation.

View on HN

This confused me for a bit. The point of the system is to prevent energy from being reflected or radiated from a surface. Systems like this have been around for a while (https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/home-cooling-systems/radi...), the news here is that this works with temperatures below the dew point because they have solved the condensation issues.

The cold air will contribute, but this is an accurate description. A person constantly radiates a blackbody spectrum determined by temperature, as does the surrounding room. We perceive ourselves as in equilibrium when we radiate as much as we receive. If a wall is cooler than the rest of the room, the person receives less infrared from that direction and perceives cold, even in the absence of convection.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com