The Air Conditioner That Doesn't Use Gas, Consumes 80% Less Energy, and Cools with Natural Wind: The Technology That Could Replace Split Units

The Air Conditioner That Doesn’t Use Gas, Consumes 80% Less Energy, and Cools with Natural Wind: The Technology That Could Replace Split Units

Written by Maria Heloisa Barbosa Borges

Published on 20/07/2025 at 11:09

O Ar-Condicionado que Não Usa Gás e Gasta 80% Menos Energia: A Tecnologia que Pode Aposentar os Splits

24 people reacted to this.

Inspired by the Genius of Termite Mounds, A New Approach to Air Conditioning Promises to Cool Environments with Natural Ventilation, Without Using Refrigerant Gases and With an Energy Saving That Can Reach 90%.

In a world desperately seeking sustainable solutions, a technology inspired by nature is proving that it is possible to achieve thermal comfort without destroying the planet (or your wallet). This is the air conditioner that doesn’t use gas, a passive cooling system that mimics the incredible ability of termites to maintain their nests at a stable temperature, even under the scorching African sun.

What was once a concept limited to iconic architectural projects, is now beginning to be explored for residential use, with the promise of retiring traditional air conditioning units. The idea is simple and powerful: rather than spending a fortune on energy to combat heat, why not use smart design to work in harmony with it?

How Does the Technology Inspired by Termites Work?

The air conditioner that doesn't use gas, consumes 80% less energy and cools with natural wind: the technology that can retire traditional units

The genius behind the air conditioner that doesn’t use gas lies in biomimicry, the science that studies and applies solutions from nature. Architects and engineers have observed that termite mounds, with their complex network of tunnels and chimneys, function as a perfect natural ventilation system.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

The Example That Proved It Works: Eastgate Centre

The most famous and successful case of this technology is the Eastgate Centre, a commercial building in Harare, Zimbabwe, designed by architect Mick Pearce in 1991. The building does not have a conventional air conditioning system. Instead, it “breathes” like a termite mound.

Result: The Eastgate Centre consumes up to 90% less energy for ventilation than a similar building and had a construction cost 10% lower, precisely because it did not require a traditional air conditioning installation.

The Arrival to Homes: Prototypes and the Residential Future

The technology is evolving and becoming more accessible. The Startup Lions Campus, a technology center in Kenya designed by the renowned firm Kere Architecture, utilizes ventilation towers inspired by termite mounds to keep the workspace comfortable in the middle of the desert.

For residential use, the TerraMound prototype, created with 3D printers, shows a promising path. It is a structure made of porous ceramic that can be integrated into house facades to cool the incoming air, combining modern design with the ancient wisdom of termites.

Why Is This Innovation So Important?

The impact of an air conditioner that doesn’t use gas is enormous. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), buildings are responsible for 37% of global CO₂ emissions, and air conditioning systems consume about 20% of all electricity used in them.

By eliminating the use of refrigerant gases (which are potent greenhouse gases) and drastically reducing energy consumption, this technology presents itself as one of the smartest and most effective solutions to combat climate change, without giving up comfort.

And you, what do you think? Do you believe that the air conditioner that doesn’t use gas, inspired by nature, is the future of air conditioning in Brazil? Leave your opinion in the comments!

0 Comments

most recent

older Most voted

The Air Conditioner That Doesn’t Use Gas, Consumes 80% Less Energy, and Cools with Natural Wind: The Technology That Could Replace Split Units

Inspired by the Genius of Termite Mounds, A New Approach to Air Conditioning Promises to Cool Environments with Natural Ventilation, Without Using Refrigerant Gases and With an Energy Saving That Can Reach 90%.

How Does the Technology Inspired by Termites Work?

The Example That Proved It Works: Eastgate Centre

The Arrival to Homes: Prototypes and the Residential Future

Why Is This Innovation So Important?

The end of Nokia: the brand that was the cellphone of an entire generation has ended its smartphones, left Brazil, and today survives only in basic phones in India while seeking a new partner.

Dissatisfied with seeing people sleeping on the street, a man named Ryan Donais started building small mobile homes so that homeless people can escape the cold, each equipped with a bed, running water, electricity, and heating.

Workers were opening a modern road in Dover when they found, 6 meters below the asphalt, a 3,500-year-old boat made of stitched oak and plant fibers.

Consumers eat six times more chicken than in the 1960s, global meat supply quadruples in 60 years, and FAO report reveals the invisible cost on the plate: livestock could drive 80% of the increase in agricultural emissions over the next decade.

An Indonesian fisherman pulls a mysterious object from the sea and discovers that it is a Chinese underwater monitoring system, part of the so-called Underwater Great Wall that Beijing uses to track submarines and unmanned vehicles in strategic straits of the region.

Man built a 5-acre lake to raise bass, but after 1,000 days the project turned into a wildlife sanctuary with eagles, deer, ducks, owls, and live cameras that transformed the farm into a biodiversity laboratory.

Man built a 5-acre lake to raise bass, but after 1,000 days the project turned into a wildlife sanctuary with eagles, deer, ducks, owls, and live cameras that transformed the farm into a biodiversity laboratory.

Amazon records lowest level of deforestation in eight years and preserves an area equivalent to 7,000 football fields, but progress in Roraima and isolated increase in March raise an alert

China has put millions of electric cars on the roads and now recycles up to 99.6% of used batteries, recovering lithium, nickel, and cobalt at levels that surpass Europe and the United States.

A giant brown band visible from space, approximately 8,850 kilometers long, connected Africa to America in the Atlantic Ocean, and satellites revealed that it is neither land nor pollution, but the largest accumulation of seaweed in the world, which broke records in 2025.

Chinese SUV priced at R$ 432,000 arrives in Brazil and challenges traditional models: GWM Wey 07 Dark Edition has 512 hp, over 5 meters, goes from 0 to 100 in 4.9 seconds, and aims to surpass SW4 in technology.

The Air Conditioner That Doesn’t Use Gas, Consumes 80% Less Energy, and Cools with Natural Wind: The Technology That Could Replace Split Units

Inspired by the Genius of Termite Mounds, A New Approach to Air Conditioning Promises to Cool Environments with Natural Ventilation, Without Using Refrigerant Gases and With an Energy Saving That Can Reach 90%.

How Does the Technology Inspired by Termites Work?

The Example That Proved It Works: Eastgate Centre

The Arrival to Homes: Prototypes and the Residential Future

Why Is This Innovation So Important?

The end of Nokia: the brand that was the cellphone of an entire generation has ended its smartphones, left Brazil, and today survives only in basic phones in India while seeking a new partner.

Dissatisfied with seeing people sleeping on the street, a man named Ryan Donais started building small mobile homes so that homeless people can escape the cold, each equipped with a bed, running water, electricity, and heating.

Workers were opening a modern road in Dover when they found, 6 meters below the asphalt, a 3,500-year-old boat made of stitched oak and plant fibers.

Consumers eat six times more chicken than in the 1960s, global meat supply quadruples in 60 years, and FAO report reveals the invisible cost on the plate: livestock could drive 80% of the increase in agricultural emissions over the next decade.

An Indonesian fisherman pulls a mysterious object from the sea and discovers that it is a Chinese underwater monitoring system, part of the so-called Underwater Great Wall that Beijing uses to track submarines and unmanned vehicles in strategic straits of the region.

Man built a 5-acre lake to raise bass, but after 1,000 days the project turned into a wildlife sanctuary with eagles, deer, ducks, owls, and live cameras that transformed the farm into a biodiversity laboratory.

Man built a 5-acre lake to raise bass, but after 1,000 days the project turned into a wildlife sanctuary with eagles, deer, ducks, owls, and live cameras that transformed the farm into a biodiversity laboratory.

China builds the world’s largest astronomy base on the Tibetan plateau: telescopes up to 14.5 meters in Saishiteng are expected to surpass Mauna Kea by the mid-2030s and put Beijing in the race for the deepest discoveries of the modern universe.

Nvidia built the infrastructure of artificial intelligence and became the largest company in the world, but Jensen Huang now needs to defend his throne against Huawei, Google’s TPUs, chip startups, and customers who want to escape dependence on more expensive GPUs.

NASA captures Typhoon Jangmi with a giant eye spinning in space, winds of 130 km/h, and huge clouds advancing over Japan in images that impress with the storm’s strength.

Hidden beneath the dense vegetation of Mexico, a Maya settlement reveals 80 structures, a colorful mural, a monumental plaza, and structures up to 14 meters tall that may be just the beginning of an even larger ancient city.

Brazil has 130,000 diesel buses, but electric ones still face challenges outside São Paulo: fleet grows by 170%, city concentrates more than 80% of the vehicles, and costs of up to R$ 3 million expose financing and infrastructure bottlenecks in Brazilian public transportation.

Amazon records lowest level of deforestation in eight years and preserves an area equivalent to 7,000 football fields, but progress in Roraima and isolated increase in March raise an alert

China has put millions of electric cars on the roads and now recycles up to 99.6% of used batteries, recovering lithium, nickel, and cobalt at levels that surpass Europe and the United States.

A giant brown band visible from space, approximately 8,850 kilometers long, connected Africa to America in the Atlantic Ocean, and satellites revealed that it is neither land nor pollution, but the largest accumulation of seaweed in the world, which broke records in 2025.

Chinese SUV priced at R$ 432,000 arrives in Brazil and challenges traditional models: GWM Wey 07 Dark Edition has 512 hp, over 5 meters, goes from 0 to 100 in 4.9 seconds, and aims to surpass SW4 in technology.