At a guess, #physics people will be the folks with answers, but other #science specialties or even interdisciplines may have useful information to share.

2/x

A bit of background to the problem: I am poor and live in #SocialHousing.

Since 2021, #Edmonton and #Alberta have experienced gruelling #heatwaves well beyond the normal range of expected hot days in the summer.

But poor folk aren't allowed "luxuries" like #AirConditioning -- it's literally in our lease that we can be terminated for in-window AC (portable is so far not barred, thank goodness).

3/x

#yeg

This requirement means the sole way of keeping my residence cooler than the ambient temperature outside has been to block every window with #blackout fabric-covered panels.

I am also #disabled and while excessive heat alone can be debilitating and dangerous, months of what *should be* gorgeous long days wuth just a hint of true darkness overnight are now as bleak as being in a #bunker. 😢

4/x

#heatwave
#climate

A quick aside: I was gifted a small portable #AC unit and as of last year I am now able to make a cool-ish 'bubble' in my living room.

In the worst heat I have to abandon the bedroom (at over 30°C overnight) but can manage some sleep in a chair near the AC.

Not ideal but does prevent literal #death, yay! 💀

5/x

Back to the main problem: Up here at #Latitude53North our days are short in the winter and long in the summer. Like many hereabouts, I suffer from seasonal #depression and basically recharge over the summer months.

But having to convert my unit into a dark #bunker overrides that mental recharge cycle.

It is bleak and horrid. And only compounds issues with other #disabilities and #ChronicIllness.

6/x

#yeg

Since the 2021 #heatdome hit and I had to make effective window blocks that I could physically manage to install and remove on my own, as-needed, I have needed to deal with the #light issue.

I don't like artificial lights (some can even trigger #Lupus symptoms, ugh 😱) and running them adds to the heat inside my unit.

And yes, I've measured.

7/x

Midway through #Edmonton's 2021 #heatdome, I acquired a classroom set of thermometers and taped them throughout my unit.

I soon found out where the hottest areas are, how much difference there was between an unblocked vs blocked window for room vs ambient outdoor #temperature, etc.

And yeah, turning on lamps pretty consistently added ~1°C in the room.

8/x

For folks who live at lower #latitudes, an important thing to understand about the environment up here is that since it *barely* gets truly dark overnight, accumulated #heat, especially sidewalks, roads, and other structures doesn't have an opportunity to dissipate during a cool overnight as there ISN'T a cool overnight at all!

😱😱😱

This means interior heat can also simply rise and rise day on day.

😱😱😱

9/x

Amongst all this we are now having extended #wildfire seasons and extremely poor #AirQuality as well -- which means that even if it happens to cool off outside, it may be too toxic to open windows.

(Aside: this has meant getting creative about designing in-window filtration, too.)

10/x

In summary (so far): our #Edmonton summer #weather condition of both extreme #heat and wildfire #AirQuality results in me living in a dark residence that is unbearably hot, but slightly less unbearable than the ambient outdoor temperature.

For me, this is misery galore. ☹️

11/x

#yeg

Under our lease terms, I can't do much about the indoor #temperature issue beyond blocking windows, but as mentioned above, I can try to do something about the #light, specifically, the lack thereof under these environmental conditions.

12/x

So I've tinkered a great deal with both insulating/blocking windows from the heat while also finding ways to draw some #NaturalLight through these barriers to prevent the interior from being not only #greenhouse-hot, but also #bunker-dark.

13/x

As I've #experimented with different aspects of #light and how to acquire it with minimal heat, I have often thought of #IsaacNewton.

It is my understanding that when stuck at home during a #plague closure of his #university, he focused a great deal on studying light.

Who knows? Perhaps he too could not stand living in a bunker.

14/x

I've played around with using #mylar to create #LightTubes, #prisms and #mirrors and other #reflective surfaces to change or shape light direction and spread, #Fresnell lenses to magnify small amounts of light, etc etc etc.

I've learned lots of interesting things but I am still a LONG way from being hired to light the interior of a #pyramid. 😀

15/x

Most recently I acquired an old #IKEA #FiberOptic / #FibreOptic pendant lamp, which basically looks like a fully-seeded #dandelion ready to be puffed aloft into the air.

And this is where the very very very bad and yet also very very very accidental #physics thing may have happened.

16/x

Again, I'm #poor. I live on a provincial #disability pension that hasn't been raised since three governments ago, while the #covid19 #pandemic has literally tripled my food expenses (nvm nearly anything else).

#Secondhand is frequently my first choice, and I'm long accustomed to needing to clean all mannger of stuff from older things, including #cigarette #tar from especially #vintage items.

17/x

The #IKEA #FibreOptic / #FiberOptic pendant lamp I found looked like a typical case of #cigarette #tar.

It looked exactly as though the lamp had hung near someone's favourite chair they used whenever they had a smoke.

The brownish-yellow staining was along the lower side and around some of the edges in exactly the pattern you'd expect from #SecondhandSmoke.

18/x

After decoupling each fibre bundle from the lamp frame, I washed them with soapy water.

As expected, there was definitely some dirt/dust but the wastewater was grey, not brown, so I figured the tar must be more firmly stuck in the fibres.

I left all the fibre bundles to soak in a strong bleach solution and soap overnight.

19/x

About 24 hours later, I was able to start rinsing them off and was surprised to see that the yellowed items were still yellow.

After a lot of research I was able to dig up the materials the lamp is made from, and learned that the #diffuser (#fibres / #fibers ) are acrylic, not glass.

This led me to some far more useful information, as searching for #FibreOptics tends to give a lot of info about specialised #data cabling, not #decor.

20/x