No question ceiling (and other) fans are useful for cooling, also for heating by distributing warm air that otherwise pools overhead, especially in high-ceiling rooms.
A cool water radiant system certainly seems it would save electric power. But I wonder if such use of water is potentially a problem in regions where water is a precious commodity.
Growing up in the desert of Arizona in the era before air conditioning became widespread, there were interesting approaches to dealing with summer heat. Relevant here, the "swamp cooler" was a fixture in most homes.
Sort of a combination of moving air and water methods, the cooler worked by running a squirrel cage fan in a slatted metal box and water dripped through material mounted on the interior box surface. Air flowed through the openings in the box, evaporating water and cooling the stream of air which was piped into the house though metal ducting.
This worked great when the air is dry. The later summer monsoon season was its ruin: high humidity did not favor evaporation, or much cooling at all. It was enough to make people think air conditioning would be a really good thing.
A cool water radiant system certainly seems it would save electric power. But I wonder if such use of water is potentially a problem in regions where water is a precious commodity.
Growing up in the desert of Arizona in the era before air conditioning became widespread, there were interesting approaches to dealing with summer heat. Relevant here, the "swamp cooler" was a fixture in most homes.
Sort of a combination of moving air and water methods, the cooler worked by running a squirrel cage fan in a slatted metal box and water dripped through material mounted on the interior box surface. Air flowed through the openings in the box, evaporating water and cooling the stream of air which was piped into the house though metal ducting.
This worked great when the air is dry. The later summer monsoon season was its ruin: high humidity did not favor evaporation, or much cooling at all. It was enough to make people think air conditioning would be a really good thing.