Need an air conditioner to protect you from biological and chemical weapons? Look no further we have the product for you, an air conditioned helmut currently in production for the US Army.
Designed initially as a powered air-purifying respirator, engineers added air-conditioning to the helmet to make it more comfortable to wear in some of the hottest climates on the globe.
It has its own built-in air-conditioning system and will protect against heat stroke, as well as biological and chemical weapons.
Best of all it looks like something straight out of a sci-fi film or video game.
It was designed to be much lighter and use less power than traditional respirators, developers said in Live Science.
Those who tested the new general-purpose mask said that it performed as effectively as other masks and was easy to wear while crawling, running, or performing other combat training exercises.
More features are being added to the helmet, and Army officials said that an automatic fan will be added that can turn on or off simply by monitoring the soldier’s physiology.
They might look like storm troopers from Star Wars, but the soldiers that get to wear these helmets will be wearing the first of the next generation of combat equipment.
In other world news, the Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) is taking the US Department of Energy to court.
The dispute, which is in the court of appeal, is over commercial refrigeration standards that the AHRI believes fails an ‘economically justified and technologically feasible’ test, according to a report on the UK's RAC news site.
The petition for review in the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit against the US Department of Energy (DOE) is in response to its final rule issued on March 28, 2014, regarding energy conservation standards for commercial refrigeration equipment.
The rule, which updates standards set by DOE in 2009, includes maximum daily energy consumption values as a function of either refrigerated volume or total display area for various equipment classes.
AHRI President Stephen Yurek said the industry has a proud history of innovation that has produced highly efficient, affordable HVACR equipment that increases the quality of life for all Americans.
"We also have a proud history of collaborating with government agencies on energy efficiency standards that are economically justified and technologically feasible, that benefit consumers, and that adequately take into account potential negative economic impact.”
He said the DOE’s final rule on commercial refrigeration equipment does not meet this criteria.
"As a result we have no choice but to challenge the rule in court," he said.