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Snow is being stored in an experimental building in the town of Bibai on the
northern island of Hokkaido, Japan, to see if it can keep apartments cool during
the summer. First antifreeze is cooled by piping it through the snow, then it
circulates round the six-storey building. Although the cost of building
snow-conditioned buildings would be high, running costs are negligible and far
cheaper than air conditioning, says designer Masayoshi Kobiyama of Hokkaido’s
Muroran Institute of Technology. Kobiyama says the system is ideal for countries
where winters are very cold and summers very hot.