[pea-jay]

If you live in a dry climate, like albuquerque, swamp cooler [expansion] works well.

Air conditioning doesn't save energy

I want to make sure that readers do not get a false impression regarding the energy consumption of refrigerated-air cooling for homes. The article on Charter Homes in Huning Ranch, Los Lunas, implies that refrigerated air is an energy efficiency feature.

Actually, refrigerated air uses three to five times more electric power than evaporative cooling. This is based on my experience as facilities engineer for a large building owner in Albuquerque, and on published information.

The story did not mention water consumption, but there is inaccurate information circulating about that as well. When the amount of water used at the power plant is considered - almost 1 gallon per kilowatt-hour - there is relatively little difference in water consumption between refrigerated-air cooling and evaporative cooling.

David Robertson
Corrales
Thursday August 31, 2006 Business Outlook, Albuqueruque Journal

Swamp coolers work pretty well in Iran and Iraq too, I speculate.

I've used them with a varying degree of success out here in interior california. when the humidity was low they were great

As for refrigeration strategies, the root cellar is the most basic. cant beat that once its dug.

If you live in a climate that routinely freezes in the winter, harvest that cold by freezing large blocks of Ice and placing them in a very insulated cool house.

[HamRadioRocks]

The sad irony of air conditioning is that our favorite way to escape the heat only makes it worse. Using air conditioning requires large quantities of electricity, which means emitting more of the greenhouse gases that promote global warming, which will make future summer heat waves even harsher and prompt even more use of air conditioning.

I thought that being a human polar bear is supposed to be for WINTER. I HATE shivering in summer. I think it's terrible that a person would need to wear a jacket inside when it's not necessary outside. (I also hate that a sweater is appropriate attire outdoors in winter but completely inappropriate indoors in winter.)

I'm proud to say that I've barely used the air conditioning at home so far this year. I'm determined to use less this year than last year. That said, I haven't been really put to the test yet, as the summer is only beginning, and we haven't had 90+ degree temperatures accompanied by 70+ degree dew points. So I've been able to get by with opening windows in the evening, or the heat has been moderate enough that I only needed to turn on the air conditioning for an hour or so (and even then, only about 3 times). I now close my STORM windows when using air conditioning. I shade the air conditioner and use aluminum foil on the windows to reflect the sunlight away and keep it out of the house. I've also ordered a timer for the window air conditioner I have at home so that I can cool the house just before I get home from work on those oppressively hot and humid days.

I'm appalled by the overuse of air conditioning in many buildings - many are chilled to the lower 70s or even 60s while I only cool to 79 degrees at home. I was shocked to read on old threads here at peakoil.com that such rampant air conditioning abuse takes place in subtropical Florida and Texas and tropical Singapore and Malaysia. It's one thing for people here in Iowa or elsewhere in the Midwest to be wimpy at handling the heat given that we also have the opposite extreme to contend with in winter. But you'd think that people in Florida and Texas would be used to the heat and would set their thermostats to at least 80 degrees. One of you noted the irony of people who move to Florida to enjoy the warm climate only to use the air conditioner year-round to isolate themselves from it. People living in Florida and Texas don't have to adapt to sustained freezing temperatures in winter, so that should give them a headstart in adapting to the summer heat.

I was even more shocked to read that some young people in Singapore and Malaysia can't spend more than a few minutes outside in their own native climate. Temperatures remain about the same year-round in that part of the world, so they don't have to adapt to opposing extremes every year like those of us in the Midwest. It's sad that so many people have to spend their whole lives stuck in a bubble like the famous Bubble Boy. At least the famous Bubble Boy had a rare health condition. Most of the heat wimps of Singapore and Malaysia are able-bodied.

I've realized that each degree a person raises the thermostat in summer can substantially conserve energy. I'm now wondering just how much the heat wimps use air conditioning. If I refused to let the house warm to more than 72 degrees, my air conditioning season would be 6 months per year instead of 3. If I insisted on keeping my house at 69 degrees, I'd regularly need the air conditioning on sunny days as early as March. Fortunately, I give the climate control system a rest in late April-May and September- early October, the mild months that require minimal use of air conditioning and heating.

Something else just struck me. Are there people who use both air conditioning and heat on the same day? There should be a wide indoor temperature range in which a person needs neither heat nor air conditioning. (For me, it's the 12 degrees between 67 and 79 degrees. I have kept the thermostat as low as 59 degrees, but that was in late winter, well before air conditioning season.) I can see that for someone with a narrow comfort range (perhaps 5 degrees or less), use of air conditioning and heat in the same day will happen regularly.

[HamRadioRocks]

One thing I try to remind myself in hot weather: The earliest human beings evolved on the hot African savanna without air conditioning!

[Jack]

I find 73 degrees to be quite comfortable. And, the gentle hum of the air conditioner blanks out the annoying sounds of human kind.

On a more serious note, I see no reason to conserve. Jevon's paradox and all that.

[Rogozhin]

Jack

What is this:

Jevon's paradox and all that.

Rogo

[frankthetank]

I agree with Jack. You conserve, someone else will burn it.

I had some people over and they were saying how warm it was in the house (i had the tstat set to 78F when the outside temp was in the upper 90's without heat index). I should have told them to get the hell out if they don't like it, but i turned it down some. Why don't these people just live on the banks of Hudson Bay? I know its nice and AC this time of year.

[coyote]

Why?

Mainly because most people don't give a shit.

They don't feel or see any connection between their own actions and the destruction. Or if they do, they lock it up tight, down deep.

Someone actually told members of my family about this some time ago, about how running their air conditioner was just going to help make it hotter out. I thought it was a good point.

I sat and listened to them tear this guy a new one (he was, fortunately, gone at that point). Asshole and all that. You'd think he was the biggest jerk they'd ever met.

These are reasonably nice, sincere people.

Our children have inherited techologies whose byproducts, whether in war or peace, are rapidly destroying the whole planet as a breathable, drinkable system for supporting life of any kind.

Anyone who has studied science and talks to scientists notices that we are in terrible danger now. Human beings, past and present, have trashed the joint.

The biggest truth now -- what is probably making me unfunny now for the remainder of my life -- is that I don't think people give a damn whether the planet goes on or not. It seems to me as if everyone is living as members of Alcoholics Anonymous do, day by day. And a few more days will be enough. I know of very few people who are dreaming of a world for their grandchildren.

Here's hoping oil and coal deplete right on schedule.

I'd like for my little niece to have a chance to grow old on a livable planet.

[Mircea]

One thing I try to remind myself in hot weather: The earliest human beings evolved on the hot African savanna without air conditioning!

It might be a hot savanna now, but back then it was cool and wet. Think Washington/Oregon/Vancouver. There was no where else on Earth to develop, since the planet was heavily glaciated throughout the entire period of human evolution, except during brief periods when global warming, a naturally occuring phenomenon triggered in part by Milankovitch Cycles, caused the glaciers to recede.

[Waterthrush]

One thing I try to remind myself in hot weather: The earliest human beings evolved on the hot African savanna without air conditioning!

What I remind myself is that most of us over 40 grew up without AC. I only turn mine on when I have guests. I hate the noise. I hate the separation from the outdoor world.

I do use it at work, though as little as possible. The building does not allow for cross ventilation very well. At home, I sleep so much better if it's warm or even hot, than I do when it's cold.

It's going to be hot and humid today. I am looking forward to some glasses of cold water with ice and some of the mint I'm growing. I am looking forward to putting on my lightest clothes. I'm looking forward to slowing down, maybe even a session with a book while on a lounge chair on the deck. Later on, a cold beer. I will move more slowly, but I will move - I will not say to myself, as I hear so many people do, "I can't function in the heat."

I understand that most people don't feel this way - but what I don't understand is why they have the AC down to 70 or lower - that's not even comfortable, you have to put on long sleeves for that.

[Aaron]

Jack

What is this:

Jevon's paradox and all that.

Rogo

http://www.peakoil.com/fortopic50.html

[nella]

I do use a/c, but do carefully. I turn it on usually when the outside temp is hitting 90, or if humidity/heat index is high And it's set ~ 78-79.
I dress appropriately for the weather.
I've ordered a sun shade for a half moon window I have. The window catches alot of afternon sun and really heats the room up. I'll be eager to see how much the sun shade helps with that.

I've worked in offices when the a/c is set in the low 70's, or been in houses where it's COLD with the a/c turned down that far. Never did see the point to needing to wear a sweater in the middle of summer.

[Heineken]

This whole subject has been discussed before.

Where do you live, HamRadio? That's an important detail.

Some northerners on this board. You haven't seen real heat-n-humidity. Maybe for a day or two, but not the kind that drags on for endless months.

Another thing: Going without air conditioning is fine if all you're doing is sitting around all day tapping on the computer. If you're outside doing real work, the need to cool off periodically arises or you don't get much work done, or you collapse.

Where I live, without air conditioning, things start to grow under your armpits, between your butt cheeks, and on the walls. The shower curtain turns black. You can't think straight. The dog dies. A shimmering madness descends.

I don't have a central system, just a little window unit, which I turn on at 2 p.m., when it's really getting miserable. I switch it off around 9 p.m., and at bedtime the window fan gets turned on. Me and my partner in crime sleep in front of the only other open window and feel the tepid woodland miasma roll over us.

Air conditioning is going to become a HUGE problem going forward, as temperatures rise and electricity bills soar. Our society, piece of dung that it is, couldn't function without it.

[rdsaltpower]

I cut my air conditioning use by 50 percent last summer and slept with the windows open at night. At the end of summer I had developed a considirable mold problem. You must find some way to remove the humidity from the air inside your home or mold will form.

[Ebyss]

Has anybody looked into Heat Recovery systems for cooling? Link

I *think* they can run off solar panels. If you hook the Heat Recovery system up to your woodburning stove, it requires no electricity (this is for heating, mind you). There must be a way to integrate the two (actually on the site above I believe there is).

I haven't looked into it as we don't need cooling so much as heating over here, though that may change with GW.

[WisJim]

We don't have air conditioning and don't want it. Shade trees, window shades, and occassional fan use gets us through the days of 90+ heat and 80% humidity just fine.

I have spent summers in Louisiana, waking up to 80+ degrees and 80%+ humidity and have it get warmer and wetter all day, but that was back in the 1960-70s and the only places that were airconditioned were libraries, movie theaters, and rich people's homes. We just drank a lot of water and survived fine. The bad thing I recall were worms in the nuts in candy bars. Put me off eating peanuts for decades.

[Johnston]

As global temperatures rise, the need for heating will be greatly reduced, outweighing the increased use of a/c.

So in terms of heating/cooling, global warming is probably reducing demand on fossil fuels.

[Laurasia]

Unfortunately, Johnston, air conditioning uses a tremendous amount of electricity, most of which, at least where I am living, is produced by coal. As the years roll by and electricity production becomes more problematic, I see us becoming a race of troglodytes. Burrowing into the cool, dark earth (making our own caves!) will be the way to go in the future. But until that time, trying to make do with less air conditioning would surely help us become acclimatized (forget about the conservation aspect)? I'm not able to do that, because he who remote controls the TV also controls the thermostat in our house But I spend a lot of time out of doors in the heat on the weekend, trying to work in tune with the climate (working early in the morning in the garden, etc).

Regards,

L.

[Heineken]

As global temperatures rise, the need for heating will be greatly reduced, outweighing the increased use of a/c.

So in terms of heating/cooling, global warming is probably reducing demand on fossil fuels.

Johnston, I disagree with your assertion, on an intuitive basis.

I heat my place entirely with wood. So I'm not dependent on any fossil fuels for heating, and I don't use any (except the gasoline in my chainsaw). But for AC I'm totally dependent on Dominion Virginia Power, and as temps rise I'll be sending them more money for cooling.

People can heat with wood, but they can't cool with wood. People can stay warm by putting on heavy clothing, but they can't cool off by putting on heavy clothing.

The power blackouts and brownouts, or the threats thereof, always happen in summer up here, during peak demand for AC.

My sense is that a hotter world will be harder on the electricity bill, on average, and thus cut deeper into fossil fuels.

[pea-jay]

I dont have airconditioning. I haven't had one in years. I ditched my lone window unit in 1999 and last had central ac in 1993.

Right now that's not a problem for me. I live where it is bone dry where the searing heat is short lived and transitions into cool crisp nights. SF Bay breezes make it in late afternoon to drop the temps abit. Close the windows during the day, run the window fans at night is my basic strategy. I'll use a swamp cooler for the extra hot days. Of course that strategy doesnt work everywhere, like where it is humid, where I grew up.

I hate overly cooled offices. I worked in a state of virginia office over a decade ago that was so chilled, I would go outside to take "warm breaks" like i was an f***ing smoker or something. Back then I lived in a postwar apt complex w/no AC. Fine with me. I dressed loosely, drank fluids and ran a smallish window unit in the evening hours. At night I slept naked with a window fan blowing. Never uncomfortable

Besides, sweating is part of living. People that dont sweat use fewer calories which isnt good because we havent reduced our food intake to match our pampered climate controlled lives. In otherwords, our airconditioning is helping make us fatter too.

[pea-jay]

Something else just struck me. Are there people who use both air conditioning and heat on the same day? There should be a wide indoor temperature range in which a person needs neither heat nor air conditioning. (For me, it's the 12 degrees between 67 and 79 degrees. I have kept the thermostat as low as 59 degrees, but that was in late winter, well before air conditioning season.) I can see that for someone with a narrow comfort range (perhaps 5 degrees or less), use of air conditioning and heat in the same day will happen regularly.

It does exist, though probably not where you live. In the drier climates like California and especially the high deserts, you will need heating and cooling in the same day if you dont have a decent insulation on your house. Why? Temperature swings. Here where I live, 40 degrees (lo 50, hi 90) is pretty common. Some high desert areas will go between the upper 30s to the lower 90s and back on a daily basis. Contrast that to the east and you can see how some people use both in a single day.