by aflatoxin » Wed 19 Apr 2006, 22:36:08
We lived without a/c for over 10 years. Our house has wide eaves that keeps the sun off the walls.
The house has a pitched roof/crawlspace. the hot roof is insulated with foil-backed insulation. The crawlspace/ceiling is insulated to r-55. During the summer, I open the gable vents, and let the roof turbines rip. I also have white shingles.
We open windows at night. Close them during the day. We live in the middle of an flood irrigated lawn, and have a few strategically placed trees.
Even when it's 100 outside, it rarely gets over 85 in the house. When I did put in an a/c system, the thing rarely runs except for the hottest days. I keep it set at 80.
Due to good design, the system is pretty inexpensive to run. I put the condensing unit in the shade, which I'm sure helps a lot. It only costs about $10 a month to run. (I would estimate 100 kwh) I could live without it though. The main reason for the a/c was it is part of the dual-fuel heatpump/gas furnace setup.
If I went with earth source heatpump technology, I could probably halve this power usage.
I'm really sceptical about the efficiency of window units.
Swamp coolers work really well in the desert, but, they use a lot of water (I've heard several hundred gallons a day) The City of Albuquerque actively encourages people to use refrigerated air. Swamp coolers suck in a lot of dust and pollen, which can cause problems for some people. the mineral content of the water adds to this issue as well, creating a microcrystiline silica issue, as well as (in this area at least) arsenic, manganese, and other dissolved solids. Plus, swamp coolers can provide a habitat for little beasties like legionella.
I've lived in New Mexico my entire life. I work outside when it's hot. I drink a lot of water, try to stay out of the sun, and if it's really too hot, I go take a siesta, and finish up when things cool off. 100-105 is pretty easy to cope with if you manage things well.
The only time when it was really too hot to deal with it was when i was working in Daggett, California, (125) and Goodvear, AZ (120). I would just avoid these places and live somewhere else