Comments on: Keeping Cool and Staying Green

By: Kim

Kim — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:35:19 +0000

If people really want to go green and stay cool they need to trade in that central air conditioner for a geothermal system.

By: Peter Croft

Peter Croft — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 14:03:49 +0000

“Have not needed the A/C here in the Northeast. For June, heating degree days far exceed cooling degree days in our little corner of Connecticut.”

The point I’m making is that in the UK we don’t have cooling days. We just get hot and try and pretend we enjoy it. Forecast is 27 deg C in London today (81F) and its only June.

By: Peter Croft

Peter Croft — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 07:57:07 +0000

Gail,

Well, yes – it is about expectations. That’s part of the problem. A typical citizen in Africa or India would experience the same extremes of temperature as in the US but mostly has no expectation of A/C. On the other hand, when the debate is conducted on an American blog it is a given before the debate has even started that A/C is a non-negotiable basic human right. (OK – bit black and white, but that’s basically the picture).

We spent a couple of weeks in Florida – in August – about 10 years ago (before I worried about cc I hasten to add). Very, very hot and very, very humid. In the short time it took to sprint from the A/C’d car to the A/C’d house my glasses so completely steamed up so I could’t see anything! My conclusion – some places are carbon intensive places to live. Maybe people should think about moving.

By: Donald B

Donald B — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:50:58 +0000

An additional way to save energy in both winter and summer is to install a Heat or Energy Recovery Ventilator (HRV/ERV) system for your house. As always, there is an advantage in doing it in new construction, but this takes house air and puts it through a heat and/or humidity (enthalpy energy) exchange with the air being brought into the house to replace it. Thus in summer the humidity/heat is extracted from the incoming air to the outgoing air and in winter the opposite happens. This saves the work (energy consumption) of the cooling/dehumidification process in the air conditioning process in summer and some of the heating/humidification process in winter.

By: Henry

Henry — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 19:26:40 +0000

You have a lot of helpful ideas listed here! Another altnerative would be to install a geothermal heat pump . They cut energy bills in half and with the tax incentives available, they are becoming quite affordable. It's great to see people trying to tackle our energy problems!

By: Neil Howes

Neil Howes — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:53:50 +0000

Joe,
Great advice about ceiling fans, we use ours but also a little A/C to reduce the humidity.
Good energy conservation doesn’t have to mean being less comfortable any more than reducing CO2 means only using less energy, replacing coal and oil with renewable energy has to be the main strategy, with energy efficiency speeding up the process.

By: John

John — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 04:06:41 +0000

Have not needed the A/C here in the Northeast. For June, heating degree days far exceed cooling degree days in our little corner of Connecticut.

By: Omega Centauri

Omega Centauri — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 03:43:49 +0000

I’m huffing and puffing cause I just put a roll of R19 into the attic, I’ll worry about putting it down (as an extra layer beyond what is already there) tommorow morning. I got a couple touches to finish with the radiant barrier first. Hopefully these mods will make a substantial effect. Our central valley like climate is very hot, and usually no summertime clouds whatsoever. But, this year a persistant west coast trough is keeping things cool windy, and sometimes even cloudy. Haven’t needed the air for weeks now.

For those living in a dry climate, letting in cool air at night -fan assisted if the nighttime cold and wind is marginal can bank enough coolness in a house to delay the need for AC until late afternoon (or in decent weather, until the evening cooldown). Just by being a little bit smart, and not just relying on the thermostat, you should be able to cut you cooling bill in half. My insulation project will hopefully cut that in half yet again.

By: Gail

Gail — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:09:29 +0000

Peter, it doesn’t get nearly so hot in the UK, that’s why! So you are neither particularly virtuous, or deprived. You have a very mild climate (or have had, at least so far) without extremes of hot or cold, which is why so many splendid gardens thrive in Cornwall for instance, with all sorts of tropical plants that succumb to more extreme temperature variations elsewhere.

But some of it is just expectations. I can remember back when having A/C in a car was a rare luxury that I scorned. When we got into the car to go home from the beach in Massachusetts where I grew up, oh so many years ago, it was like clambering into an oven, and even with all the windows open, we would sweat all the way home.

Now people let the car run and spew noxious fumes into the air before they will start to drive.

By: Peter Croft

Peter Croft — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:59:40 +0000

It is almost unheard of to have permanently installed A/C in a domestic situation here in the UK.

I don’t know whether to feel all green and virtuous or a bit third world.