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The far-reaching effects of air conditioning

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Re: The far-reaching effects of air conditioning

#141

Post by miketuritzin »

nemo44x wrote: post #137
jaseemabid wrote: post #2

Unless you have lived in the tropical humid heat, you wont be able to relate to this. Moving to NYC recently and living without an AC or even a fan feels so glorious. I bet 10% of my brain was constantly fighting the heat back when I was in south of India.

When did you move to NYC? It hasn't gotten hot yet this year but you'll see that living without an AC or a fan is hell here. The inside of apartments (especially older ones which most are) gets amazingly hot and it stays that way once it heats up outside. It has been a rather cool spring and we haven't had a heat wave yet but rest assured once we do you will find inside your apartment will be unbearably hot and humid…

It has been quite cool so far this year. My experience moving to NYC from northern CA three years ago has been: 1st summer (2014) I got by without an AC (but with fans) and it wasn't that bad. 2nd summer (2015) was quite agonizingly hot and humid and I vowed to get an AC for the next year. 3rd summer (2016) I had an AC and was very glad as it was quite hot that year as well.

Re: The far-reaching effects of air conditioning

#143

Post by rudedogg »

I live in an area where evaporative coolers are effective. I hate setting it up every year, and was looking into central air. When researching I learned about how efficient evaporative coolers are, and it gave me more appreciation for them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler:

    * Estimated cost of operation is 1/8 that of refrigerated air conditioning
It's really interesting to think about the advantages/disadvantages of geography in regards to power generation/consumption. It didn't really occur to me until going through the above experience.

----------------

The design of these systems is really interesting. Most of them have a lot of wearable parts (belt and bearings), which means more maintenance. There are some new designs (http://www.bonaire-usa.com/products.html#window) that do away with the "squirrel cage" fan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_fan), and a lot of the maintenance. I wonder if the efficiency of the new design is lower than the traditional centrifugal fan design?

I know this can be found - I just don't want to go too deep researching. If anyone knows off hand I'd appreciate an answer!

Re: The far-reaching effects of air conditioning

#144

Post by btbuildem »

jaboutboul wrote: post #135

Odd that no one here has made any comments on the correlation of the massive boom in air conditioning in the last 30 years around the world and climate change. Wouldn't it seem like having an ever increasing number of these things, humming constantly in both hemispheres all throughout the year and generating loads of hot air and greenhouse gases, is a significant contributor (even maybe main contributor) to the globa…

That, and they insulate us from the effects of climate change. Out of sight, out of mind, right?

Re: The far-reaching effects of air conditioning

#145

Post by logfromblammo »

zild3d wrote: post #127
exergy wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In India, we employed a variety of methods that, all combined, did a good enough job of keeping things cool. The first was a stepwell, called Baoli in Hindi. This was basically a giant swimming pool dug out and filled with water. Around the stepwell, terrace-like steps were created where the general public could hang out and stay cool. For example[1]. Another method was to have dual walls with some lattice patterns o…

you can swim in that water?

You can, but you probably shouldn't.

Even if you don't get an infection, you would certainly be ejected or arrested for misbehaving at a historical landmark site.

Re: The far-reaching effects of air conditioning

#146

Post by humanrebar »

rudedogg wrote: post #143

I live in an area where evaporative coolers are effective. I hate setting it up every year, and was looking into central air. When researching I learned about how efficient evaporative coolers are, and it gave me more appreciation for them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler : * Estimated cost of operation is 1/8 that of refrigerated air conditioning It's really interesting to think about the advantages…

> It's really interesting to think about the advantages/disadvantages of geography in regards to power generation/consumption.

I've seen air conditioning that amounted to basically a shaft into a natural underground cave and a fan.

I've also heard of people watering the roofs of their houses in the summer to get low-tech just-in-time evaporative cooling for their attics.

Re: The far-reaching effects of air conditioning

#148

Post by tjl »

NoGravitas wrote: post #106
arethuza wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect it very much depends what you are used to - I probably think of 15C as "comfortable" and 25C inside would be sweltering. Having said that I'm in Scotland - the other day we had heavy rain and it was 8C which is weather we could get at any time of the year!

Wow. I think of 15C as "comfortable if I'm outside doing stuff and wearing long sleeves", but inside, it's "put the heat on (to 18C) and put on a sweater". 25C inside is what we set the air conditioning to in the summer at night so it's easier to go to sleep, but in the day, 26.5 is fine. This is in the southeastern US, and I've converted all temperatures from how I normally think of them in F. Also, my workplace kee…

In my department at my university, professors and staff usually end up bringing a sweater and leaving it in the office so they have it in the summer. It gets kind of cold in the offices.

I've set my apartment to 26C. I find that without the humidity (since the AC deals with that too), 26C is actually not too bad for the summer.

Re: The far-reaching effects of air conditioning

#149

Post by Declanomous »

pavlov wrote: post #56
_0nac wrote: post #11

Lee Kuan Yew, founder of modern Singapore: "Air conditioning was a most important invention for us, perhaps one of the signal inventions of history. It changed the nature of civilization by making development possible in the tropics. Without air conditioning you can work only in the cool early-morning hours or at dusk. The first thing I did upon becoming prime minister was to install air conditioners in buildings whe…

Japan is further ahead, as they have optimized this with a decade-old policy called "Cool Biz". To save energy and money by reducing AC, office workers are allowed to wear more casual clothing in the summer: https://qz.com/465327/ditch-the-tie-and-reduce-the-ac-japans...

I wish we had that rule. My last 3 jobs have been in historical buildings. One didn't have AC, and the other two have barely had functional AC.

My desk reaches about 80 degrees once the weather is over 65, and it won't drop below that until the fall. In order to make our AC more efficient they "weather sealed" the windows, which mostly involved gluing them shut. So now I can't open the window when it's cooler outside.

I'm sitting at my desk with my sleeves and pant legs rolled up like a five year old pretending to be a pirate. Most of the women don't mind because they can wear light dresses and slip on shoes.

The did give me a fan after I asked HR if I could wear women's clothing to work.

But seriously, it's kind of ridiculous to be paying to cool a place to a certain temperature when literally nobody in the office has any reason to be dressed up.

Re: The far-reaching effects of air conditioning

#150

Post by rudedogg »

humanrebar wrote: post #146
rudedogg wrote: post #143

I live in an area where evaporative coolers are effective. I hate setting it up every year, and was looking into central air. When researching I learned about how efficient evaporative coolers are, and it gave me more appreciation for them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler : * Estimated cost of operation is 1/8 that of refrigerated air conditioning It's really interesting to think about the advantages…

> It's really interesting to think about the advantages/disadvantages of geography in regards to power generation/consumption. I've seen air conditioning that amounted to basically a shaft into a natural underground cave and a fan. I've also heard of people watering the roofs of their houses in the summer to get low-tech just-in-time evaporative cooling for their attics.

The cave thing is neat - sounds like an easy form of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_heating
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