41–50 of 80 posts
The old school way was to go away somewhere else in summer. There is no replacement for air conditioning. It's a modern marvel. People who hate it should also refuse to have heating in winter.
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Most of the time these things are governed by whatever's cheaper (in the short run). Maybe electrical energy is massively subsidized or just cheap in general. Installing shutters can be a large up-front investment, especially when installed by somebody else. It may take many years of burning energy with an AC to earn that back. Also maybe the home isn't even yours, but you are renting. The owner doesn't care about yo…
I thought it was more of a cultural thing, or perhaps enforced by the building code ? Here in France I've never seen a house or flat without shutters. In Bangkok, when I was looking for a condo, none of them had shutters. A cursory web search tells me shutters can influence the DPE ("diagnostic de performance énergétique".) A bad rating means you can't rent your property.
The old school way was to go away somewhere else in summer. There is no replacement for air conditioning. It's a modern marvel. People who hate it should also refuse to have heating in winter.
You seem to be hellbent on marketing AC. I don't understand why it has to be a polarizing issue. Clearly it is much different than heating in winter; the latter is a matter of survival, while the former is mostly a matter of comfort. One could indeed argue that in the precarious state we are in, expending energy for unnecessary comfort should be minimized, something that passive designs can aid. As we also try to min…
Maybe we need shade structures - a shade above/around the building and detached so that air flows underneath and there are no thermal bridges to the building proper. Like you would make to protect tents at e.g. Burning Man.
That's called a tree, they work quite well! A little time consuming to grow to sufficient height however
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We have more energy hitting the planet every second as radiation than we can possibly use. This is a non-issue for any civilised society switching to solar.
By all means, install off-grid AC powered by solar on your roof. Please report on how well it goes.
I’m in central Texas and it isn’t uncommon for rooftop solar to generate enough power to cover central a/c. Peak sun and peak a/c happen at the same time.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
By all means, install off-grid AC powered by solar on your roof. Please report on how well it goes.
Why is off-grid a requirement? I’m in central Texas and it isn’t uncommon for rooftop solar to generate enough power to cover central a/c. Peak sun and peak a/c happen at the same time.
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The old-school way of dealing with excess heat or excess cold was to go somewhere else. People have been doing that for thousands of years. And yes, workers would also leave the cities and go stay with their relatives in the cooler countryside. There's nothing wrong with the passive ways, when they are enough.
Ah the entire population of Spain moved to the UK every summer and back in winter. That must be the immigrant invasion that Reform are screeching about.
https://blog.myheritage.com/2018/08/good-old-summertime-our-...
While all of these might offer some cooling in your home, nothing beats air conditioning.
While all of these might offer some cooling in your home, nothing beats air conditioning.
In many places in Europe, there is only 1-2 weeks where AC is needed, and that is the main reason why many people don't want to bother with it.
All these assume that the ambient temperature outside will be lower than the temperature in your home, hence you want the air to come in but keep the sun out. In southern Europe this is false for many weeks during the summer. During heatwaves you want to open all the windows during the night, and close everything at 9ish-10. Because the temperature outside is going to rise to 40-45 celsius the ambient air will only h…
> In southern Europe this is false for many weeks during the summer. This is also now often false in non-southern Europe as well. Apparently one of the reasons why French don't have air conditioning is because nights tended to be cool in the past, and so people left windows and doors open while sleeping creating drafts and letting the masonry cool. But in the last ~15 years nights have been as hot as days at times, a…
Unfortunately, there are many areas of the US where humidity is the real reason for running the AC so much. In places like the Mid-Atlantic states you might get a month or so in spring and fall where you mostly don't need AC or heat. Once summer actually hits, it seems rare to have a day where it's under 85F and under 70% humidity. The south is even worse.