Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Air Conditioning Is Not a Luxury, It Is a Necessity

humanprogress.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 291 posts

Re: Air Conditioning Is Not a Luxury, It Is a Necessity

#171

Post by rdtsc »

piskov wrote: post #138
rdedev wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is when humidity rises it makes it harder forbthe body to expel hear via evaporation. This is what is happening in places like UK this time around. An AC helps get rid of the humidity as it cools the air. I don't know about necessity now but 20 years down the line, who knows

Cooling the air by definition raises the humidity :-) Dehumidifier mode in AC works by cooling the air below the dew point, removing the condensation, then warming the air up (either by itself or literally heating it up)

> Cooling the air by definition raises the humidity :-)

That’s a bit too nitpick-y. It raises the relative humidity by the condenser coil unit so it condenses and drips out, but air flowing back into the rooms will have less humidity.

Re: Air Conditioning Is Not a Luxury, It Is a Necessity

#172

Post by bob1029 »

iso1631 wrote: post #123
bob1029 wrote: post #98

> This ailment is mysteriously absent from the United States, where indoor temperatures are often kept at around 75 degrees even when it’s 100 degrees outside If having a high temperature delta was a concern everyone in Texas would be dead by now. I set my thermostat to 65F in August. My house is at 67F right now and it's 81F outside (at 7AM). We're still catching up from yesterday. I don't see the point in allowing…

> I set my thermostat to 65F in August. Ouch, that's far too cold for me in the UK. I have the house at 20C during the day (68F), and only drop to 18C (64F) at night. When I had poor insulation that meant heating was regularly on 8 months a year, although it's on less now I live in a well insulated house.

The point is that 65F is an unattainable temperature which results in the unit never shutting off. My pathetic 3-ton system cannot actually reach set point when the delta is 35+ degrees.

Re: Air Conditioning Is Not a Luxury, It Is a Necessity

#173

Post by dguest »

> the French government [1] have said that cooling a room .. more than 15 degrees ... can trigger “thermal shock.” ... This ailment is mysteriously absent from the United States...

Leaving aside that this kind of insinuation makes the article look like cheap rage-bate, cold shock is a cardiovascular risk to the same populations that are most vulnerable to heat waves, and the French government article was recommendations to implement AC in a reasonable way to keep them safe. The underlying weirdness here is that neither of them is a problem for most of the population: the vast majority of heat-wave deaths aren't otherwise healthy people. If you're going to write an article advocating AC, predicated on the deaths heat causes, you should at least mention that you're worried about a very specific population.

For sure heat is uncomfortable for everyone. But so is cold shock: don't drop the temperature by 15°C so that I have to wear a coat to work in the middle of summer. That's just silly.

[1]: https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/loda/id/LEGITEXT000006051990/...

Re: Air Conditioning Is Not a Luxury, It Is a Necessity

#174

Post by TrackerFF »

Arodex wrote: post #48
TrackerFF wrote: post #36

Here in Norway AC is not the standard in hotel rooms. For 80% of the year, that's OK - but it can become pretty uncomfortable if you're booking anytime between mid-June and mid-August. The standard here are heat pumps, at least for residential housing. It is really only a problem if you live in blocks or apartment buildings that are housing associations, with strict rules regarding how such heat pumps should be insta…

>Here in Norway AC is not the standard in hotel rooms. Since when should there be AC in friggin' Norway ?

As I wrote, most of the time it isn't a problem. There's some central heating which gives you a range of temperature, but getting your room cold is much harder than heating it up.

But during summer months, where some cities can hit 30+ degrees (C), that could become uncomfortable. Even worse if you're somewhere humid...20 degrees in high humidity can make you toss and turn all night.

Re: Air Conditioning Is Not a Luxury, It Is a Necessity

#175

Post by soco »

koalalimpo wrote: post #167
deanc wrote: post #4

We have those stupid regulations in Finland about how the outside of our apartments buildings should look - meaning you cannot put the condenser visibly on the outside of the building. I've heard stories of residents being scalded for putting flowers on their balcony railings that face outwards as it ruins the "look". Given almost all apartment buildings are built consistently between every floor they could ensure co…

I think you misunderstand what isolation does. It will also keep the heat out. Having window awnings to block sunlight from directly warming up the room will go a long way.

Now here is exactly one place where the regulation can hit hard: awnings are maybe not allowed because the house wasn't designed with them. Possible to get the new design approved? For sure. Simple? Ha.

Re: Air Conditioning Is Not a Luxury, It Is a Necessity

#176

Post by raincom »

titzer wrote: post #47
deanc wrote: post #4

We have those stupid regulations in Finland about how the outside of our apartments buildings should look - meaning you cannot put the condenser visibly on the outside of the building. I've heard stories of residents being scalded for putting flowers on their balcony railings that face outwards as it ruins the "look". Given almost all apartment buildings are built consistently between every floor they could ensure co…

Is it really so hard to put a small fence around it to hide the ugly?

Fencing AC units is a very bad idea, as they just cause air flow problems. After all, air and refrigerant circuit exchange heat.

Re: Air Conditioning Is Not a Luxury, It Is a Necessity

#177

Post by ozim »

piskov wrote: post #138
rdedev wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is when humidity rises it makes it harder forbthe body to expel hear via evaporation. This is what is happening in places like UK this time around. An AC helps get rid of the humidity as it cools the air. I don't know about necessity now but 20 years down the line, who knows

Cooling the air by definition raises the humidity :-) Dehumidifier mode in AC works by cooling the air below the dew point, removing the condensation, then warming the air up (either by itself or literally heating it up)

Now my room is 26.5C and 40% relative humidity, it is really pleasant. There are days where it is 24C and relative humidity is showing 55%, that's when I turn on AC.

Re: Air Conditioning Is Not a Luxury, It Is a Necessity

#178

Post by soco »

anilakar wrote: post #111
deanc wrote: post #4

We have those stupid regulations in Finland about how the outside of our apartments buildings should look - meaning you cannot put the condenser visibly on the outside of the building. I've heard stories of residents being scalded for putting flowers on their balcony railings that face outwards as it ruins the "look". Given almost all apartment buildings are built consistently between every floor they could ensure co…

> ensure consistent placement of condensers You can install one on the balcony below the railing level. The housing company is responsible for the exterior surfaces and thus also responsible for whatever happens to fall on bystanders when it will inevitably happen. AC installers are also notoriously bad at following placement guidelines.

I've had one placed like this in the balcony of a XVth century palazzo turned museum plus hotel, straight in the historical heart of Verona. If they can do it, everybody can do it as well.

Re: Air Conditioning Is Not a Luxury, It Is a Necessity

#179

Post by lesostep »

okaleniuk wrote: post #168

Has anyone ever argued that AC is luxury? This century? Really? I believe, the division goes between harm/comfort and not luxury/necessity. I don't have AC at home. Some think I don't install it because I somehow don't get hot in summer or cold at winter. It's the other way around. We, people, have one of the best thermoregulation systems among animals, our whole skin is essentially a huge cooling system. The only wa…

The other side is: my grandmother could survive heatwave just because her house wasn't heating up that much. It's old, it's stone, stone is just good at keeping temperature even. And the air coming through the windows passes through trees that are good at lowering temperature.

Even if it got a bit hot – like it does in mine, that has less volumetric heat capacity — simple floor scrub lowers temperature. Evaporating water is just a very good at that, and floor is a big area.

If we take a house made of paper and place it in a place with no trees and a lot of asphalt, I believe that AC could become a necessity. No amount of evaporating water could help you to fight heat rising from the road.

But I much prefer better houses and city planning

Re: Air Conditioning Is Not a Luxury, It Is a Necessity

#180

Post by tempfile »

vlyan wrote: post #170
tempfile wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lazy climate change denialism, nobody is convinced.

acknowledging that climate has changed is climate change denialism?

What did you mean by "preserve the klimat for someone else's children" then?
Post reply on HN