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

Study: Home air conditioning cut premature deaths on hot days 80% since 1960

washingtonpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 45 posts

Re: Study: Home air conditioning cut premature deaths on hot days 80% since 1960

#31

Post by nostromo »

Vitaly wrote: post #25
ronnier wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought an AC for my home in Seattle before last summer. Cost about $4,200 and was worth it in my opinion.

crazy. here in Israel everyone have AC. There are cities where some kind of AC is mandated if you are bulding a house. And the price is rock botton. you can have a simple one that can cool a small to medium room for about 200$ and a bigger one for the main room is about 500-700$. installation is usually another 150$. 4200$?? - crazy.

We have those in the US too -- but if you're trying to cool an entire house, you'd use a central air conditioner to get better efficiency.

These are placed in the yard away from the house. Here's a picture: http://www.getgreenair.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/home_h...

Re: Study: Home air conditioning cut premature deaths on hot days 80% since 1960

#32

Post by w1ntermute »

alexjeffrey wrote: post #29
3825 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A decent-sized house with a decent-sized lawn still costs around $200k.

sounds pretty good to me - a decent house in England anywhere except London will cost you at least £120,000, and developer salaries average out at £30,000. [edit] oh, and my impression is that a decent sized house here is quite a bit smaller than in the States.

> my impression is that a decent sized house here is quite a bit smaller than in the States

A decent-sized house in America is 2000-3000 sqft (185-275 sq meters). You will usually get two floors and a two car garage. And if you pay a little extra, a finished basement as well.

And of course, the entire house, top to bottom, back to front, has central air-conditioning and heating, controlled from a single point. If you get fiber-glass insulation in the attic, properly insulated walls, and double-paned windows, you can easily survive a Midwestern summer (during which the number of days the temperature is above 40C can easily be a dozen or more) without ever opening a window or breaking a sweat, and you won't break the bank doing it.

Not being able to do that in Europe is probably the biggest reason why I would never able to live there (or in places like Seattle, where central air isn't common). Even if it only gets hot occasionally, having to essentially "condemn" most of the house to the outside temperature and just sit inside one room the whole day is not a lifestyle I could tolerate.

Re: Study: Home air conditioning cut premature deaths on hot days 80% since 1960

#33

Post by ronnier »

Vitaly wrote: post #25
ronnier wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought an AC for my home in Seattle before last summer. Cost about $4,200 and was worth it in my opinion.

crazy. here in Israel everyone have AC. There are cities where some kind of AC is mandated if you are bulding a house. And the price is rock botton. you can have a simple one that can cool a small to medium room for about 200$ and a bigger one for the main room is about 500-700$. installation is usually another 150$. 4200$?? - crazy.

As someone else mentioned, this was for an outdoor unit that cools the entire house through the central air and heat system.

My time in Israel was rather cold and required a jacket most times :)

Re: Study: Home air conditioning cut premature deaths on hot days 80% since 1960

#34

Post by MattDL »

w1ntermute wrote: post #32
alexjeffrey wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sounds pretty good to me - a decent house in England anywhere except London will cost you at least £120,000, and developer salaries average out at £30,000. [edit] oh, and my impression is that a decent sized house here is quite a bit smaller than in the States.

> my impression is that a decent sized house here is quite a bit smaller than in the States A decent-sized house in America is 2000-3000 sqft (185-275 sq meters). You will usually get two floors and a two car garage. And if you pay a little extra, a finished basement as well. And of course, the entire house, top to bottom, back to front, has central air-conditioning and heating, controlled from a single point. If you…

It's not really too bad honestly, it's an acclimatisation thing.

Spent a few holidays in places where it was regularly 35+ degrees and only really struggled for a day or two, I can't imagine it being worse for you if you live there full time since you'd be much more used to the weather.

Re: Study: Home air conditioning cut premature deaths on hot days 80% since 1960

#35

Post by w1ntermute »

MattDL wrote: post #34
w1ntermute wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> my impression is that a decent sized house here is quite a bit smaller than in the States A decent-sized house in America is 2000-3000 sqft (185-275 sq meters). You will usually get two floors and a two car garage. And if you pay a little extra, a finished basement as well. And of course, the entire house, top to bottom, back to front, has central air-conditioning and heating, controlled from a single point. If you…

It's not really too bad honestly, it's an acclimatisation thing. Spent a few holidays in places where it was regularly 35+ degrees and only really struggled for a day or two, I can't imagine it being worse for you if you live there full time since you'd be much more used to the weather.

I have spent months at a time in such places, and I never got used to it. I longed for the day I would return home, and I truly relished it when I did. I don't think I'll ever get used to it.

Re: Study: Home air conditioning cut premature deaths on hot days 80% since 1960

#37

Post by saosebastiao »

citricsquid wrote: post #3

I absolutely hate hot temperatures and find the summer truly horrendous because in England it's getting hotter and hotter, this year my apartment was over 35c / 95f on multiple days... but air conditioning just doesn't exist here, I've never known anyone to have it in their home. This article explains that air conditioning is inexpensive now, so why does America have such huge air con usage and England none? Was it a…

Not many people realize this, but Seattle is the highest latitude major city in the US, at approximately the same latitude as Paris. Most Seattlites also do not have air conditioning. But most everywhere else does. The vast majority of American cities have climates much closer to Madrid or Rome.

Re: Study: Home air conditioning cut premature deaths on hot days 80% since 1960

#38

Post by cesarbs »

MattDL wrote: post #34
w1ntermute wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> my impression is that a decent sized house here is quite a bit smaller than in the States A decent-sized house in America is 2000-3000 sqft (185-275 sq meters). You will usually get two floors and a two car garage. And if you pay a little extra, a finished basement as well. And of course, the entire house, top to bottom, back to front, has central air-conditioning and heating, controlled from a single point. If you…

It's not really too bad honestly, it's an acclimatisation thing. Spent a few holidays in places where it was regularly 35+ degrees and only really struggled for a day or two, I can't imagine it being worse for you if you live there full time since you'd be much more used to the weather.

I was born and have lived in Brazil for the last 25 years. I was never able to tolerate the heat. I live in the south, were the winters are cold (it gets to 0C in some years) but the summers are ridiculously hot and humid (35C+ most of the time, sometimes the "feels like" is 45C). Most people here have a hard time with the heat, despite having lived here all their lives. Sometimes it's so incredibly hot that setting air condition to the lowest possible temperature only prevents it from getting hotter and hotter inside the house, but it still feels damn hot all day.

Personally, heat makes me literally sick. My blood pressure plummets (even though I have very good health), I can't think straight (productivity drops to like 10% of what I'm able to accomplish in winter), and I feel extremely stressed. I also get skin rashes and abdominal pain frequently.

Thank God I'm moving to Seattle next month :) I know it can get very hot in the summer there, but at least they get short summers. Our summer lasts 4-5 months.

Re: Study: Home air conditioning cut premature deaths on hot days 80% since 1960

#39

Post by pixl97 »

switch007 wrote: post #15
michaelochurch wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cumulative heat stress is the danger, so it's actually hot nights that kill people, probably because of impaired sleep quality. (Aside from heatstroke, most of these excess deaths occur in people already in poor health.) 95°F / 35°C during the day is fine, but 75°F / 24°C at night (without A/C) is deadly, especially considering that most apartments are significantly warmer than the outside at night.

Can anyone explain why you can stand the heat in the day, but when it comes to night, while it may be a comfortable 15c outside you can't sleep, and it seems much hotter? Maybe it's just me. I'm talking about those (rare) 30c hot days in an English summer (no sniggering). Is it internal, bodily factors or external factors (e.g. the house absorbing the heat? I don't buy that, though, as I can have all the windows open…

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig5/mercola23.1.html

"When you sleep, your body’s internal temperature actually drops to its lowest level, generally about four hours after you fall asleep. Scientists believe a cooler bedroom may therefore be most conducive to sleep, since it mimics your body’s natural temperature drop."

Re: Study: Home air conditioning cut premature deaths on hot days 80% since 1960

#40

Post by cesarbs »

Someone wrote: post #14
michaelochurch wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cumulative heat stress is the danger, so it's actually hot nights that kill people, probably because of impaired sleep quality. (Aside from heatstroke, most of these excess deaths occur in people already in poor health.) 95°F / 35°C during the day is fine, but 75°F / 24°C at night (without A/C) is deadly, especially considering that most apartments are significantly warmer than the outside at night.

"most apartments are significantly warmer than the outside at night" I see two reasons for that. Firstly, people simply do not know how to keep their houses cool. On hot nights, people will do the right thing and open windows to cool down the house. However, at day, they will not close windows and curtains to keep the cold air in and the heat out (opening windows will not cool your house if the air outside is warmer…

Are there places where one can open their windows at night when it's hot? In Brazil you get instantly covered by all sorts of insects if you do that.
Post reply on HN