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The far-reaching effects of air conditioning

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Re: The far-reaching effects of air conditioning

#21

Post by dobecker »

ishi wrote: post #8

The downside of air conditioned homes is that houses are now built with very little regard to insulation and intelligent use of the sun (to warm the house at winter) and the wind (to cool it during summertime). My house has a large, paper-thin southern wall and during the summer it gets so hot that it radiates heat into the house at night. So I have to air-condition my bedroom at night. And the windows are stupidly d…

That's why there's a law in germany that you have to present an Energy Performance Certificate when you sell, let or build a house/appartement. It shows how good the building is insulated and how much energy you need to cool/heat it. But then electricity is much more expensive than in the US.

EDIT: Seems like this is true for all european countries

Re: The far-reaching effects of air conditioning

#22

Post by nsxwolf »

pitaj wrote: post #18
jay-anderson wrote: post #5

> A study in Phoenix, Arizona, found the hot air pumped out of air conditioning units increased the city's night-time temperature by 2C Often I wish places of business and work places wouldn't turn up the AC so much. I have a jacket at work in Phoenix during the summer because they keep it so cold.

Better have it too cold and people where extra clothing than have people sweating themselves. You can always put more clothes on, you can't take off your skin.

It's easy to get warm; hard to get cold.

Re: The far-reaching effects of air conditioning

#23

Post by projectorlochsa »

pitaj wrote: post #18
jay-anderson wrote: post #5

> A study in Phoenix, Arizona, found the hot air pumped out of air conditioning units increased the city's night-time temperature by 2C Often I wish places of business and work places wouldn't turn up the AC so much. I have a jacket at work in Phoenix during the summer because they keep it so cold.

Better have it too cold and people where extra clothing than have people sweating themselves. You can always put more clothes on, you can't take off your skin.

24-25 Celsius on lowest fan settings should be cold enough for practically everyone.

Re: The far-reaching effects of air conditioning

#24

Post by tehlike »

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.

I have just been to one of these tropical places, I can relate. Super hard to breathe outside, and getting inside feels like a relief.

Re: The far-reaching effects of air conditioning

#25

Post by eBombzor »

pitaj wrote: post #18
jay-anderson wrote: post #5

> A study in Phoenix, Arizona, found the hot air pumped out of air conditioning units increased the city's night-time temperature by 2C Often I wish places of business and work places wouldn't turn up the AC so much. I have a jacket at work in Phoenix during the summer because they keep it so cold.

Better have it too cold and people where extra clothing than have people sweating themselves. You can always put more clothes on, you can't take off your skin.

Decreasing the AC doesn't mean people will start sweating themselves. 75 - 78 F is perfect but most buildings for some reason turn their ACs all the way down to the 60s.

For athletic centers, of course it makes sense. But in big open libraries, lecture halls, places with little activity in general, it's awful. It's especially bad for your health if you live in a hot region like southern California since your body has to keep adjusting between the scorching heat outside to the freezing cold inside.

Re: The far-reaching effects of air conditioning

#26

Post by johnchristopher »

pitaj wrote: post #18
jay-anderson wrote: post #5

> A study in Phoenix, Arizona, found the hot air pumped out of air conditioning units increased the city's night-time temperature by 2C Often I wish places of business and work places wouldn't turn up the AC so much. I have a jacket at work in Phoenix during the summer because they keep it so cold.

Better have it too cold and people where extra clothing than have people sweating themselves. You can always put more clothes on, you can't take off your skin.

Ever try coding with mittens :-) ?

Humor aside, there's a point for me at which even with more clothes the AC is too cold or aggressive and I end up with headaches. Fortunately I am aware of it and I try to be preventive about it (by moving away from the thing).

Re: The far-reaching effects of air conditioning

#27

Post by tormeh »

fuckemem wrote: post #16
callmeed wrote: post #7

If you like this story, I recommend reading How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World . Its a quick read and very interesting. And, yes, "cold" is one of the six. https://www.amazon.com/How-We-Got-Now-Innovations/dp/1594633...

"cold" is quite broad though. That would cover refrigeration/ freezing which would be a much bigger impact than air con.

They're literally the same thing. Only difference is how big the fridge is and how much power you dedicate.

Re: The far-reaching effects of air conditioning

#28

Post by seanmcdirmid »

projectorlochsa wrote: post #23
pitaj wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better have it too cold and people where extra clothing than have people sweating themselves. You can always put more clothes on, you can't take off your skin.

24-25 Celsius on lowest fan settings should be cold enough for practically everyone.

My office space in china would keep the temperature around 24-26C in the summer. My arms would literally sweat to the desk when typing (I'm not a completely in the air tyoer, as a programmer I don't need to be). I had to hit a cooler Starbucks with a laptop to get things done it was so annoying. I much would have preferred it being a bit colder, around 20C is best, even if I would wear a light jacket at that temp...at least I could type.

Re: The far-reaching effects of air conditioning

#29

Post by r00fus »

pitaj wrote: post #18
jay-anderson wrote: post #5

> A study in Phoenix, Arizona, found the hot air pumped out of air conditioning units increased the city's night-time temperature by 2C Often I wish places of business and work places wouldn't turn up the AC so much. I have a jacket at work in Phoenix during the summer because they keep it so cold.

Better have it too cold and people where extra clothing than have people sweating themselves. You can always put more clothes on, you can't take off your skin.

You can't take off your skin, but humans are adaptable. My family has minimal problems sleeping in 80/90 degree rooms, though we prefer high-60s.

I suspect (for offices) it has to do with productivity - warmer people can get sleepy after lunch, etc. Colder people are more alert (to a certain point).

Re: The far-reaching effects of air conditioning

#30

Post by exergy »

hobo_mark wrote: post #3
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.

Likewise, I just came back from HK and I have no idea how they could get anything done there before the introduction of AC. And I was told it gets even worse in the middle of summer!

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 on the first wall. The first wall absorbed all of the heat and would get warm in the evening, but the second wall, recessed from the first wall by a certain distance, would be spared the hot sunshine, and would stay cooler. These second walls made up the walls of your room.

Moving to basements was also a popular solution, since beneath the earth stayed cooler. The British especially loved this solution.

Older homes in India have high ceilings with ventilation at the top to allow for natural convection. The hot air would escape from the top and be replaced with cool air. In places like New Orleans, the Creole architecture also involves inlet vents in the basement-region, where cooler air would be sucked in.

Finally, after the arrival of electricity, we had evaporative coolers, where pads made out of hay would have water dripped onto them. The evaporation of the water would cool things down inside the cooler via latent heat, and this cooler air would be blown into a room with the exhaust fan. This is a fantastic solution for dry heat places because it doesn't get rid of humidity (making the skin feel terrible), and has the power consumption only of a puny exhaust fan (unlike a full blown positive displacement compressor).

[1]: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/ChandBao...

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