Thank Science For AC!

[stopbush]

100° here in Lake Forest, CA today, and boy am I glad they invented air conditioning.

Too hot to move outside. I cooked out brats and pups for Father's Day because they're easy. Can't imagine the dads around here who invited the clan over for a full-blown BBQ.

[hobbit709]

1. That's a cool day around here.

It will hit a 100° with 50% humidity here.

[joshcryer]

7. My God, where is this hell on earth so I may avoid it.

[NutmegYankee]

36. That's a dew point of 79 - talk about oppressive!

[Shrike47]

2. Wish we had it. Most of the time in the Willamette Valley, we're OK but we're getting more HOT days

[underpants]

3. The modern south wouldn't be possible without it. I have none - power out since Thursday

Big thunderstorms came through at 10 pm off went the lights. Most of Richmond Va north of the river went dark. Doninion power trucks are buzzing all around right now. Should be soon.

[drray23]

32. I am lucky then.

I am 80 miles south of Richmond and the storm went thru but did not bring down anything. Usually we lose power and since we are on the end of a line in a rural area we always wait days to get it back.

[underpants]

44. Trust me, it sucked

[brett_jv]

4. Welp, it's 116F here in Beautiful Gilbert, AZ

AC is an absolute necessity here, obviously.

Once you hit >115F the heat takes on a whole different feel ... stay out for any length and you start to feel like you're being COOKED, for reals.

[Chemisse]

29. I wondered about that, when I saw the 120 degree predictions.

What is the limit in temperature that our bodies can withstand?

[NutmegYankee]

37. It varies depending on humidity level.

At very low humidity, it's around 120 F for long term exposure, so people in shade with a cool down at night would survive.

At 100% relative humidity, 95 F is the limit. A dew point above 95 F will kill anyone who isn't in AC after several hours of exposure. This has only been recorded once: On July 8, 2003, the world-record high dew point of 95 was recorded at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and when combined with that afternoon's temperature of 108 produced a heat index of 174 degrees.

[Chemisse]

41. Wow! Thank-you. That is interesting. n/t

[LongtimeAZDem]

5. Sounds chilly

119° here

[pokerfan]

19. Phoenix? (nt)

[3catwoman3]

6. I second, third, fourth and fifth that!

I cannot bear being hot and sticky.

I would rather not have a refrigerator, and have to shop for food and ice every day, than not have central air.

Earlier this week, I had to go to a handbell practice and recording session. The UU church I attend is not air conditioned. The session was upstairs. While we rehearsed, we could have fans on and windows open but not while recording. We did several takes. Then the music director decided he wanted to change how we were doing something. I was so drippingly miserable I could not even think straight, and couldn't figure out how to do what he wanted. My forehead was so wet I felt like my brains were oozing out. Several others were similarly affected, so we gave up for the night.

[Freddie]

9. I drive a 15 year old car

2001 PT Cruiser. It's very reliable and has saved us a ton of $$, only cost $2200 a couple years ago and cheap to insure. BUT...as very common in aging cars...the AC died at the end of last summer. DH, a very good "shade tree" mechanic, says he's going to fix it in July when he has a week off. Til then it's "Amish air conditioning" (4 windows down.)
How did we boomers survive as kids when cars (and houses) rarely had AC?

[stopbush]

10. We sweated to sleep, and I'm sure many people died.

It wasn't reported back then as heat-related death.

[tritsofme]

40. You might like this old favorite of mine, Arthur Miller writing about summer in NYC 1928 before AC

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1998/06/22/before-air-conditioning

[PasadenaTrudy]

11. Yes!

We got up to 106 today.

[Iggo]

33. Here in Whittier, too.

104 today.

108 tomorrow.

Ugh.

[pokerfan]

12. It's a beautiful thing

Here in the PNW (it was only 70° today), it's not a necessity but an appreciated luxury. Other parts of the country, it's a life-saver.

A simple stylized diagram of the refrigeration cycle: 1) condensing coil, 2) expansion valve, 3) evaporator coil, 4) compressor


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

[a kennedy]

13. Such a simple design for such a huge necessity......eom

[FLPanhandle]

14. I guess I'll be the lone dissenting voice

A/C ruined the south.

Homes that were built with high ceilings, big porches, people outside talking to neighbors...that all ended with A/C. Mass influx of people from other regions, huge expense of power with associated greenhouse gases, overpopulation of coast lines, etc.

I grew up in Florida without A/C, and would do away with it in an instant if it were in my power.

Alas, the inventor of A/C lived right down the coast from me...John Gorrie.

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

[Just reading posts]

17. If you don't like A/C, don't use it.

Choice is a wonderful thing.

[FLPanhandle]

18. I don't

But the energy and greenhouse gases it uses still impact all of us. As does the changes in home building and neighborhoods. As does mass migration of people to environments that they don't want to deal with.

Duh.

[Just reading posts]

20. Therefore...what? Restrict it? Outlaw it? Or just complain about it?

[FLPanhandle]

22. Just stating my opinion

Which is what this place is about. You'll learn.

[Just reading posts]

24. The latter, then. Which is fine!

[athena]

25. I agree. You make good points.

My in laws moved to Florida a few years ago. If it weren't for AC, they would have stayed here. They have to drive 20 minutes each way at 70 miles an hour just to go to the nearest grocery store. They don't recycle anything, since it's "too much trouble". Their whole lifestyle is so incredibly wasteful, it makes me cringe every time I visit. And I'm sure they're much less wasteful than most of their neighbors in their "gated" community.

[FLPanhandle]

27. It's an astounding use of energy here in Florida

All so people can hide from the natural environment they moved to. Amazing.

[GulfCoast66]

34. also a deep south resident

And do not like a cold house. Keep mine on 78 if I have to run it. And do you live on the coast? Because it is easier to live without AC in the deep south on the coast with coastal breezes. Where my family lives in central and Northern Louisiana, it is just horrible. Both my parents grew up with sleeping porches and my mother can still tell how bad sleeping out there was. Of course, this was before electricity so AC was not even an option. And I am sure it contributed to infant and elderly mortality.

And I am glad you mentioned John Gorrie. I try to get to the John Gorrie museum at least once a year when staying on SGI. If you have not read about how the vested interests(ice industry) destroyed him you really should.

AC definitely hurt the environment in the South. It would be pretty pristine here without it. But without all the Northerners living in the southern part of my state, Florida, we would be another Mississippi and have no chance of going blue in any election. Of course, we would also have like 3 Electoral College votes!

Enjoy this summer, my favorite time of the year!

And have a nice evening.

[FLPanhandle]

35. I too grew up sleeping on the porch.

I agree living on the coast is easier and yes, we live on the bay and I designed our house to have high ceilings and ceiling fans.

Thanks hello to another Gulf Coaster!

[catbyte]

15. No kidding. I would send flowers to the people who invented it.

When I was younger, a douse in the shower then sitting in front of a fan would suffice, but not anymore. Since I had to have a total hysterectomy in 2003, I've felt like I was going to spontaneously combust every time the temperature got above 80F. It sucks.

[Just reading posts]

16. Got that right. We actually use a swamp cooler. The climate is dry enough that it's almost as

effective as A/C, and costs a lot less.

It won't work in humid climates, though.

[athena]

21. Please everyone, remember

that your use of AC is contributing to global warming. I'm not saying don't use it, but use it conservatively. Turn it off when you leave your house. And don't set it to a really low temperature. You will not only help preserve the environment, but you will lower your electricity bill as well.

[FLPanhandle]

23. +1

[Cassiopeia]

31. Turning off your AC during the day kills your power bill and compressor.

First, your unit goes through so much hard work trying to keep up that it just can't get it cool again. Second, you never get the house cool until long after the sun goes down so most people run them even harder.

You are much better off to turn it up 4 or 5 degrees above your average while away, then turn it back to normal when getting home. You save electricity that way. It's even better to have a thermostat with a timer set to get your AC working an hour before you even walk in the door.

Additionally, shut off the car AC and roll the windows down for the last 10 minutes of your ride home. Then you don't come out of an ice cold car and into a warm house. Your house 'feels' much cooler.

(This goes for the average 1500 sqft home or larger. Small spaces, especially 800 sqft or less that have a unit that can handle double that space are different.)

[athena]

38. These are details.

Whether you turn off your AC or program it are details. The point is to be conscientious and do something to reduce energy usage. Too many people over-air-condition their homes. Many people mistakenly believe that it's more energy-efficient to run heat in the winter (or the AC in the summer) all the time. This is not true because your house is always losing heat to the outside in the winter (and gaining heat from the outside in the summer). If the temperature outside is different from the temperature inside, your house is losing or gaining heat. It loses or gains more heat when the gradient is larger, so setting the thermostat to the same temperature when you're out as when you're in is extremely energy-inefficient.

Also, many people set their thermostat to a cooler temperature in the summer than in the winter, which is not only extravagant but downright crazy. I know a guy who sets the thermostat in his house to 65 F in the summer. My neighbor where I work sets the thermostat on our floor to 69 F in the summer and 82 F in the winter. (Our landlord pays the electricity bill, so she thinks energy is free. I tried to explain to her that the AC doesn't work harder when she sets it to a lower temperature and got yelled at. When she feels warm in the summer, she sets the thermostat to a ridiculously low temperature and then leaves, which means the place becomes extremely cold hours after she's gone. She does the reverse in the winter. I've tried to program the system around her, but it's virtually impossible to find a setting that will ensure that there will never be a single moment when she won't feel too warm or too cold and fiddle with the thermostat.)

In my experience, 75 F is plenty good enough in the summer for the workplace. At home, I often find that 78 F - 80 F is sufficiently cool when I'm in.

[Cassiopeia]

39. Yeah, ok.

Come down to SW FL in July through Sept and shut off your AC from 7 am to 5 pm and show me the savings.

So come on down, spend a summer in the previous swamps of FL and shut your AC off during the day. I'll be chillin on you're lanai with a fan and a sweat rag while you struggle to get your house cool enough to walk in, let alone sleep in, by 10pm.

Additionally, you're talking extremes. Winter my HVAC (and just about everyone I know) set the winter temps between 66 and 72 and summer temps between 76 and 81. We gotta pay that power bill after all.

The fact is we can all run our HVACs to the max summer and winter, home or not, and it just won't matter. Nothing is being done on a global scale to change course, especially at the corporate level. The seas will continue to rise, the droughts will continue, and there's not damn thing being done about it. We can dream that recycling that paper cup and saving those few mwhrs are saving the planet, but they aren't. It was a start, but it was way too late.

[athena]

42. I guess you didn't read my post.

Another person who replies to a title without actually reading the content.

Thanks for demonstrating that you were never about energy savings in the first place. Go ahead and waste energy if that's what you want to do. I chose not to have children, so it's not my descendants who will be suffering for it.

[Cassiopeia]

43. I guess you didn't read mine either.

Quite frankly I don't give a damn if you give a damn. No kids here either.

I'm not an energy waster, but you would know that if you had actually read my reply instead of assuming I hadn't read yours and replied in good faith.

Have a wonderful day.

[SheilaT]

26. Before A/C, those who could go to the mountains

or the shore to escape the heat did so. The pace of life, of business especially, was much slower. Now, the expectation is that people carry on exactly the same in the worst of summer as in the dead of winter. And in the dead of winter the expectation is that nothing, including serious blizzards, should keep you away from the job.

There was something to be said about a slower pace that accommodated the vagaries of weather.

[Cassiopeia]

30. I remember the mountains of VA in summer.

We always had fun, but if you had enough clothes for 3 changes a day you felt better. The beaches of NC were better overall. It was hot all day, but at least it got cool at night, cool to the point you wanted pants and a long sleeve tee at night due to the temp change.

[Cassiopeia]

28. It was nice and cool here today.

only 91 and 70% humidity, but we had mostly cloudy conditions.

I expect this to be a record summer here in SW FL. May and especially all of June so far has been like August. August is always brutal, but at least we're only looking at 6 to 10 more weeks. Right now we're looking at 12 to 20 more weeks and maybe longer if La Nina kicks in.

Fuck it, we may be beach front in 20 years if we keep it up.....