I dress appropriately, use ceiling fans, and more importantly, I open the windows at night and close them during the day. I live in North Carolina where the outside temperature is 95F and the inside temp is 75F. For the one or two worst weeks of the year, I use a ground water cooling system with 62F well water. I live in an off-grid house -- it's easy to find alternative ways of staying cool when energy is expensive or one is on an energy budget!
Light weight clothing and a fan worked well for many generations prior to the current one and the combination continues to work well at a very low energy cost. That being said, people use A/C because it is more comfortable and convenient than the old ways. When there exists an energy surplus, then the surplus will oft be spent on comfort. Sadly, many people are now discovering that the surplus seems to be vanishing -- only to be replaced by more costly alternatives. Perhaps it is time to reexamine how people used to accomplish things when energy was expensive.
Erika - 16 years ago
Considering I don't "get hot" until well into the triple digits, I'm not really concerned with ac. Now once the temp goes below 70*F, you can hear me and my chattering teeth comming. And that in a nutshell, is one reason I live in the desert.
Robert Crane - 16 years ago
AC is required to support human life in south Texas
the Fonz - 16 years ago
Hee I am the Fonz, I am so cool, I cool other people by my mere presence.
I dress appropriately, use ceiling fans, and more importantly, I open the windows at night and close them during the day. I live in North Carolina where the outside temperature is 95F and the inside temp is 75F. For the one or two worst weeks of the year, I use a ground water cooling system with 62F well water. I live in an off-grid house -- it's easy to find alternative ways of staying cool when energy is expensive or one is on an energy budget!
Light weight clothing and a fan worked well for many generations prior to the current one and the combination continues to work well at a very low energy cost. That being said, people use A/C because it is more comfortable and convenient than the old ways. When there exists an energy surplus, then the surplus will oft be spent on comfort. Sadly, many people are now discovering that the surplus seems to be vanishing -- only to be replaced by more costly alternatives. Perhaps it is time to reexamine how people used to accomplish things when energy was expensive.
Considering I don't "get hot" until well into the triple digits, I'm not really concerned with ac. Now once the temp goes below 70*F, you can hear me and my chattering teeth comming. And that in a nutshell, is one reason I live in the desert.
AC is required to support human life in south Texas
Hee I am the Fonz, I am so cool, I cool other people by my mere presence.