Air conditioning blows (and how to get by without it)

Today we're supposed to have record-breaking heat, above 100 degrees. The current record for today is 98 degrees. I checked Accuweather this morning, and clicked on the Weather Advisory issued for Portland. I was ticked off to read that one of their recommendations was "stay in an air conditioned room." That's really lame and unnecessary here.


I've lived without air conditioning for 12 years now, except for six months or so in 1999 in Cincinnati when my girlfriend at the time had a small window unit. Air conditioning is a colossal energy drain (which means we're burning lots and lots of coal to provide it), and for the most part it can be avoided with a good building design and a few cheap space conditioning measures.


[had to take a long break to deal with a lot of work issues]


Now it's nearly the end of the work day, although that's always flexible since I'm working from home these days. Accuweather reports it's 101 degrees outside, officially breaking the record. However, I'm sitting relatively comfortable in the house with the thermostat reporting 83 degrees, only up 7 degrees from this morning's low of 76. That's without an air conditioner or even turning on a fan. I'm feeling a little warm but not uncomfortable. I considered digging a fan out of the basement, but don't want to kick up a bunch of dust if I turned it on (well, maybe we should sweep and mop more often...) We also might sleep in the basement bedroom tonight, because the overnight temp is supposed to stay high until just before dawn.


Here are a few things that I do to beat the heat, while saving lots of money (and the environment):


1.) Live in the right place. Fortunately, the Pacific Northwest has a fairly mild climate , which makes this more feasible. Days over 90 degrees are fairly rare and the relatively low humidity makes for a comfortable "dry heat." For many reasons, you couldn't pay me to live in the sweltering, humid Southeast or furnace-like Desert Southwest. Even the Midwest could get very uncomfortable with 90 degree, 90% humidity days. Still, there are options even there.

2.) Install a solar attic fan. This is one of the most effective ways to cool a house (and here's a photo of our solar attic fan). An installer cuts a circular hole in the roof and mounts the solar attic fan over it. Hot air rises and gets trapped in the attic, becoming even hotter. The solar attic fan draws the hottest air out of the attic and draws in cooler ambient air. It also works only when there's direct sun, which is when it's hottest out (and that means they run off free electricity). A solar attic fan should cool a house by 5 or 10 degrees, which can help quite a bit. In our case, it means we don't need AC at all. In other cases, it could reduce the amount of air conditioning needed. And, they're cheap! I got mine at cost through the last solar company I worked for, but one of my co-workers told me that he saw one at Home Depot last week for $179! People can either install themselves, or get either a solar or roofing contractor to do the work. Should only cost $50 to $100 for the labor, and they should be installed within an hour or two.


3.) Cover windows to minimize solar heat gain. During the summer, I make sure to close all of the blinds to the south and west of the house, which the sun is going to bake throughout the day. Most of our blinds are white, which is highly reflective, and that helps even more. When the ambient air is so much hotter outside than inside, it's good to draw all of the blinds as a form of insulation. However, I can put my hand between the windows and blinds, and feel a big jump in temperature. That's bad news, meaning that the heat is still being trapped inside the house. The best scenario would be exterior roll-up blinds above the south and west windows, to block the solar heat gain from getting into the house at all. Unfortunately, we're trying to sell Jill's house (well, duplex) so I had to let a realtor show it this afternoon. To make it more attractive, I had to open all of the blinds and allow more heat and solar gain in for an hour or so. That probably cost me a couple of degrees.


4.) Make the best use of cooler ambient air. Once the sun goes down, the air outside will start to cool down. And, any wind will also help circulate the air and cool things down in general. So, when the sun sets, I'll usually open many of our windows and let the house cool down. Usually within an hour or two it's cool enough to sleep comfortably during the summer. Like I wrote, we might just sleep in the basement bedroom tonight. In the morning, I'll leave the windows open to keep the cool, fresh air circulating, until the outside air temperature starts warming up in the late morning. If the air inside the house is cooler than outside, then why keep windows open to let in the hot air?




So, that's basically what I do to keep cool during the summer. It's fairly effective and relatively painless. I had to stop a few more times while writing to deal with various work issues, so it's turned into a rather late work night. It's now a little after 7 pm. Accuweather indicates that it's cooled down a little outside to 97 degrees. The house has absorbed more heat (we've got a lot of western exposure) so the temperature has climbed to 88 degrees. But, I have to admit that I'm still feeling relatively comfortable, probably because it's climbed so gradually throughout the day. I haven't turned on a fan all day, and haven't really felt the need. Yay!


We'll see how things go tomorrow when it might be warmer than usual overnight, and we're expecting our second 100 degree day in a row. Of course, it'll help if I don't have to open the blinds again to show off the house!