I only use air conditioning once or twice a year (in DC). This article was very interesting, but if you can't rebuild your home you have fewer options. Here's how I deal with it to make it not miserable.
1. You don't need to cool "a house" - just the room you're in. If I do run the air conditioning for 20 minutes before bed, I'll block under my door to keep that cold air in.
2. If there's no reason for you to be in a hot house, then don't be. If I'm teleworking, I end up not just being cooler, but also happier, if I find a nice quiet spot somewhere else. I'm lucky enough that I have a free museum not far from me that has an indoor courtyard I can work at.
3. Air circulation and window fans that expel heat from the room can do a lot. Fan quality and fan placement is tremendously important for circulation.
4. At least the last two minutes of your shower should be cold.
5. Blinds should be closed during the day.
6. Drink lots of water, of course.
I think there's more I can probably do. For example, I've been meaning to research reflective blinds to see if they do more than normal blinds at keeping out heat. (Shutters aren't an option for my building.) Dehumidifiers are also something I want to look into.
I haven't personally found that bed sheets make much of a difference, outside the way too obvious things like I don't use my winter (flannel) sheets. But this might reflect that I only buy nice ones.
Come to Atlanta and try it. My upstairs will get 80 degrees in the morning easily. My wife and my offices are upstairs. Luckily I have 2 units so I can balance it. Even if I didn’t use AC I would have mold problems due to humidity. Dehumidifiers also warm up the room they are in. The only plus is I have lots of tree cover in the afternoon.
I'm in Atlanta. We live in a house built in the 20s just south of I-20. Thick brick walls on all sides, windows laid out so you can create a relatively strong breeze by opening the front and the back windows.
Most days we can leave the AC off. Temps will climb to about 75-76 by mid-afternoon, but rarely get too far above that.
The only part of the house that absolutely needs the AC is the upstairs converted attic. It was renovated in the 80s with no thought to air flow, and no way to get a cross breeze from the windows. So we have a mini-split we can run for that floor.
The house is going to feel warm if you're used to running AC 24/7, but 2 weeks in and 76 with a breeze feels fine.
I understand where you're coming from, the last place we lived was a more modern ranch house near Morningside, with bad layout for airflow and it was MISERABLE in the summer (routinely 90+ by 11am if the AC was off).
I'm just saying design matters a lot here, and makes a big difference. There's nothing special about Atlanta that makes that any less true.
Ranch has better cooling but I actually pay less in my new house compared to the ranch I was in. The ranch I was renting had roof issues. My new place is a 2 story house with half basement and garage underneath. 3 sided brick. Bought a place in Roswell to be closer to work and family.
My wife is almost 9 months pregnant and AC is mandatory!
Why would I try it in Atlanta? I'm not arguing nobody should be allowed A/C. My point is that there's a lot that I do to lessen the amount that I use here in DC.
> I only use air conditioning once or twice a year (in DC).
I'm honestly shocked that's possible after living in the northern Virginia area for a summer. It was miserably hot/humid for the majority of the ~9 weeks I spent in the area.
I do the same living just down the highway in Richmond.
It's easy because I live in an old 1920s apartment with thick brick walls, covered porches, and ceiling fans. The walls insulate most of the heat, the shade over the front and rear windows makes light less extreme, and the fans keep air moving which helps with humidity.
Buildings should be designed to fit their environment. My electricity bill would be much higher if I lived in a modern prefabricated cube with thin plywood walls and nothing hanging over the windows.
I don't think I'll be able to do it when I'm older. Heat stroke is a serious thing and if I ever had a sense that my body wasn't good I'd 100% use A/C more.
I do the same things (at age 60) in the Philly suburbs. I fire up the AC in my bedroom at night only about 5 days per year, and I have none elsewhere in the house.
No, it isn't ideal, but I'm cheap and I don't mind using fans. And frankly, I don't like AC. I hate walking through a blast of 20 degree colder air whenever I pass a register.
I've found that having a big shade tree that blocks direct sunlight from the house helps a lot. (I know this since my shade tree died and was removed a year ago.) My house is natural brick and retains heat from sunlight for at least 8 hours, so any shade helps cool it a surprising amount.
It's the noise of window air conditioners that bothers me more than anything else. My hearing is average, but for some reason I get annoyed by noise more than others. This is true when it comes to everything from restaurants to commuting (walking, subway/metro, etc). I also don't get why people like earbuds over headphones when you can block out so much noise!
I have earplugs, but prefer just not using the A/C.
There's always minisplits - the noisy part stays outside the window. Though it can get annoying when you're outside and multiple neighbours are blasting their ACs.
> For example, I've been meaning to research reflective blinds to see if they do more than normal blinds at keeping out heat.
I can confirm they work. It's much cooler in my small flat when they are closed for day, even though they are inside and a little warm. On a sunny day, my outer wall heats up to 60°C. Inside temperature can be 50°C with blinds open or 35°C with blinds closed. This was with outside temp 30°C and wall directly exposed to sun.
No, then the plants die, the occupants die a little by being in a prison.
Before AC buildings used to have awnings. They still should. New buildings should have functional overhangs. Often new buildings have an ornamental overhang that does nothing. Also window film can reflect heat so thats an option too
I'm generally not home during the day. Keeping them closed means I come home to a cooler house. But yes, I agree with your broader point being made generally-speaking. When I'm home, I'm using fans, including my window fan to expel heat from inside -- so windows are open.
Interesting, I hadn't heard that. That certainly makes sense. Might have to stop that one. This was just the one or two times I use the A/C, because otherwise my bedroom windows are both open (one of which with a window fan). But yeah, I hadn't considered that!
Reflective blinds aren't a bad idea, but at that point the sunlight is already on the wrong side of the glass. Much better to cover the outside of your sunny windows, whether that's with fancy powered shades, uv-blocking film, or simpler roman shades, bamboo screens, and awnings.
> I only use air conditioning once or twice a year (in DC). This article was very interesting, but if you can't rebuild your home you have fewer options. Here's how I deal with it to make it not miserable.
Note that even if you can't rebuild the house, there are still steps which can be taken like interior wall insulation, replacing windows, …
1. You don't need to cool "a house" - just the room you're in. If I do run the air conditioning for 20 minutes before bed, I'll block under my door to keep that cold air in.
2. If there's no reason for you to be in a hot house, then don't be. If I'm teleworking, I end up not just being cooler, but also happier, if I find a nice quiet spot somewhere else. I'm lucky enough that I have a free museum not far from me that has an indoor courtyard I can work at.
3. Air circulation and window fans that expel heat from the room can do a lot. Fan quality and fan placement is tremendously important for circulation.
4. At least the last two minutes of your shower should be cold.
5. Blinds should be closed during the day.
6. Drink lots of water, of course.
I think there's more I can probably do. For example, I've been meaning to research reflective blinds to see if they do more than normal blinds at keeping out heat. (Shutters aren't an option for my building.) Dehumidifiers are also something I want to look into.
I haven't personally found that bed sheets make much of a difference, outside the way too obvious things like I don't use my winter (flannel) sheets. But this might reflect that I only buy nice ones.