Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
IMHO, a lot of the need for A/C use is from the newer methods of house construction which end up with houses that require A/C.
Hawaii's electric rates are the highest in the nation or close to it. I'm sure Guam and Puerto Rico have the same problems since they are also island states/territories. Because the electric is so expensive, nobody can really afford to power A/C so there's all sorts of ways to deal with heat without it. FWIW, there's generally no heaters in houses around here, either.
Houses in Hawaii typically have a three foot wide eave - not to keep off rain, but to keep the sun off the sides of the house. Roofs are frequently white or light colors since white and light colors reflect sun. For awhile, there were state tax credits for folks who installed a white roof. Roofs are usually ventilated with vents up near the top to let heat out. All these passive systems add up to a cooler house without any costs for cooling.
Heat rises, so there's vents near the floor or louver windows below picture windows is a good method, or grills in closet floors with louvered closet doors - although that only works when the whole house is elevated on 'post and pier' foundations - to let in cooler air and with vents near the ceiling to let out hotter air.
High ceilings give the heat somewhere to go. Transom windows over doors are a good way to let heat migrate out.
A lanai all the way around the house creates a shady area to cool off the air before it enters the house. Louver windows are 100% ventilation instead of 50% for pane type windows.
An enclosed box requires A/C, a well ventilated box pulling in air from a shady spot works pretty well. Hawaii has high humidity, too, so the ventilation helps to keep down mildew and such.
Insulating the ceiling and allowing the attic to be well ventilated provides a big air space between the roof and the living space which keeps things cooler. Typically, older (prior to 1980 or so) houses in Hawaii have zero insulation, but all these passive ventilation systems keep them pretty livable. Tyvek house wrap started being used in Hawaii around then as well as double wall (2x stud wall) construction. Not sure if that's going to be a problem for mildew eventually or not. It does make it easier for the electrical and plumbing, though.
IMO our planet needs to the humans to depopulate by at least half. As long as the human population continues to increase (thanks to the people in Third World countries having unprotected sex), no matter what you green people do... will never be enough to stop global warming. Our planet is so very f-cked. But I do think that Mother Nature is trying to depopulate the humans by creating viruses like ebola, Zika and bird/swine flu's.
Just wondering if those who believe that each persons actions are overheating the climate of the earth, use AC? Air Conditioning obviously adds heat to the air. First it requires the power plants to burn more fossil fuel, and second because it sends additional hot air from homes into the outside air.
New equipment is very efficient. I'm not in the least concerned about where the fuel is generated, but is likely natural gas.
Our new home is under construction in Louisiana, and our garage will also be air conditioned. Keep cool!
The basic concept in the OP is correct: the hotter it gets, the more that air conditioning is going to be used and that is going to end up, one way or another, making more carbon. (I don't know about the residual heat, the heat is being moved from one place to another, but motors do generate a fair amount of heat along with it, so it does make heat as well as move it.)
I have a window unit (here in western Wa even) that I seem to use more and more over these long hot summers we've been having.
But, this year I'm going to get an evaporative system, you use it with the windows closed, and it takes about one-fifth as much electricity than my current unit and has no refrigerant.
It still costs some heat to make ice if you want really cold air, but I remember having one as a kid in San Bernardino Ca, a very hot place and just tap water did a pretty good job cooling.
What we need more of in this country is "berming," setting part of a house underground, also "passive" systems that take air and circulate it through underground pipes to both cool it in summer and warm it in winter...
But yeah, parts of the Southwest, for example, and the South possibly, should be depopulated, because the regions aren't habitable without A/C. Although people obviously did get by in the South, before A/C.
I don't know about the South but large areas of the Southwest have such low humidity and high elevation that AC is unnecessary. Swamp coolers are basically a fan and recycling water pump that cools by adding humidity -- the opposite of AC. They use much less electricity than refrigerating air. Depopulating some lower elevation and oppressively hot places might happen at ome point. Las Vegas, Phoenix, and parts of Texas will be a major challenge.
(I don't know about the residual heat, the heat is being moved from one place to another, but motors do generate a fair amount of heat along with it, so it does make heat as well as move it.)
The OP 's post was about the heat itself. Here is rough figures, precise numbers are irrelevant to the point.
1,557,216,591,941,000,000 BTU's per hour is the amount of heat the sun delivers to earth.
41,160,000,000,000,000 BTU's per year from oil consumption in the US
22,000,000,000,000,000 BTU's produced by coal within one year.
22,000,000,000,000,000 BTU's produced by gas within one year.
Total US BTU's might be something like 85,000,000,000,000,000, we'll just make an even 100,000,000,000,000,000 BTU's. Throw out some ridiculous number for world total like 20X the US consumption and you have 2,000,000,000,000,000,000 for an entire year.
Divide 1,557,216,591,941,000,000(per hour) by 2,000,000,000,000,000,000(per year) which gives us .77 years of this ridiculously over estimated amount of carbon fuels to equal one hour of the sun.
Last edited by thecoalman; 07-07-2019 at 03:34 AM..
The OP 's post was about the heat itself. Here is rough figures, precise numbers are irrelevant to the point.
1,557,216,591,941,000,000 BTU's per hour is the amount of heat the sun delivers to earth.
41,160,000,000,000,000 BTU's per year from oil consumption in the US
22,000,000,000,000,000 BTU's produced by coal within one year.
22,000,000,000,000,000 BTU's produced by gas within one year.
Total US BTU's might be something like 85,000,000,000,000,000, we'll just make an even 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 BTU's. Throw out some ridiculous number for world total like 20X the US consumption and you have 20,000,000,000,000,000,000 for an entire year.
Divide 1,557,216,591,941,000,000(per hour) by 20,000,000,000,000,000,000(per year) which gives us 77.8 years of this ridiculously over estimated amount of carbon fuels to equal one hour of the sun.
Granted, the net heat added by air conditioners is probably insignificant (especially when you put it on such grand scale ^^ ) but technically they are correct, using an air conditioner does heat the planet and the hotter it gets the more people want air conditioning.
And we have been lazy too long and have gotten our power cheap by pumping ancient carbon that was "carbon paid for" millions of years ago and putting that into our present day atmosphere.
And it's as certain as cause and effect all right.
Now here's what's scary, take a look at this vid of Siberia and what's happening to the "permafrost," they are developing "perma-bogs" that percolate methane...
The water is dark, it traps more heat, it's a vicious cycle that may well be too late to stop.
But, we are still killing the ocean with excess CO2 and ocean "acidification" with a lot of the world's food and generates 70% of the oxygen.
Thx
Last edited by Thx-1138; 07-07-2019 at 03:53 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
) but technically they are correct, using an air conditioner does heat the planet and the hotter it gets the more people want air conditioning.