Why are so many houses in Hawaii poorly designed for the climate? (Kailua: new house, water heater)
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And we haven't even hit the hottest time of the year yet and it has been miserable.
You haven't been here on the island long enough. I remember back in the 80's when we would hit 93-94 degrees for weeks on end. It was so crazy hot that radio stations would give away free money every time the temp hit 93 degrees (radio station was 93.1) and they gave away A LOT of money. We have had many many multi-week ultra-hot hot spells in the past decades. This is nothing new.
94 degrees back in the 70's felt like 90 today. In the early 70's less than 1/4 of the cars on the road had ac. And virtually all homes were ac-free. Human conditioning. Plain and simple. I mean seriously, can you imagine sitting in your car driving at a snail's-pace today without ac? Almost everyone did that in the early 70's. Put that into perspective!
And daily record temps are meaningless. You have 2,190 opportunities EVERY SINGLE YEAR to break them (365 days times 6 airports = 2,190 "records" per year). 33 means absolutely nothing.
Again and to repeat, it feels dang hot because of the omnipresence of artificial mechanical air conditioning. And the more we progress as a technologically advanced society the "hotter" (feeling) it's going to get.
Some of it might be from the air conditioning. Air conditioning doesn't make air cool, it removes the heat from the air. And where does it put the heat? Outside the car/building. So each air conditioner is just doing it's best to raise the temperature of the ambient air outside of it's designated A/C space. Then there's those big glass buildings which reflect the heat onto their neighboring buildings.
It doesn't take much breeze, though, to really make things more pleasant. When building your house, take cross ventilation as well as vertical ventilation into consideration. The big eaves aren't to keep the rain off, they are to keep the sun off. You get a tax break for having a white roof, at least it used to be that way. Also, solar panels on your roof will not only make hot water and electricity, but they also shade the roof, too. Trees around the house provide shade on the house as well as shady areas to pre-cool the air before it gets into the house. Lanais are another great way to provide a shady area to pre-cool air before it gets into the house. If your house is up on post and pier, put screened vents in the bottom of closets and a louvered door on the closet. You'll get cooler air coming up from under the house. Also, provide a place for the hot air to escape up near the ceiling. A higher ceiling helps a lot to keep a house cool, go for a 9' instead of an 8' ceiling. 10' is even better if you can do it while keeping things in proportion. A transom window can also help let hot air out or some ceiling vents up into the attic space. The attic space should also be ventilated so the hot air can leave the attic. You need to consider vertical ventilation as well as cross ventilation.
Some of it might be from the air conditioning. Air conditioning doesn't make air cool, it removes the heat from the air. And where does it put the heat? Outside the car/building. So each air conditioner is just doing it's best to raise the temperature of the ambient air outside of it's designated A/C space. Then there's those big glass buildings which reflect the heat onto their neighboring buildings.
It doesn't take much breeze, though, to really make things more pleasant. When building your house, take cross ventilation as well as vertical ventilation into consideration. The big eaves aren't to keep the rain off, they are to keep the sun off. You get a tax break for having a white roof, at least it used to be that way. Also, solar panels on your roof will not only make hot water and electricity, but they also shade the roof, too. Trees around the house provide shade on the house as well as shady areas to pre-cool the air before it gets into the house. Lanais are another great way to provide a shady area to pre-cool air before it gets into the house. If your house is up on post and pier, put screened vents in the bottom of closets and a louvered door on the closet. You'll get cooler air coming up from under the house. Also, provide a place for the hot air to escape up near the ceiling. A higher ceiling helps a lot to keep a house cool, go for a 9' instead of an 8' ceiling. 10' is even better if you can do it while keeping things in proportion. A transom window can also help let hot air out or some ceiling vents up into the attic space. The attic space should also be ventilated so the hot air can leave the attic. You need to consider vertical ventilation as well as cross ventilation.
Yes, the heat being moved from the indoors to the outdoors does make the exterior temperature warmer, albeit only marginally and mostly imperceptible unless you're hanging around outdoor ac condensing units.
Higher ceilings are more practical in homes that don't require air conditioning. It will be slightly cooler when you're not running ac but ac will have to work harder to cool down the additional cubic feet of area. What people need to do is insulate the heck out of their roof space - R30 at a bare minimum. That will have a much bigger impact - not higher ceilings.
The screened vent to access basement space is only beneficial if no ac is required all year round. Also, consider the smell of the basement area entering your home (often it's unpleasant).
White roofs are great but ugly. Long eave overhangs are also a good idea but can't be utilized for homes that build up against the property lines thanks to our intelligent city planners (which are most homes in Honolulu). Planting trees on the south and west side of the home will have a huge impact on heat gain.
I removed my clunky, ugly solar hot water system and replaced with a heat pump water heater. Seems like the only reason why solar hot water systems are still being installed is because some solar hot water companies want to hang on to their business and people aren't well-informed (i.e. being lied to). They are a massive drain on our state tax dollars (i.e. credits). $7,000-$9,000 installed (solar water heater) vs $1,500-$2,500 installed (heat pump water heater) for an 80% reduction in water heating cost and 60% reduction in water heating cost, respectively. I made up the 20% difference with PV at a fraction of the cost. And I have an air conditioned / humidity controlled garage for free.
Solar hot water is required in the building code, I think since back around '08.
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Solar hot water is required in the building code, I think since back around '08.
No it's not. You can do photovoltaics in lieu of solar hot water. Solar thermal companies won't tell you that though. And the requirement for solar (either PV or solar thermal) is only applicable for brand new construction on a vacant parcel.
No it's not. You can do photovoltaics in lieu of solar hot water. Solar thermal companies won't tell you that though. And the requirement for solar (either PV or solar thermal) is only applicable for brand new construction on a vacant parcel.
Yes, I'm referring to new construction. I have both PV and solar hot water.
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Yes, I'm referring to new construction. I have both PV and solar hot water.
A lot of people don't know this but you can install photovoltaics + heat pump instead of a solar thermal system. It satisfies the building code. The city doesn't make it easy because a mechanical engineer needs to sign off on the paperwork... which adds cost. The industry must have some strong solar thermal lobbyists (i.e. HECO).
I'm surprised that HECO would lobby for solar when they can't accommodate so many people waiting on the list.
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I'm surprised that HECO would lobby for solar when they can't accommodate so many people waiting on the list.
They lobby for solar thermal. They want PV to go away and die.
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