Which cities are liveable without air conditioning – and for how much longer? (degree, humidity)

[Shalop]

Originally Posted by Blind Cleric

Sunny, cool and not too dry. Sounds good, except at 10,000 ft. not enough oxygen.

Even better (builds character ).

[TenderFrost]

Originally Posted by SkiC

It's easy to get used to. Here it is fully dark at 1044pm and lasts till 3.38am. I always knew This, so I just went out at dark. And midnight sun would not be bad either. Since those countries are cool anyway and you can't really see the sun at 2am, it is kinda dark so you should be fine.

Unfortunately, not for me. I wear sunglasses here at 6-7 pm, even though you can't see sun directly anyway. It's still too bright for me. Unfortunately, the government doesn't adjust sun's HDR (High Dynamic Range) and lets it rage out in full

If I accidentally wake up around 2-3 pm and have to take my Husky out, I have to wear 2 glasses, plus keep left eye completely closed.

I voluntarily expose myself to the daily sun only for mountain hikes now.

Though, thinking about it, during the pre-previous longer hike, only about 7 hours out of 20 were spent at daylight and 13 were spent hiking in the dark with headlamp. But it's still safer to hike at daylight...




I was always somewhat photosensitive, but last 6 months, that I've been on a night cycle, it got quite absurd, but now I have almost zero headaches, no eye itching, no pressure buildup from the sun exposure and no burnt skin shaving off like a snake.

Also, shopping at Walmart at 3am totally beats day-time shopping When I drive 40 miles to the town at that time, I literally do not meet a single car, quite often - absolute science fiction compared to New Jersey ! The road is just mine, and deer's

[Bisfbath]

What looks like Durban on the map not needing AC or heating seems surprising. AC maybe but heating?

Growing up in Cape Town in the 90s I don't remember anyone having AC. On a few cold winter days we would get out a small electric fan heater for extra warmth, but that was all.

[Hemlock140]

We are 23 miles east of Seattle at 600[' elevation, and only bought 2 window AC units about 5 years ago. Until then we lived without AC for 21 years. We could still do without it, in fact this past summer we only ran the one in the family room 2 times. At about 85 outside (our normal maximum) and our triple pane windows it doesn't get above 76 inside. We have family and many friends in Seattle that have no AC.

[Eman Resu VIII]

Sheffield - until the year 9,152.

[Isleofpalms85]

Indianapolis probably won’t be livable without AC by around 2060 or later this century at least not in the summer season. A small minority of homes and other older businesses and schools still don’t have AC even now, as hard as that is to believe. Indianapolis overall is livable now in summer many years without AC, even if just barely so.

[jackierudetsky]

As someone who has never experienced dry heat, at which point does one need air conditioning when there is not much humidity?

[JonathanLB]

Originally Posted by TenderFrost

I don't believe there is such thing in continental U.S., not even in most of the inhabitated Alaska, apart from the northern shore...
I live 2 hours from Canadian border, we get down to below 50'F at night, but since I live in a brick building, the walls are still hot even at midnight. They get, somewhat, less hot around 5am. Which coincides with the sun-rise and the cycle repeats


If I turn both the ACs off, even though it's 45 'F outside, it will be unbearably hot within an hour.


I presume that in a properly insulated house, it could be different but those tall brick walls basically act like huge radiators.


I haven't yet found a better way to handle this, than switch day and night - you work during the night, and enjoy somewhat bearable lesser heat (e.g. 50-60 'F), and just sleep through the most of the daily sun's evil radiation...

This is actually true, though a lot of people won't understand what you're talking about. They've never experienced this. We unfortunately did. We lived in a high-rise condo, steel, glass, and triple-pane windows (there was a train track nearby, the builder went the extra mile to make the windows all triple-pane to help with the noise, which it did -- you wouldn't really ever hear anything outside). Our AC broke off and on for about 9 months, so in that period I'd say it worked for about 2 months in weird intervals like 10 days here, a few weeks there, because they'd do these temporary fixes like filling it with Freon but then realizing there's a leak, so it was back to square one. Long story short, we had no idea how much a condo like that needs AC almost year-around even in a place like Portland. The only time we didn't need to run AC was when it hit about 35 degrees. We literally needed it every day when it was in the 40s outside. I remember one day it was 42 outside and it was still 75 in our condo, AC wasn't working, it was miserable. No fresh air whatsoever, you couldn't open the windows more than 2 inches (safety concern, I guess), and because of the window angle it was pointless anyway, didn't let any breeze in, just noise.

It had to be the most annoying thing ever talking to ANYONE else we knew, because not many people live in high rise condos in Portland relatively speaking, and the people who do aren't even aware they're running AC, because that's basically older technology to think of it that way at all. I say that as someone living in a house with that garbage now, full disclosure, our house is new construction but they cheap out on the systems even still so we have two AC units and a furnace. That's not how you do things now, if you're not cheaping out, a proper system is a heat pump and it's just HVAC, you don't have separate units for each, it's not necessary, my last house was this way because I installed the system (the house didn't even have AC, pathetic), ripped out the furnace, and we never used gas to heat the house, just electricity. Those systems you just set a temperature like 70 and it does whatever it needs to do, voila, your house is within 0.1 degrees of 70. Most people are still using ancient technology (like my current house, which bothers me, but I'm not going to spend $30K replacing the systems on a brand new house yet either) and actually are aware of whether they're using AC or heat. Long story short, condo people aren't going to know, they're just going to set their system to 70 and they have NO clue that they're running AC when it's 45 outside. They probably assume it's heating lol.

People would constantly act shocked. "Oh you mean your heating is broken? It's 45 outside... it's November." I would say, "No, I don't mean that. I mean my AC is broken, and yes I'm aware it's 45 outside, it's 75 inside with no air movement whatsoever, so it's sweltering hot unless you're in your boxers -- especially try to sleep in that temperature!" People don't realize that if you take a space that has all concrete walls and is perfectly insulated, and you put electronics in there, two people, and have no way to move the hot air out, it's going to get hot almost no matter what the outside temperature is.

The real problem with most people's situations is their houses suck, and it's mean to say that, but it's absolutely true. Any time someone on the Vegas forum complains about $500 electric bills during the summer "just to cool the house to 78 and my house is only 1,800 square feet," you know their house SUCKS. The builder probably made it like it was a Southern California beach house, where the outdoor temperature is literally between 55 and 85 all year around no matter what. My house is 3,600 square feet and I can cool it down to 68 at night for sleeping and 72 all day long even when it's 105-112 outside every day and even working from home, BOTH people in the house, and running a lot of electronics including 100 smart home devices and it STILL only costs me $180 per month. That was before I installed solar panels that'll reduce that to about $40 at worst. It's not that expensive or difficult to air condition a house, as long as said house is built properly with 2x6 construction and a tight building envelope. These houses were built with green standards in mind, but they're still ultimately tract, production homes, so it's not like it has to be some crazy custom build by any means. But if you're going to live in an older house in the middle of the desert, prepare to be miserable because it'll be built terribly. At least my builder just cheeped out on stupid things like caulking around baseboards, some paint touchups, and cosmetic things that I could just hire a handyman and fix every one of them no problem.

To the above poster, dry heat does make a big difference but to me the idea of not being able to control your indoor temperature perfectly is mind boggling. It makes sense in the middle ages, they didn't know better, but in 2020 we have technology and that technology should mean exact control over all indoor conditions from temperature to lighting to smart locks, cameras, smart irrigation systems, smart doorbells, etc. Just letting a house be whatever temperature it will be based on things you don't control like the weather is madness, frankly. May as well go live in a cave. That's literally the most important thing I can think of with a house -- temperature control. It's what makes the indoors the indoors and the outdoors the outdoors.

[fluffydelusions]

Originally Posted by jackierudetsky

As someone who has never experienced dry heat, at which point does one need air conditioning when there is not much humidity?

I mean 90f/32c is still hot whether it's dry or humid heat it's just dry is much more comfortable and bearable cause you're not sticky and profusely sweating constantly. I've been in hot weather in both California and Florida and I'd take California heat over Florida any day.

[recycled]

Originally Posted by jackierudetsky

As someone who has never experienced dry heat, at which point does one need air conditioning when there is not much humidity?

My apartment in Tucson, AZ faces north, and is fairly comfortable without AC on days when the afternoon temp gets up to 95F/35C. I am on the ground floor, so the apartment above mine is likely warmer due to heat from the roof. If the overnight temp drops down to around 65F/19C, it really cools down the apartment if I open the windows after sunset. I have ceiling fans to help circulate air when windows are open.

Temps above 100F/38C usually require AC in the afternoon and early evening hours. If the overnight temps drop down to 70F/21C, the AC can be left off overnight and most of the morning hours.

I live in Germany during the summer months, but sometimes it can be pretty uncomfortable in summer because almost nobody has AC in homes or apartments. The occasional heat waves last for a week or so and temps can get above 95F/35C in the afternoons. There are 16+ daylight hours in June and July, so the heat stays around until bedtime. Once the masonry walls heat up, they don't cool off so easily at night. It is not as humid as the eastern USA, but still humid enough to make you sweat on those hot days.