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A/C consumes less energy than heating. A/C is effectively a closed system when operating. A fireplace or furnace is not. A/C is needed most in places and time

A/C consumes less energy than heating. A/C is effectively a closed system when operating. A fireplace or furnace is not. A/C is needed most in places and times where solar panels work the best. Heating is the opposite. Objectively living in Maine has a significantly higher environmental cost than living in Arizona.

saudioger 8y ago
Especially once you consider that in some places (New England) you have people living in both extremes. So they're using heat in the winter AND air conditioning in the summer. New England winters are on average colder than some places near the arctic circle (Iceland for example) and summers get hotter than many places in the US as well.
- DoofusOfDeath 8y ago
  I live in New England, and the situation is definitely a little complex. Some factors where I live: - Firewood is really cheap. My house uses oil for its primary heating, but we supplement with a wood stove because aesthetics and cheap heat. - A lot of the summer it's not the heat that gets you, more the humidity. We run A/C a lot, but often we could get by with just better dehumidifiers whose waste-heat stayed outside the house. - Only relatively new houses have central A/C and/or dehumidifiers. Older houses tend to use window-mounted A/C's, which are less efficient and less appealing. Unfortunately retrofitting a house with central A/C can be outside many people's budgets. - At my latitude, we get enough sunlight to make roof-mounted solar panels worthwhile for many people. But the financial break-even time can be pretty long, and there don't always seem to be government-subsidized low-interest loans to help.
  - saudioger 8y ago
    Ah firewood is nice. I live in a dense urban area and we wouldn't really have the option. We're on an electric heat pump for heating/cooling/dehumidifying (it's a nice system, a little expensive, but better than resistance electric heat and window units). We're in an old house without ducts, and compared to traditional systems it was cheap to install ($10k for 1500 ft sq).
TheBeardKing 8y ago
Seriously, what's with the AC-shaming in this thread and in this article, which doesn't once mention the energy required to heat homes, and that it's several times that to cool [1]. Must be some northern elitism. [1] https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=10271 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=10271
- ellisv 8y ago
  Heating/cooling is one of the few large energy consumers in a home with a strong behavioral component. Many appliances that consume a lot of energy don't have the same opportunity for behavioral intervention. I mean, it's not like you're going to unplug your fridge to save energy. I think one of the key difference between heating and cooling is that the majority of energy used for heating is natural gas while AC uses electricity. Natural gas flows through pipes into the home when you need it without much change on the utility side, while electricity requires the utility to be generating more than enough energy. It's not easy/efficient to store electricity, which is a good reason to try to use less of it. Heating uses more energy in part because more people live in areas with more heating degree days (HDD) and fewer cooling degree days (CDD). [1] https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.php?page=about_degree_days https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.php?page=about_deg...
- Zarath 8y ago
  Because nearly all warm weather is objectively livable, whereas cold weather is actively dangerous. If you're using AC to be able to survive then you aren't the target. The target is the Walmarts that cool the building to 68 degrees when it's 80 and beautiful outside or the people who just refuse to open a window and use AC instead, or the people who can't stand a single iota of sweat or slight discomfort.
  - oftenwrong 8y ago
    The same applies to heating. Even when it is below-freezing people heat buildings to the point that you can wear a t-shirt indoors. Instead of wearing more clothing, or enduring slight discomfort, people waste energy. One particularly annoying example is the train. The trains always have the heat blasting. I, like most people, have to walk to the train, and stand on the (often outdoor) platform, so I wear clothing that will keep me comfortable while walking, and while waiting on the platform. As soon as I'm on the oven-like train, I have to strip off all layers to avoid sweating. I assume this is for the benefit of people who do not dress appropriately for the cold. I would prefer that they optimised for the opposite.

saudioger 8y ago

Especially once you consider that in some places (New England) you have people living in both extremes. So they're using heat in the winter AND air conditioning in the summer. New England winters are on average colder than some places near the arctic circle (Iceland for example) and summers get hotter than many places in the US as well.

DoofusOfDeath 8y ago
I live in New England, and the situation is definitely a little complex. Some factors where I live: - Firewood is really cheap. My house uses oil for its primary heating, but we supplement with a wood stove because aesthetics and cheap heat. - A lot of the summer it's not the heat that gets you, more the humidity. We run A/C a lot, but often we could get by with just better dehumidifiers whose waste-heat stayed outside the house. - Only relatively new houses have central A/C and/or dehumidifiers. Older houses tend to use window-mounted A/C's, which are less efficient and less appealing. Unfortunately retrofitting a house with central A/C can be outside many people's budgets. - At my latitude, we get enough sunlight to make roof-mounted solar panels worthwhile for many people. But the financial break-even time can be pretty long, and there don't always seem to be government-subsidized low-interest loans to help.
- saudioger 8y ago
  Ah firewood is nice. I live in a dense urban area and we wouldn't really have the option. We're on an electric heat pump for heating/cooling/dehumidifying (it's a nice system, a little expensive, but better than resistance electric heat and window units). We're in an old house without ducts, and compared to traditional systems it was cheap to install ($10k for 1500 ft sq).

TheBeardKing 8y ago

Seriously, what's with the AC-shaming in this thread and in this article, which doesn't once mention the energy required to heat homes, and that it's several times that to cool [1]. Must be some northern elitism. [1] https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=10271 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=10271

ellisv 8y ago
Heating/cooling is one of the few large energy consumers in a home with a strong behavioral component. Many appliances that consume a lot of energy don't have the same opportunity for behavioral intervention. I mean, it's not like you're going to unplug your fridge to save energy. I think one of the key difference between heating and cooling is that the majority of energy used for heating is natural gas while AC uses electricity. Natural gas flows through pipes into the home when you need it without much change on the utility side, while electricity requires the utility to be generating more than enough energy. It's not easy/efficient to store electricity, which is a good reason to try to use less of it. Heating uses more energy in part because more people live in areas with more heating degree days (HDD) and fewer cooling degree days (CDD). [1] https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.php?page=about_degree_days https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.php?page=about_deg...
Zarath 8y ago
Because nearly all warm weather is objectively livable, whereas cold weather is actively dangerous. If you're using AC to be able to survive then you aren't the target. The target is the Walmarts that cool the building to 68 degrees when it's 80 and beautiful outside or the people who just refuse to open a window and use AC instead, or the people who can't stand a single iota of sweat or slight discomfort.
- oftenwrong 8y ago
  The same applies to heating. Even when it is below-freezing people heat buildings to the point that you can wear a t-shirt indoors. Instead of wearing more clothing, or enduring slight discomfort, people waste energy. One particularly annoying example is the train. The trains always have the heat blasting. I, like most people, have to walk to the train, and stand on the (often outdoor) platform, so I wear clothing that will keep me comfortable while walking, and while waiting on the platform. As soon as I'm on the oven-like train, I have to strip off all layers to avoid sweating. I assume this is for the benefit of people who do not dress appropriately for the cold. I would prefer that they optimised for the opposite.