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Yes. Most of the United States is either continental or subtropical climate, which gets brutally hot and humid in the summer. Air conditioning is as necessary a

Yes. Most of the United States is either continental or subtropical climate, which gets brutally hot and humid in the summer. Air conditioning is as necessary as heating in the winter. Most of Europe is either oceanic or mediterranean, which either doesn't get hot at all or only gets dry heat.

reaperducer 7y ago
Here's my anecdata: I had a house in the Mojave Desert. In summer the temperature would run 105-115° during the day and 95-110° at night for most of July, August, and September. I'm not from the desert, so I racked up $200/month power bills for my small home. (I kept it set at 80° when I was home, and 76° when my wife was home.) My neighbor across the street (with a wife and three kids) didn't seem to mind for the most part. He would have his windows open until the temperature got to 105°. Then he'd open them again at night on those days when it dipped below 100°. Even if the temperature was over 110° there were plenty of people driving around with their car windows open. And I'm talking brand new luxury cars, not junkers. Some people are just bothered more by heat than others.
- markus_zhang 7y ago
  Yeah some people (locals) are just more used to heat/cold. I moved around every few years so I'm kind of prepared to most of the weird weathers (no desert heat though, but wet heat and super cold winters).
- Amezarak 7y ago
  The parent said hot and humid. Dry heat is much more tolerable, and your body handles it pretty well. No doubt it still bothers some people more than others, but at least IME, even 110F, while it feels plenty warm, especially in the sun, is tolerable, especially in shade. A good breeze can even make it comfortable. You just need to drink a lot of water (to me it's dangerous in that you don't see how much water you're losing), and you will tire more quickly. Humidity makes evaporation much less effective. While you obviously sweat in 110F dry heat, it's not really noticeable. Go outside in 85F 100% humidity, and you will be absolutely miserable, and drenched in sweat. This is mainly what makes humidity so awful: the sweat. That said, at least it's very obvious how much water you're losing. Additionally, the water in the air "holds" heat, so generally daytime highs and nighttime lows are not that far apart, whereas in drier climates its usually (but not always, going by your post), the case that the nighttime sees a solid temperature drop. You can become heat adapted, so you sweat much less, but it only works up to a point and spending time in AC resets you if you're not staying out in the heat day after day after day.
- masonic 7y ago
  95-110° at night for most of July, August, and September. Excuse me? Deserts cool significantly at night. If you look at USWS forecast for Mojave for this week, for example, the nightly low is never higher than 72F and usually less... and this is with the longest days of the year.
  - reaperducer 7y ago
    Excuse me? You're excused. Deserts cool significantly at night Certain deserts cool significantly in certain places at night. "Deserts" are not identical nor homogenous. If you look at USWS forecast for Mojave for this week, for example, the nightly low is never higher than 72F There is no such thing as a "USWS forecast for Mojave." Perhaps you are thinking of the town of Mojave, California, which is one small place in a more temperate portion of a large desert? Regardless, this week and the entire year is not typical for the Mojave Desert. It has been unusually cool and moist. The Mojave Desert isn't Ohio. It doesn't have NWS weather stations every ten miles. The weather stations you see reporting on the internet are people with uncalibrated contraptions in their backyards, or computer-generated guesses. The NWS historical data page doesn't load right now, so here's a link from Wunderground for one year ago today in a populated place with a proper weather station: Las Vegas: https://www.wunderground.com/history/daily/us/nv/las-vegas/KLAS/date/2018-7-7 https://www.wunderground.com/history/daily/us/nv/las-vegas/K... It's far from the hottest place in the Mojave, but you can see that the low temperature, which occurred at 9pm was 93°. That is normal, not 72°. Anyone who's lived in the desert for any length of time can tell you that the numbers you see on the internet are far from the truth. NWS, quite reasonably, concentrates its efforts on populated and agricultural areas. I lived it for five years.
    - masonic 7y ago
      You said you lived in the desert (and, here, imply an unpopulated area), not by airport tarmac which retains heat and reradiates it all night. You specifically chose the airport as your data point for this comment, and even it doesn't have 110F nighttime temperatures with any frequency.
    - masonic 7y ago
agumonkey 7y ago
I fail to understand. Thick stone walls yield cold rooms passively.
- reaperducer 7y ago
  I fail to understand. Thick stone walls yield cold rooms passively. For a while, not not indefinitely. In European climates, it cools off at night or through moisture, allowing the stone to release the heat it stored during the day. There is a vast swath of the United States larger than Europe where it simply does not cool down at night and/or moisture is insufficient, and so stone buildings become ovens.
  - markus_zhang 7y ago
    Yeah and if you open the windows more heat air comes in...somehow we managed to survive when I was young (80s) and we didn't have air conditioning in a wet heat area. But I won't make it without air conditioning nowadays, because 1) global warming 2) less resistant ot heat
    - derekp7 7y ago
      The other thing is most new houses are constructed without any concerns to natural (cross ventilation) cooling. My previous house was built in 98, and had huge windows that happened to line up on the east and west sides. They let in a lot of light, but also too much heat (even with blinds and thick curtains closed, still too much heat for the AC to keep up with). That, and the neighborhood was former farm field, so the only trees were the ornamental (short) ones that were put in front of every house. Where I'm at now, only 20 miles away, was built in the 70's, much fewer windows, no vaulted ceiling, and the summer AC bill dropped by more than half. And the neighborhood is older with many mature trees -- everywhere I look is green. So overall much more pleasant.
      - markus_zhang 7y ago
        Absolutely. I investigated some new condos last year but either they have pitiful area, or low quality materials. Much worse than the older ones (but the older ones have higher condo fees)

reaperducer 7y ago

Here's my anecdata: I had a house in the Mojave Desert. In summer the temperature would run 105-115° during the day and 95-110° at night for most of July, August, and September. I'm not from the desert, so I racked up $200/month power bills for my small home. (I kept it set at 80° when I was home, and 76° when my wife was home.) My neighbor across the street (with a wife and three kids) didn't seem to mind for the most part. He would have his windows open until the temperature got to 105°. Then he'd open them again at night on those days when it dipped below 100°. Even if the temperature was over 110° there were plenty of people driving around with their car windows open. And I'm talking brand new luxury cars, not junkers. Some people are just bothered more by heat than others.

markus_zhang 7y ago
Yeah some people (locals) are just more used to heat/cold. I moved around every few years so I'm kind of prepared to most of the weird weathers (no desert heat though, but wet heat and super cold winters).
Amezarak 7y ago
The parent said hot and humid. Dry heat is much more tolerable, and your body handles it pretty well. No doubt it still bothers some people more than others, but at least IME, even 110F, while it feels plenty warm, especially in the sun, is tolerable, especially in shade. A good breeze can even make it comfortable. You just need to drink a lot of water (to me it's dangerous in that you don't see how much water you're losing), and you will tire more quickly. Humidity makes evaporation much less effective. While you obviously sweat in 110F dry heat, it's not really noticeable. Go outside in 85F 100% humidity, and you will be absolutely miserable, and drenched in sweat. This is mainly what makes humidity so awful: the sweat. That said, at least it's very obvious how much water you're losing. Additionally, the water in the air "holds" heat, so generally daytime highs and nighttime lows are not that far apart, whereas in drier climates its usually (but not always, going by your post), the case that the nighttime sees a solid temperature drop. You can become heat adapted, so you sweat much less, but it only works up to a point and spending time in AC resets you if you're not staying out in the heat day after day after day.
masonic 7y ago
95-110° at night for most of July, August, and September. Excuse me? Deserts cool significantly at night. If you look at USWS forecast for Mojave for this week, for example, the nightly low is never higher than 72F and usually less... and this is with the longest days of the year.
- reaperducer 7y ago
  Excuse me? You're excused. Deserts cool significantly at night Certain deserts cool significantly in certain places at night. "Deserts" are not identical nor homogenous. If you look at USWS forecast for Mojave for this week, for example, the nightly low is never higher than 72F There is no such thing as a "USWS forecast for Mojave." Perhaps you are thinking of the town of Mojave, California, which is one small place in a more temperate portion of a large desert? Regardless, this week and the entire year is not typical for the Mojave Desert. It has been unusually cool and moist. The Mojave Desert isn't Ohio. It doesn't have NWS weather stations every ten miles. The weather stations you see reporting on the internet are people with uncalibrated contraptions in their backyards, or computer-generated guesses. The NWS historical data page doesn't load right now, so here's a link from Wunderground for one year ago today in a populated place with a proper weather station: Las Vegas: https://www.wunderground.com/history/daily/us/nv/las-vegas/KLAS/date/2018-7-7 https://www.wunderground.com/history/daily/us/nv/las-vegas/K... It's far from the hottest place in the Mojave, but you can see that the low temperature, which occurred at 9pm was 93°. That is normal, not 72°. Anyone who's lived in the desert for any length of time can tell you that the numbers you see on the internet are far from the truth. NWS, quite reasonably, concentrates its efforts on populated and agricultural areas. I lived it for five years.
  - masonic 7y ago
    You said you lived in the desert (and, here, imply an unpopulated area), not by airport tarmac which retains heat and reradiates it all night. You specifically chose the airport as your data point for this comment, and even it doesn't have 110F nighttime temperatures with any frequency.
  - masonic 7y ago

agumonkey 7y ago

I fail to understand. Thick stone walls yield cold rooms passively.

reaperducer 7y ago
I fail to understand. Thick stone walls yield cold rooms passively. For a while, not not indefinitely. In European climates, it cools off at night or through moisture, allowing the stone to release the heat it stored during the day. There is a vast swath of the United States larger than Europe where it simply does not cool down at night and/or moisture is insufficient, and so stone buildings become ovens.
- markus_zhang 7y ago
  Yeah and if you open the windows more heat air comes in...somehow we managed to survive when I was young (80s) and we didn't have air conditioning in a wet heat area. But I won't make it without air conditioning nowadays, because 1) global warming 2) less resistant ot heat
  - derekp7 7y ago
    The other thing is most new houses are constructed without any concerns to natural (cross ventilation) cooling. My previous house was built in 98, and had huge windows that happened to line up on the east and west sides. They let in a lot of light, but also too much heat (even with blinds and thick curtains closed, still too much heat for the AC to keep up with). That, and the neighborhood was former farm field, so the only trees were the ornamental (short) ones that were put in front of every house. Where I'm at now, only 20 miles away, was built in the 70's, much fewer windows, no vaulted ceiling, and the summer AC bill dropped by more than half. And the neighborhood is older with many mature trees -- everywhere I look is green. So overall much more pleasant.
    - markus_zhang 7y ago
      Absolutely. I investigated some new condos last year but either they have pitiful area, or low quality materials. Much worse than the older ones (but the older ones have higher condo fees)