3 ms·

We should have AC everywhere where night temperature is regularly over 20C part of the year. I get 30C some days almost every summer but almost never over room

We should have AC everywhere where night temperature is regularly over 20C part of the year. I get 30C some days almost every summer but almost never over room temp at night - meaning I can easily just open a window in the evening and the house is cool. The only real problem with more widespread AC is it might lead to the short term win long term loss where people build cheaply (without _at least_ 300mm/1ft insulation and triple glass windows etc) and then spend continuously on heating and cooling instead. The simple solution to this in places where AC is banned: allow it only for well insulated buildings. Yes it’s where it’s least needed but it gives incentive to fix the root cause first.

porridgeraisin 1y ago
> regularly over 20C I chuckled. Here in Chennai we (speaking for my family and a few others, I didn't ask everyone) set the AC to 24C when we use it, and don't really use AC when it's "cool outside", which is like 26-28C. Ceiling fans are on 24x7 though, even when the AC is running.
- alkonaut 1y ago
  26-28 daytime temp is lovely. 26-28 at night would be horrible without AC though.
  - porridgeraisin 1y ago
    Here the main issue is humidity. Even on low temp days (relatively speaking) if it's humid you usually need AC to be comfortable. And it's humid a lot of the time.
throw0101c 1y ago
> We should have AC everywhere where night temperature is regularly over 20C part of the year. A dew point temperature (~heat index, humidex) would be more meaningful than simple air temperature.
wenc 1y ago
The conversation has also moved on -- I have a heat pump (split unit) in my apartment, and my monthly power bill has always hovered around $40 in the summer here in WA. Now, arguably the capex for a heat pump is substantial, and that's a valid point. Also WA summers are not that hot outside of a few really warm weeks (in the 90s). All that said, the energy consumption (and thus costs) of running AC is much lower these days. Heat pumps are to traditional A/Cs what LED lights are to incandescents.
- alkonaut 1y ago
  In my cold(er) part of the world no one has a dedicated AC but lots of people have heat pumps for heating, which can be used as an AC during the (annoyingly few) hot days. But while their efficiency is great (3+ kW heat for 1kW electricity) I think most units are less efficient when used for cooling? Might be wrong though. My electricity bill with heat pump heating (one exhaust heat pump and one split) and relatively cheap electricity is still pretty substantial. 25000 kWh per year for 150sqm/1600sq ft. Usually pay $0.30/kWh for power.
dzhiurgis 1y ago
Cheaper to overprovision solar panels than build class A+++ home.

porridgeraisin 1y ago

> regularly over 20C I chuckled. Here in Chennai we (speaking for my family and a few others, I didn't ask everyone) set the AC to 24C when we use it, and don't really use AC when it's "cool outside", which is like 26-28C. Ceiling fans are on 24x7 though, even when the AC is running.

alkonaut 1y ago
26-28 daytime temp is lovely. 26-28 at night would be horrible without AC though.
- porridgeraisin 1y ago
  Here the main issue is humidity. Even on low temp days (relatively speaking) if it's humid you usually need AC to be comfortable. And it's humid a lot of the time.

throw0101c 1y ago

> We should have AC everywhere where night temperature is regularly over 20C part of the year. A dew point temperature (~heat index, humidex) would be more meaningful than simple air temperature.

wenc 1y ago

The conversation has also moved on -- I have a heat pump (split unit) in my apartment, and my monthly power bill has always hovered around $40 in the summer here in WA. Now, arguably the capex for a heat pump is substantial, and that's a valid point. Also WA summers are not that hot outside of a few really warm weeks (in the 90s). All that said, the energy consumption (and thus costs) of running AC is much lower these days. Heat pumps are to traditional A/Cs what LED lights are to incandescents.

alkonaut 1y ago
In my cold(er) part of the world no one has a dedicated AC but lots of people have heat pumps for heating, which can be used as an AC during the (annoyingly few) hot days. But while their efficiency is great (3+ kW heat for 1kW electricity) I think most units are less efficient when used for cooling? Might be wrong though. My electricity bill with heat pump heating (one exhaust heat pump and one split) and relatively cheap electricity is still pretty substantial. 25000 kWh per year for 150sqm/1600sq ft. Usually pay $0.30/kWh for power.

dzhiurgis 1y ago

Cheaper to overprovision solar panels than build class A+++ home.