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I think many of us (myself included) operate under this fundamental assumption that air conditioning is somehow sinful and wrong, against the natural order of t
by rconti 7mo ago
I think many of us (myself included) operate under this fundamental assumption that air conditioning is somehow sinful and wrong, against the natural order of things, but heating spaces is a good and worthwhile use of resources.
I made a slightly-snarky comment along these lines once, and a fellow commenter on HN pointed out how efficient air conditioning is. For one, it's always accomplished via heat pump; eg, moving heat, so the only byproducts are electricity consumption and waste heat. We know how to produce clean electricity. On the flip side, heating indoor spaces also produces waste heat, but a lot more of it. Much worse, the vast majority of home heating (at least in the US) is done by burning fossil fuels. If you compare the heating demands of the northeast to the cooling demands of the south, in terms of BTUs, the heat demands are way more intensive.
The most important factor in this equation is the temperature change required. The temperature differential between a winter temp of 20 or 30F to an indoor temp of 70F requires SO much more energy than cooling from a summer temp of 90F to indoor temp of 70F.
So I can remain smug about living in a mild climate in the Bay Area; my total energy consumption is much lower than the average home. But I probably shouldn't feel smug about not needing A/C when the real problem is the gas furnace I run every morning and part of the day, for months on end, from November to March.
(My house is actually currently missing several walls; the gas furnace has been thrown in the trash and it's being replaced with 3 heat pumps, which will give me both A/C _and_ more efficient heat. No thanks to PG&E, which will reward my GHG reductions by charging me out the ass for the electricity required to heat my home).
- SirMaster 7mo ago>I think many of us (myself included) operate under this fundamental assumption that air conditioning is somehow sinful and wrong, against the natural order of things, but heating spaces is a good and worthwhile use of resources. I don't think I have ever met or heard anyone think or say that...
- rconti 7mo agoI'm curious where you grew up. Heating indoor spaces in the winter has been effectively mandatory during the lifetimes of anyone who would be commenting here. On the flip side, air conditioning only became widespread during the lifetimes of many HN commenters, and the population explosion in the sun belt (desert southwest of the US) is a relatively recent phenomenon. So from a familiarity perspective alone, heat is far more popular. That's before you get into the way A/C is often treated as a luxury, from installation to utilization costs.
- SirMaster 7mo agoThe Midwest. In my experience, either people have central air, or in older houses they put window units in all over the house. All the apartments I see have mini-splits or in-wall units. I put a floor standing dual-hose unit in my bedroom where my desktop PC and server also are.
- PaulHoule 7mo agoIn upstate NY we have some summers with just a few days where I'd want air conditioning, we have some when I'd want it for July-August. Usually space blankets on the windows in the day and fans to thoroughly equilibriate at night get us through.
- kube-system 7mo agoI think the other part is historical -- humans have harnessed combustion-based heat in their shelter for thousands to millions of years. Powered air conditioning didn't really take off until the mid 20th century. Prior to that most simply used fans.
- megaman821 7mo agoIf you take out the abnormally perfect climates of Hawaii and California then lowest energy users for heating and cooling are Arizona, Florida, Louisiana and Texas.
- guzfip 7mo ago> The temperature differential between a winter temp of 20 or 30F to an indoor temp of 70F requires SO much more energy than cooling from a summer temp of 90F to indoor temp of 70F. Yeah but at least in the winter you have alternatives. I spent the first month of the year in a 100 year old home in the Midwest during a record breaking snow storm. I was fine. It was cold, but I had clothes, sock, blankets, etc. Space heaters are cheap and they work. Hell I could blast the oven out in the open if I needed to. OTOH I’ve been in central Florida in peak summer with a dead AC for weeks. There is no refuge from <90f indoors. Evaporative coolers don’t work in humidity, fans don’t work, nothing but AC will work. When I didn’t have AC in Florida I had two options: - soak the sheets in water so they’re cool enough for me to at least lay down and fall asleep comfortably - pay money to go somewhere else.
- conception 7mo agoAlmost all ACs Ive seen until recently are not heat pumps. Traditional refrigerant based are far more popular.
- jfengel 7mo agoAren't heat pumps also refrigerant-based? As I understand it, a heat pump is an AC unit that can be driven backward. In heat mode, they are air conditioning the already-cold outside, which works as long as the compressor can chill the refrigerant lower than the ambient outside air. They even use the same refrigerant, usually R-410A and R-454B.
- conception 7mo agoHuh. You’re right. I thought the differences went beyond just heating but nope - just heating.