Writer says no to air conditioning

Dave Yates (GrandPAH)_2

the last 24-hours on NBC certainly proved that to be true. Morons.

John R. Hall

Not THIS writer, this writer...

...yikes.

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/opinion/homepage/article_1662364.php

One of the quotes from her article:

"Avoid using air conditioning if possible. (A/C is almost nonexistent in France.) The California Energy Commission says replacing a dark-colored roof with a white roof often can save as much electricity as new solar panels would generate."

Isn't freedom of speech a beautiful thing???

Steamhead (in transit)

I agree with her

The Lovely Naoko and I don't have A/C, and don't plan to. If we ventilate the house at night and close it up at sunrise, it stays cool enough.

The lighter-colored roof we had installed last spring has helped, as has the added insulation and of course those big trees.

We don't mortgage our souls to BGE.

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Ken D.

Writer

That wasn't Al Gore, was it?

Mike T., Swampeast MO

She's VERY right about the white vs. dark roof thing! Will however say that I can hardly live without A/C here in Swampeast MO. When the dewpoint is in the mid 70s and even light work outside in the early morning finds you drenched in a few minutes, it's nasty.

When you're dripping sweat in your keyboard and envelopes come out of your printer already sealed, it's time to turn on the A/C.

As long as I avoid A/C, I can do hard work outside in most any weather, but when I have to switch between outside and A/C I'll get heat exhaustion--usually on an especially humid morning--and be nearly ruined for the rest of the season.

jp_2

I agree

I think a lot can be done before just plugging in the A/C.

I've been in houses where the heat is on in the AM and by mid day the A/C is on, a waste on both sides of the fence.

lots of smarter ways to do things that use less energy.

I've been in buildings that turn on the A/C in the winter cause the sunny day over heats south facing offices.

I think a lot of areas could go without A/C if insulated properly.

GMcD

She's right

There is a lot of basic building envelope design that can be done to avoid mechanical cooling in many climate zones where AC is a normal response to building comfort control. I'm doing a little research on the education available in North America on Building Physics/Building Science for Architectural Engineering, and while there are some good courses being made available out there, they are predominately taken by Architecture Students, and virtually no mechanical engineering students take them, or have any exposure to Building Science and Human Comfort other than some elective courses offered at some schools.

So we know that some Architects are exposed to some good passive design and building physics material, but not in the numbers that there should be. Unfortunately the baseline of "conventional building envelope design" is so low in North America, that trying to do some better envelope design is deemed as too big a premium in comparison, so the standard reaction is to do a cheap envelope and add the AC as the solution.

That being said, I agree that there ARE many climate zones where AC is a requirement, mainly for humidity control, with the secondary benefit of air cooling.

The cheapest source of "new" energy is Conservation through passive design, and use the natural energy and local climate to your advantage, instead of the reactionary design process we are currently using.

Unknown

what's wrong with that statement?

JJ_4

Comfort Level

Hope this isn't too far off the topic....

I work as a building engineer and field many "hot/cold" complaints. I did some research on the internet (can't seem to find the link) and found that there is a relationship between the use of A/C and a narrowing of the range of comfortable temperatures that people tolerate.

Since most folks leave a house with A/C, into a car with A/C and to an office with A/C...they never have to accomodate to changing temps. This apparently results in their "comfort range" being narrowed to something like 71-73 degrees, where the ASHRAE 55 range is more like 68-79.


The main topic of the article was how in California they are investigating ways to get back to "natural" ventilation and cooling through building technology advances. The comfort issue above was a sub-topic.

GMcD

I agree

I've seen some post-occupancy studies on some buildings locally, and on the computerized polling used (basically an on-line set of questions that are input daily for a few months), there have been many instances of responses from people in two identical offices on the same facade of the building with exactly the same thermal loads and comfort systems in place, and one complains of being too cool at 72.2F while the guy next door is complaining of being too warm at a room temp of 73.2F.

I keep reminding Facilities Maintenance folks that have to deal with this stuff, that we design engineers have done our best when we keep 80% of the people happy (or just not complaining about the temperature). If we were to design systems with individual thermal controls (and the resultant HVAC system capacities), no could afford to build or operate a commercial building anymore.

Houses are different, since those CAN be designed to a fine degree of personal thermal control (depends on whether you ask the man or the woman of the house).

Digital readouts on space sensors/thermostats are another psychological engineering issue- how many designers/facilities guys have mounted a dummy stat reading 72F (22C) and the complaints go away?

JJ_4

One hot/one cold

One hot and one cold. I frequently have the same thing happen. It is tough to tweek things to help these folks out...especially without messing up the air balancing.

The question I usually get is: Isn't it freezing (or roasting) in here to you? I have to reply that I cannot judge the comfort level, that I have to trust them. They ask why and I explain that extremes either way don't bother me because I routinely work on rooftops at 100 degf in the summer and below 30 in the winter. Sort of makes them realize that office work isn't so bad.

My other pet peave is: Why do the highest level executives always want the corner offices with windows on both sides and then expect perfect temperature control? You would think they would figure it out.