I’m here to report on the first couple of weeks of life without a/c. It’s fine. There were two days when the outside temperature was in the mid-90s that were rough, but honestly, otherwise it’s not noticeable. We can keep the apartment about ten degrees cooler than the outside air and with a fan to circulate, it stays comfortable inside. Granted, I’m using the stove very, very little, but that’s a pretty small thing.
The nice thing–and no, this isn’t me trying to convince myself that this is a good idea–is that because I’m only rarely going from cold to hot, my body is doing a better job of regulating. When I come out of a heavily air-conditioned building onto the hot sidewalk, the temperature outside feels hotter than it is and I start to sweat immediately. It still feels hotter, coming out of my apartment, but not as much. Less sweat, too.
So, when I ran across this list of 23 Ways to Beat the Heat, I thought that I would share it.
>>try a little ventilation at night or when the temperature drops below 77. A window fan can help…
Oh, if only my overnight low would get below 90 degrees. Most of the items on that list we already do in the desert (well, except that frozen rice thing). I raised our AC setting by 2 degrees every year until it got to 82, and that’s where we keep it, but we don’t turn it on until it gets to about 90 inside the house. Plenty of fans help. (AC is not optional here, we’ve had 23 days above 110 so far this year.)
By the way, the wet towel and other make-shift swamp cooler ideas don’t work very well when the humidity is above 50% or 60%, so they won’t be particularly effective outside the desert. I have a better idea–swimming pool.
I’ve always had a strong dislike for air temperature over 70 degrees Fahrenheit; probably one of the reasons I love the winters here in Utah but don’t like summer time.
However…
We took a family vacation to the Orlando area in the middle of June this year. 95 degrees Fahrenheit with 90-95% relative humidity at sea level coupled with walking through amusement parks and the Kennedy Space Center gave me a new appreciation for what is really uncomfortable.
As you noticed in your article above, when I got back to Utah and the 95-100 degree heat it wasn’t really uncomfortable at all. I found myself outside in the heat of the day doing yard work as it was … nice.
My neighbors and family think that I’ve gone off though. I have a window air conditioner for my office as it doesn’t get much benefit from the evaporative cooler that battles the heat in the rest of the house but I haven’t even put that in the window this year.
So long as I’m still up for the cold when winter comes I guess it is acceptable.