My approach is multi modal. I grew up in a house before air conditioning so my father would let the cool air at night cool down the house, then "close up" in mid morning as outside temperatures rose. Also that imprinted on my just how much cooler a basement is. Thus to this day, my office is in my basement (where I spend most of my time).
For sleeping, I turn on the ceiling fan.
When I have guests, that's when I turn on the central air conditioning.
Thanks for chiming in John! Sounds like you had a forming childhood, and didn't shy away from the common sense (however painful approach) of our parents. I love your approach. This just goes to show how much our bodies can acclimatize.
My office is also in our basement! I wouldn't have it any other way. So much easier not only to concentrate b/c it's cooler and quieter, but more insulated from the "noise"of all the radiofrequency in the rest of the neighborhood.
We always have cold showers as a "backup" form of AC too (:
My father was an "efficiency nut", always trying be as efficient as possible. Somehow that passed on to me. The difference is he was a "penny pincher", whereas I freely spend money when I feel it is appropriate (I can afford it).
I'm a big fan of Michael Easter's book "The Comfort Crisis" and I feel that we should embrace some discomfort in our lives. Excessive comfort is not healthy! I don't shy away from going outside and cutting the grass in 90+ degree heat. Nor do I shy away from shoveling snow in subzero temperatures.
Yes, basements are great.
I should consider cold showers as a way to cool off, I've always been a hot shower person! A shower seems like a very temporary solution to being hot.
Love "embrace discomfort" and what I make myself do every day--including push mowing in heat and humidity. The Power Couple showcased the benefits of a cold shower a few days ago in one of their pods. You should read it to get this one into your daily routine!
May I ask, though, knowing that you use only fans at night, which part of the country you live in?
Hi Charlene, there is "push mowing" and there is "push mowing". Normally I'm using my electric (push) lawn mower, but I also have one of the old manual whirling blades push mower (now that is a workout!).
I'm in South Dakota. We get "all" weather. Bitter cold, subzero in the winter and blistering hot above 100 in the summer, but most of the time it's very nice weather.
My tolerance for heat depends 100% on what the humidity is! If it's 95 and dry, I'm comfortable. If it's 80 and wet then I'm uncomfortably warm.
I have a little electric, actual "push" mower, but not for my whole lawn.
I have a sister in Hot Springs and I graduated college at age 40 at BHSU at the north of the black hills. I recall not "needing" A/C in the summers, for the most part. Thx for the book tip. It's on its way from the library as we speak :).
At my previous house, I used a small electric mower for 3/4 acre. My new house only has about a 1/4 acre lot so it's trivial to cut it.
The Black Hills area is awesome. From what I hear that area has some of the wildest weather swings in the entire USA (sudden changes of like 60 degrees in a day!).
Yes, in my opinion, if you have a little "tolerance" you only "want/need" AC a couple days a year.
I’m back! I just saw a short video by someone talking about how effective it is to cool the body by submerging your arms in a bucket of water. I was going to share it with you but I guess I can’t share it here.
I would add that cooling the back of the neck is effective, as well. Back to basics!
I used to work in an extremely hot office. I used to cool my arms as you suggest and then stick my head under the tap, cooling the head and sopping wet hair!
Instead add plenty of salt to water for drinking. Use cotton nightwear/bedding so that sweat evaporates. Silk would be much better but too expensive for me.
As a person that heat makes ill, I’d not last long without air conditioning. With the geoengineering making major changes to all things natural, we’re facing up to 108 daily, for the unforeseen, this coming week. My heart hurts for those that will suffer due to the ridiculous rising costs of electricity and lack of AC. The elderly and disabled mostly. I dread the possibility of losing power permanently. Yet another side effect to the depopulation agenda.
I'm considering either fixing the central ac fan that's been down for over a year, or maybe putting back the little window ac I take out for insulating the windows over winter.
but usually the ac is just a little fan.
the ceiling fans in my earth contact house weren't well secured, two fell, I removed the other two before they fell.
I tend to keep the windows open full time from spring to fall. I have a large overhang and vegetation growing in front of the windows for shade and air rejuvenation. inside temps in the daytime typically in the 80s °F. outdoors are peaking in the 90s.
I did grow up in the 1970s and 80s when air conditioning was a rich man's (or at least middle class) item, like color tv. so I'm plenty used to dealing with the humidity and heat of summer without technological overrides.
no swamp cooler function here in Missouri, as the humidity is usually too high for those to work.
I've never liked air conditioning! In Ayurveda, it is highly Vata deranging, and being so Vata, I can attest to that. I have a small window unit that I turn on only during the hottest and most humid weather (like the recent heatwave), but I turn it off at night. I have an interesting story, but I will spare you... :) I still can't tolerate walking by an air conditioner or even a fan. It's very weird. Too much of the wind element... 🌬️
Ok, Rosie...I will try to summarize as briefly as possible. :) When I was about 48 (2002ish), I woke up one morning with "pain all over," as I liked to call it. Allopathic medicine eventually deemed it fibromyalgia. This was my journey away from the nonsense of Western medicine, but not before I consulted with doctor after doctor, trying to figure it out. Their answer was to throw drugs at me for pain (one was an anti-seizure medication) and eventually antidepressants (which, thank God, I never took) and sleep drugs like Ambien. Omg, that one is so dangerous. Eventually, I woke up and started searching for more holistic alternatives.
A couple of years later, I had completely upended my life (which, of course, in retrospect, was part of the reason for the pain all over) and was working in a restaurant in NYC. It was summer and hot, and I was answering the phone at the hostess stand, having to stand under a ceiling fan. It was like a torture machine to me, and I had no idea why. It should have felt good in the heat. I was standing there, and I started to quietly cry when a sweet young server named Sarah came up to me and put her arms around me. She asked me if I knew what Ayurveda was. It was one of those moments where you know something in your bones, yet you’ve never heard of it. She said she grew up with hippie parents in CA and that I should check it out. Long story short, I finally made my way to an Ayurvedic practitioner who told me that my Vata (air/ether elements) was deranged (Ayurveda’s term for being unbalanced) and that I had too much air/wind inside my body. That was why any kind of air movement upset me so. To this day (I’m highly Vata by nature), I cannot walk too close to an air conditioner or fan.)
Allopathic doctors had looked at me as if I had two heads when I told them about the air movement issue, and in just a few minutes, this Ayurvedic practitioner knew the reason.
This is getting too long, but it was an eight-year journey of pain that set me on the path of holistic health. I’d had so many other health issues that, after studying Ayurveda, I could look back and say, “Oh, if I’d only known about Ayurveda back then... :)
Thank you very much Barbara. What a fascinating story. And how lovely of Sarah. One of my friends has started to study Ayurveda and thinks I'm probably Vata as well. Several parallels there with my own sickness history including the pain all over. Someone gave me a book about food combining. I don't do it now but that's how I got into health.
Thanks for asking! I probably should have sent it in a private message. Oh well...
Yes, Sarah was one of the Earth angels who showed up during that time. Ugh, the food combining rules! I don't always comply, although Ayurveda is truly wise and helped me heal; I still follow many of its teachings. I hope the chronic pain days for you have ended. XO
Why hasn't the A/C scene embraced Peltier modules instead of the more expensive and less efficient compressor A/C system? For those who don't know, a Peltier module is a really cool (sorry) semi-conductor that has some pretty neat properties in that when one applies electricity, one side of the module gets really hot while the other gets really cold. Well not REALLY cold - more like in the high thirties (f). No doubt everyone is familiar with these electric coolers you plug into your car's cigarette lighter - THAT is cooled by a peltier module. They are not expensive but do require heat sinks and fans to pull away the heat and coolness from the actual module. The ones I have used are about half the size of a pack of smokes but only about an eighth of an inch thick. I have made A/C units out of them and I have also run my faucet water through small motocross motorcycle radiators along with a couple of peltier's to mist cool water onto my A/C box to make it's job easier down here in Alabama. I have seen a nice reduction in my power bill because of this -
a peltier module with an effective heat sink can reduce temperature on the cold side by 30-40°F. and they can be stacked for a larger differential as long as you can pump the heat out efficiently enough.
the biggest downside I've seen is that they cost a few bucks each for a few square inches of surface unless you find a bulk supply.
I've considered setting up a Peltier based fridge but have not wanted to drop a few hundred bucks in materials yet. putting a Peltier based heat pump into my broken central air system (~5 years with the gas heater disabled and over a year with a non functional forced air fan) is a more appealing idea but even less affordable.
I'm still using a 1980s fridge and a groundscore mini fridge from a refuse pile which just needed severely cleaned, because I don't believe in buying new appliances.
still, the peltier modules are super interesting and I do have a few for experimental purposes.
A very simple and easy air-conditioning system is a buried pipe or pipes underground in a loop, with an intake and exhaust from a home or structure with air being blown through with a fan. The earth dissipates the heat and cools the air.
I don't have air conditioning. My house is passive solar (faces south with extra wide overhangs and it is made with insulated concrete, so it takes a while for the heat to build up, even in hot Kamloops, BC. I just have to remember to open windows in the morning and close them before it is too hot. After many hot days outside, the heat will build up, so I occasionally use a floor fan.
I dug a bank of earth in front of my house. I can see it reflecting the heat away from the house, and when it's cold the depth of frost is quite different one side than the other.
It's lined with plants, mostly, low bushes and flowers. It runs the length of my house except for the door, so 3-4 yards. This is a terraced house, typical of London, England. It's only slumped a little since I built it about 8 years ago because of the heavy clay soil/dirt. I suppose it was a yard high when I first did it and with a narrow path between the house and bank. I was surprised at the effectiveness, and it looks very nice too. The plants love it.
Definitely, when you have plenty of clay component to your soil dirt. If not then you will need something to stop it slumping, for example stones or a retaining wall.
Low growing drought tolerant plants need almost no maintenance. I've got cotton lavender, herbs, erigeron, cistus, rockrose and serums. It looks really attractive and is wonderful for bees, hoverflies and other nice insects.
My approach is multi modal. I grew up in a house before air conditioning so my father would let the cool air at night cool down the house, then "close up" in mid morning as outside temperatures rose. Also that imprinted on my just how much cooler a basement is. Thus to this day, my office is in my basement (where I spend most of my time).
For sleeping, I turn on the ceiling fan.
When I have guests, that's when I turn on the central air conditioning.
Thanks for chiming in John! Sounds like you had a forming childhood, and didn't shy away from the common sense (however painful approach) of our parents. I love your approach. This just goes to show how much our bodies can acclimatize.
My office is also in our basement! I wouldn't have it any other way. So much easier not only to concentrate b/c it's cooler and quieter, but more insulated from the "noise"of all the radiofrequency in the rest of the neighborhood.
We always have cold showers as a "backup" form of AC too (:
My father was an "efficiency nut", always trying be as efficient as possible. Somehow that passed on to me. The difference is he was a "penny pincher", whereas I freely spend money when I feel it is appropriate (I can afford it).
I'm a big fan of Michael Easter's book "The Comfort Crisis" and I feel that we should embrace some discomfort in our lives. Excessive comfort is not healthy! I don't shy away from going outside and cutting the grass in 90+ degree heat. Nor do I shy away from shoveling snow in subzero temperatures.
Yes, basements are great.
I should consider cold showers as a way to cool off, I've always been a hot shower person! A shower seems like a very temporary solution to being hot.
Love "embrace discomfort" and what I make myself do every day--including push mowing in heat and humidity. The Power Couple showcased the benefits of a cold shower a few days ago in one of their pods. You should read it to get this one into your daily routine!
May I ask, though, knowing that you use only fans at night, which part of the country you live in?
Hi Charlene, there is "push mowing" and there is "push mowing". Normally I'm using my electric (push) lawn mower, but I also have one of the old manual whirling blades push mower (now that is a workout!).
I'm in South Dakota. We get "all" weather. Bitter cold, subzero in the winter and blistering hot above 100 in the summer, but most of the time it's very nice weather.
My tolerance for heat depends 100% on what the humidity is! If it's 95 and dry, I'm comfortable. If it's 80 and wet then I'm uncomfortably warm.
I have a little electric, actual "push" mower, but not for my whole lawn.
I have a sister in Hot Springs and I graduated college at age 40 at BHSU at the north of the black hills. I recall not "needing" A/C in the summers, for the most part. Thx for the book tip. It's on its way from the library as we speak :).
At my previous house, I used a small electric mower for 3/4 acre. My new house only has about a 1/4 acre lot so it's trivial to cut it.
The Black Hills area is awesome. From what I hear that area has some of the wildest weather swings in the entire USA (sudden changes of like 60 degrees in a day!).
Yes, in my opinion, if you have a little "tolerance" you only "want/need" AC a couple days a year.
Enjoy the book!
I’m back! I just saw a short video by someone talking about how effective it is to cool the body by submerging your arms in a bucket of water. I was going to share it with you but I guess I can’t share it here.
I would add that cooling the back of the neck is effective, as well. Back to basics!
I used to work in an extremely hot office. I used to cool my arms as you suggest and then stick my head under the tap, cooling the head and sopping wet hair!
Never use air-conditioning, ever, and never will.
Instead add plenty of salt to water for drinking. Use cotton nightwear/bedding so that sweat evaporates. Silk would be much better but too expensive for me.
Cool shower before bed if necessary.
As a person that heat makes ill, I’d not last long without air conditioning. With the geoengineering making major changes to all things natural, we’re facing up to 108 daily, for the unforeseen, this coming week. My heart hurts for those that will suffer due to the ridiculous rising costs of electricity and lack of AC. The elderly and disabled mostly. I dread the possibility of losing power permanently. Yet another side effect to the depopulation agenda.
I'm considering either fixing the central ac fan that's been down for over a year, or maybe putting back the little window ac I take out for insulating the windows over winter.
but usually the ac is just a little fan.
the ceiling fans in my earth contact house weren't well secured, two fell, I removed the other two before they fell.
I tend to keep the windows open full time from spring to fall. I have a large overhang and vegetation growing in front of the windows for shade and air rejuvenation. inside temps in the daytime typically in the 80s °F. outdoors are peaking in the 90s.
I did grow up in the 1970s and 80s when air conditioning was a rich man's (or at least middle class) item, like color tv. so I'm plenty used to dealing with the humidity and heat of summer without technological overrides.
no swamp cooler function here in Missouri, as the humidity is usually too high for those to work.
I've never liked air conditioning! In Ayurveda, it is highly Vata deranging, and being so Vata, I can attest to that. I have a small window unit that I turn on only during the hottest and most humid weather (like the recent heatwave), but I turn it off at night. I have an interesting story, but I will spare you... :) I still can't tolerate walking by an air conditioner or even a fan. It's very weird. Too much of the wind element... 🌬️
I can't tolerate fans or air-conditioning either. Would love to hear your story if you would like to share
Ok, Rosie...I will try to summarize as briefly as possible. :) When I was about 48 (2002ish), I woke up one morning with "pain all over," as I liked to call it. Allopathic medicine eventually deemed it fibromyalgia. This was my journey away from the nonsense of Western medicine, but not before I consulted with doctor after doctor, trying to figure it out. Their answer was to throw drugs at me for pain (one was an anti-seizure medication) and eventually antidepressants (which, thank God, I never took) and sleep drugs like Ambien. Omg, that one is so dangerous. Eventually, I woke up and started searching for more holistic alternatives.
A couple of years later, I had completely upended my life (which, of course, in retrospect, was part of the reason for the pain all over) and was working in a restaurant in NYC. It was summer and hot, and I was answering the phone at the hostess stand, having to stand under a ceiling fan. It was like a torture machine to me, and I had no idea why. It should have felt good in the heat. I was standing there, and I started to quietly cry when a sweet young server named Sarah came up to me and put her arms around me. She asked me if I knew what Ayurveda was. It was one of those moments where you know something in your bones, yet you’ve never heard of it. She said she grew up with hippie parents in CA and that I should check it out. Long story short, I finally made my way to an Ayurvedic practitioner who told me that my Vata (air/ether elements) was deranged (Ayurveda’s term for being unbalanced) and that I had too much air/wind inside my body. That was why any kind of air movement upset me so. To this day (I’m highly Vata by nature), I cannot walk too close to an air conditioner or fan.)
Allopathic doctors had looked at me as if I had two heads when I told them about the air movement issue, and in just a few minutes, this Ayurvedic practitioner knew the reason.
This is getting too long, but it was an eight-year journey of pain that set me on the path of holistic health. I’d had so many other health issues that, after studying Ayurveda, I could look back and say, “Oh, if I’d only known about Ayurveda back then... :)
Thank you very much Barbara. What a fascinating story. And how lovely of Sarah. One of my friends has started to study Ayurveda and thinks I'm probably Vata as well. Several parallels there with my own sickness history including the pain all over. Someone gave me a book about food combining. I don't do it now but that's how I got into health.
Thanks for asking! I probably should have sent it in a private message. Oh well...
Yes, Sarah was one of the Earth angels who showed up during that time. Ugh, the food combining rules! I don't always comply, although Ayurveda is truly wise and helped me heal; I still follow many of its teachings. I hope the chronic pain days for you have ended. XO
My late husband,Lee Porter Butler ,the father of Environmental Architecture invented the gravity geo-thermal envelope… I’m happy to be a guest and
speak about a variety of techniques available today
Good run down.
Evaporative coolers, commonly called swamp coolers here in Arizona, are still the primary cooling systems in many homes here.
Maybe 20 years ago I got one of Bill Cunninghams early models. I made the decision to forgo any form of electrical cooling about 5 years ago.
Looking forward to covering some other ancient systems as well as some new very low emf innovations in cooling the next time we talk.
Why hasn't the A/C scene embraced Peltier modules instead of the more expensive and less efficient compressor A/C system? For those who don't know, a Peltier module is a really cool (sorry) semi-conductor that has some pretty neat properties in that when one applies electricity, one side of the module gets really hot while the other gets really cold. Well not REALLY cold - more like in the high thirties (f). No doubt everyone is familiar with these electric coolers you plug into your car's cigarette lighter - THAT is cooled by a peltier module. They are not expensive but do require heat sinks and fans to pull away the heat and coolness from the actual module. The ones I have used are about half the size of a pack of smokes but only about an eighth of an inch thick. I have made A/C units out of them and I have also run my faucet water through small motocross motorcycle radiators along with a couple of peltier's to mist cool water onto my A/C box to make it's job easier down here in Alabama. I have seen a nice reduction in my power bill because of this -
a peltier module with an effective heat sink can reduce temperature on the cold side by 30-40°F. and they can be stacked for a larger differential as long as you can pump the heat out efficiently enough.
the biggest downside I've seen is that they cost a few bucks each for a few square inches of surface unless you find a bulk supply.
I've considered setting up a Peltier based fridge but have not wanted to drop a few hundred bucks in materials yet. putting a Peltier based heat pump into my broken central air system (~5 years with the gas heater disabled and over a year with a non functional forced air fan) is a more appealing idea but even less affordable.
I'm still using a 1980s fridge and a groundscore mini fridge from a refuse pile which just needed severely cleaned, because I don't believe in buying new appliances.
still, the peltier modules are super interesting and I do have a few for experimental purposes.
Thanks for the information.
Bhodanna is very engaged and on her game!
A very simple and easy air-conditioning system is a buried pipe or pipes underground in a loop, with an intake and exhaust from a home or structure with air being blown through with a fan. The earth dissipates the heat and cools the air.
if they're buried under frost line, they can also be used to heat air to cave temperatures (~50s °F)
I don't have air conditioning. My house is passive solar (faces south with extra wide overhangs and it is made with insulated concrete, so it takes a while for the heat to build up, even in hot Kamloops, BC. I just have to remember to open windows in the morning and close them before it is too hot. After many hot days outside, the heat will build up, so I occasionally use a floor fan.
So interesting! I think I could easily try hanging a wet cloth near my windows to cool the incoming air. Thanks!
I dug a bank of earth in front of my house. I can see it reflecting the heat away from the house, and when it's cold the depth of frost is quite different one side than the other.
It's lined with plants, mostly, low bushes and flowers. It runs the length of my house except for the door, so 3-4 yards. This is a terraced house, typical of London, England. It's only slumped a little since I built it about 8 years ago because of the heavy clay soil/dirt. I suppose it was a yard high when I first did it and with a narrow path between the house and bank. I was surprised at the effectiveness, and it looks very nice too. The plants love it.
Definitely, when you have plenty of clay component to your soil dirt. If not then you will need something to stop it slumping, for example stones or a retaining wall.
Low growing drought tolerant plants need almost no maintenance. I've got cotton lavender, herbs, erigeron, cistus, rockrose and serums. It looks really attractive and is wonderful for bees, hoverflies and other nice insects.