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Hot is the New Cool
So, like usual, I'm feeling guilty about something, and it's making me all hot under the collar (literally).
Years ago I wrote a column for The Mercury about how air conditioning helped to undermine civilization as we know it.
Far be it from a veteran newspaper guy to sensationalize anything, but the idea, not my own, was that before air conditioning, when it was hot, everybody suffered together.
And we all sat out in front of our houses at night, trying to grab as much cool as the evening offered.
As a result, in a close-built town like Pottstown, everybody ended up up close and personal with their neighbors and, as is only right and proper, had a polite conversation with them. (Or, just as likely, passed on some nasty gossip about the lady down the street).
But then along came the miracle of air conditioning and make no mistake, despite the relatively simple science behind it, it is a miracle.
It is a miracle, as far as I'm concerned -- and let's face it, it's all about me right? -- because I am not built for the heat.
Hauling around a beer-gifted layer of fat that would make a harbor seal jealous, when it gets hot I feel like I'm sitting inside my mother-in-law's overheated house in May with a down jacket on.
To make matters worse, when I get hot I get irritable -- really irritable.
So come May or certainly by June (I still have one to install), I begin systematically installing the five air conditioners we use to keep our brick oven of a house tolerable through August.
To make matters warmer, our neighbor, in an understandable effort to keep squirrels out of his bedroom, cut down (legally) the flowering pear tree in front of his house which also offered our house some shade.
So here's my dilemma, only one of the air conditioners is new and therefore energy efficient.
The rest are old clunkers we've inherited from a variety of sources. They work well enough in concert with the two ceiling fans in the house, but their energy draw is staggering.
In our defense, one is for the guest room and, as such, is used maybe two or three times a year, so I'm not sure we could even count that one.
When we first moved in, we worried about whether our wiring could even handle it.
Central air conditioning is probably more efficient, but installing it in a home that was built when Woodrow Wilson was president and which uses hot water heat, is about as practical and affordable as me buying a beach house in Maui.
So what to do?
Intellectually, I know that every minute of that blessed oasis of cool is purchased to some extent, with emissions from the Cromby coal-powered power plant down the road, which is just ensuring that the next summer will be even hotter and require me to use the infernal but beloved machines even more.
And then I look at my 9-year-old and ask myself if I'm such a bad parent that I'm not willing to suffer a little heat rash to try and keep the planet he'll inherit from being a hell-on-earth -- or a future where those two words become synonyms.
All to often, the needs (or wants?) of the day outweigh the dangers of a future I'll likely not live to see.
I rationalize that it's for his and my wife's good too for I know deep down that if we forgo the comfort, I might kill someone during a heat wave. I've grown quite fond of my family over the years and really hate to put them at risk.
Not to mention that without the air conditioners, my overly generous metabolism ensures that I'll never have a dry shirt for one quarter of every year -- not something any of us want to contemplate very closely.
If only I could win the lottery and cover my roof with those nifty new photo-voltaic shingles, then I could use the sun against itself, and power those AC's guilt-free.
But sadly, I have not chosen a profession that allows the accumulation of large sums of disposable cash in the bank. Eating always seems to take a front seat,
So I'm left to stew in my own guilt in a pleasant 72-degree living room, unless a reader out there can come to my aid.
What do you do?
Years ago I wrote a column for The Mercury about how air conditioning helped to undermine civilization as we know it.
Far be it from a veteran newspaper guy to sensationalize anything, but the idea, not my own, was that before air conditioning, when it was hot, everybody suffered together.
And we all sat out in front of our houses at night, trying to grab as much cool as the evening offered.
As a result, in a close-built town like Pottstown, everybody ended up up close and personal with their neighbors and, as is only right and proper, had a polite conversation with them. (Or, just as likely, passed on some nasty gossip about the lady down the street).
But then along came the miracle of air conditioning and make no mistake, despite the relatively simple science behind it, it is a miracle.
It is a miracle, as far as I'm concerned -- and let's face it, it's all about me right? -- because I am not built for the heat.
Hauling around a beer-gifted layer of fat that would make a harbor seal jealous, when it gets hot I feel like I'm sitting inside my mother-in-law's overheated house in May with a down jacket on.
To make matters worse, when I get hot I get irritable -- really irritable.
So come May or certainly by June (I still have one to install), I begin systematically installing the five air conditioners we use to keep our brick oven of a house tolerable through August.
To make matters warmer, our neighbor, in an understandable effort to keep squirrels out of his bedroom, cut down (legally) the flowering pear tree in front of his house which also offered our house some shade.
So here's my dilemma, only one of the air conditioners is new and therefore energy efficient.
The rest are old clunkers we've inherited from a variety of sources. They work well enough in concert with the two ceiling fans in the house, but their energy draw is staggering.
In our defense, one is for the guest room and, as such, is used maybe two or three times a year, so I'm not sure we could even count that one.
When we first moved in, we worried about whether our wiring could even handle it.
Central air conditioning is probably more efficient, but installing it in a home that was built when Woodrow Wilson was president and which uses hot water heat, is about as practical and affordable as me buying a beach house in Maui.
So what to do?
Intellectually, I know that every minute of that blessed oasis of cool is purchased to some extent, with emissions from the Cromby coal-powered power plant down the road, which is just ensuring that the next summer will be even hotter and require me to use the infernal but beloved machines even more.
And then I look at my 9-year-old and ask myself if I'm such a bad parent that I'm not willing to suffer a little heat rash to try and keep the planet he'll inherit from being a hell-on-earth -- or a future where those two words become synonyms.
All to often, the needs (or wants?) of the day outweigh the dangers of a future I'll likely not live to see.
I rationalize that it's for his and my wife's good too for I know deep down that if we forgo the comfort, I might kill someone during a heat wave. I've grown quite fond of my family over the years and really hate to put them at risk.
Not to mention that without the air conditioners, my overly generous metabolism ensures that I'll never have a dry shirt for one quarter of every year -- not something any of us want to contemplate very closely.
If only I could win the lottery and cover my roof with those nifty new photo-voltaic shingles, then I could use the sun against itself, and power those AC's guilt-free.
But sadly, I have not chosen a profession that allows the accumulation of large sums of disposable cash in the bank. Eating always seems to take a front seat,
So I'm left to stew in my own guilt in a pleasant 72-degree living room, unless a reader out there can come to my aid.
What do you do?
posted by Evan Brandt at
10:34 AM
3 Comments:
Well, being the fellow owner of an old Pottstown mostly brick house/oven, I feel your pain. That being said, I must admit that the first level of our house has stayed remarkably cool compared to the outside temperatures today. We installed our two air conditioners this morning - one for each bedroom in use, but we haven't turned them on yet. We have basically decamped to the first floor of the house. One fan running on the first floor is all we've needed. Since we have a queen sleeper sofa in the living room, we are seriously considering sleeping on the first level...at least for tonight. Our son seems to be game for the idea as well (he's 10)...he would have a little fold-up twin that we could pull down from the attic. Our cat is the only one who truly enjoys these kinds of days and she can currently be found in said attic/broiler. :-) I only wish we had a finished basement to further descend to. The nice naturally cool temperatures down there would be perfect...if only there were enough headroom. Every year I look at the mini-split or ductless air conditioning units and say this is the year that we're getting them. But then for the relatively few days that we have the extreme heat (90+ temps) it doesn't seem worth the cost. If we have too many days like this, though, I might reconsider. They are supposedly very efficient and you can zone cool, depending on how you place the indoor units.
I know exactly how you feel. The patchwork of a/c units poking their heads through my otherwise nice-looking exterior is cartoonish. My plaster walls prohibit a 'regular' a/c unit going in. However, the high-velocity a/c units send tubes through your closets and are not very invasive. I plan on getting one installed in the fall. a/c contractors tend to be more willing to cut you a deal when they are not as busy. This unit is much more energy efficient than the window units and safer. My system is under 10k and that includes a heat strip that will allow me to use this system as a secondary heat source. This will relieve some of my dependence on my oil-guzzling behemouth of a furnace. The thing that I love is I have the option for under 2k of making this my primary heat source, by adding a heat pump. This will make my electric bills higher, however if I'm signed up for PECO's wind energy program I will not be contributing to 'the mess' and in the near future we can expect dramatic changes in solar capabilities. see: http://www.konarka.com/index.php/site/Company_vision/
With home equity loans and lines of credit at their lowest rates in years i figure I'll strike while the iron's hot - sorry had to use that one.
Evan,
I have central air. I am a cheapskate and run fans in the basement to blow the naturally cold air down there up to the first floor. H20 isn't cheap either. I water my garden from water barrels hooked up to my downspouts.
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