Strange at first glance, but probable when you think about it, I suspect Vegas gets its’ electricity cheap and environmentally green, as the Hoover Dam is right next door.
Here’s a trick that works - grab some ice cubes in each hand and grip until they melt in your hands. You’ll be bringing your hand temperature way down, the rest of the body rushes heat there to compensate, so your whole body will be and remain considerably cooler for an hour and change. An ice bag for the head at the same time is twice as nice. Repeat as necessary.
Have you ever lived in Minnesota? In the summer it’s unbelievably hot. Tonight is a low of 77 with a humidity of 90%. During the day the highs are in the upper 90s, its impossible to do anything. I run the AC for the better part of six months a year. I don’t get the people that worry about AC energy and then crank up the heat to 78 in the winter. I keep the heat down to about 59 and throw on another shirt. Although I use AC when I get my report from the electric company it says I am using much less electricity than 99% of my neighbors.
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I’ve got a tower fan and three free-roaming budgerigars. Problem solved. 
So the suggestions are fine, but it’s important to understand there are trade-offs. My house used to be surrounded by shade trees, and we got by without air conditioning for years. We had them removed, and without their shade I don’t think the house would be bearable without AC. But we had them removed because of the threats from windstorms, ice storms, and insects. Having a tree too near to your house is a major way to introduce and promote insect infestations. Aging trees become a major threat, and in our increasingly stormy climate, we were seeing huge chunks of death fall from the sky with every storm – sometimes it was hard to imagine there was any tree left to fall. It became too risky to continue to have trees around the house.
The linked article says that 35% of the heat comes from appliances. This brings to mind an old musing of mind as to why refrigerator/freezers aren’t designed so that they can exhaust their heat to the outdoors.
There are microfiber scarves you can get, you wet them and then wrap them around your neck and the evaporation cools the blood in your carotid arteries. Very effective.
Also, those Sharper Image neck collar things work on the same principle, but with a battery powered heat pump. Of course, with those you look even more of a dork.
I’m wondering if it wouldn’t be possible to build a really small neck cooling system that used the Peltier effect and solar power…
after 5 hours of intense air conditioning, the temperature in my 107-year-old house has dropped a measly but merciful 2 degrees…
…which has probably burned about 128 dinosaur-fossil’s of coal and dammed a further 3 rivers in northern ontario to fuel my hydro consumption.
somewhere someone has revoked my hippie card.
and there is now a place reserved for me in that special part of hell where the oilsands company presidents are usually sent.
i remain unrepentant.
the rivulets of sweat are no longer cascading into my shorts.
amen.
I could have been more clear. Can anyone get the treehugger article to appear properly on an iPad?
Sadly, Peltier coolers are really inefficient - around 15%. So to make one side of the cooler cool, the other side has to get really hot. With a scarf like that you could offer to re-warm people’s coffee for them, I guess.
Along the lines of those cooling collar things, I also used to wrap a freezer-bag full of ice in a towel such that there would be multiple layers of towel on the outside, but only one layer on the inside, and wrap that around my neck. It also works amazingly well, and does so without making your shirt wet. This has come in handy several times when working on the weekend in a modern skyscraper where it costs $35 just to turn on the A/C for the floor, and several hundred dollars a day to run it. So, being the only person on the floor, I would just make do. (Surprising what a deeper hellhole modern skyscraper offices become without heat, A/C, and lighting).
I live in San Francisco, which means that I am no longer able to tolerate extremes of either heat or cold.
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The summer climate in Minneapolis is surprisingly similar to where I am - Columbus, Ohio - just a bit cooler in general. It’s not that bad without a/c here if your house has shade and you don’t expect it to be 65 degrees all year round. A low of 77 is quite nice compared to, say, a high of 127 like Vegas. There might be a few days a year where you’re miserable without a/c in Minnesota but it’s not that bad. Half of it is an adjustment and clothing issue.
I do agree though, people keep it too cold in the summer and too hot in the winter. I am not as hard core as you but I keep my heat on around 65 in the winter. We’re not reptiles, we can adjust to and dress for cold temps!
Claiming that AC makes it “stuffy” seems very un-scientific. Then again, no idea what the definition of “stuffy” is. I have friends that claim AC makes them sick but as far as I can tell they are being as ignorant as those who claim vaccines cause autism.
AC filters the air so if you live in city that has bad air or a a downtown area with lots of cars putting dirt in the air then AC is likely more healthy than open windows.
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As I gaily kayak’d Toronto’s harbour Islands the desire too capsize was overwhelming with the humid heat July 17th, 2013.
Too sleep in humid heat, a fan blowing directly on the person is best, allowing epidermal perspiration to evaporation.
Soaking feet in icy cold water with fan blowing, you’re in business… till the water gets warm and you have too wake up and change it with freezer back-up supply. Do not attempt this standing on your head.
Similarly, you can use a trick I learned at summer camp: Sleep under a damp sheet or towel with a fan running at low speed.
Where do you live that “most” of the energy used to power your AC is produced by natural gas? According to the Energy Information Administration, coal still accounts for just over 40% of all power generated in the US, with natural gas at 27.6%.
Most of the base load is generated from coal but most of the demand load (nationwide!) is generated by natural gas since natural gas power production can ramp up and down quickly. Air conditioning is very much a demand load so most air conditioning is powered by natural gas.
Sleep under a damp sheet or towel
You are Fungus the Bogeyman AICM£5
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Last summer there were nights where it would be after midnight and it remained 90F outside. There is something demoralizing and terrible about being so hot in the dark. It would be 114F on my shaded porch during the day. We ran about three solid months with temperatures over 100F every single day. So yeah, I run my air conditioning.
The only way I can justify it to myself is that our home has had several things done recently to improve the energy efficiency. It’s not very big, to start. The ducts were re-sealed and cleaned recently to prevent leakage. All our windows are those crazy thick energy rated ten million layers of glass deals. We added additional weatherstripping to the doors. When we have the money I want to put in better attic venting and maybe some of the radiant barrier stuff.
I have friends that claim AC makes them sick but as far as I can tell they are being as ignorant as those who claim vaccines cause autism.
AC == low humidity, and low humidity is generally irritating to the lining of the nose and the eyes. This irritation is similar to that of being sick, so makes people feel unwell.
Further. this article describes the effects of indoor humidity on airborne-transmitted infectious bacteria, viruses, mite and fungal populations. It shows that either extreme (less than 50% humidity or greater than 80%) leads to an increase in the number of viable pathogens in the air. So there really is something to that.
