Keeping Cool Sans A/C
By Karina | July 30, 2007
I am one of Those People who doesn’t have an air conditioner. I will admit to a small amount of punk-rock satisfaction when I tell people that I don’t have A/C and they gape and wonder how!? could I ever do it! but I’ve found that there’s only about 1 or 2 weeks (knock on wood) in the summer where the heat is truly so oppressive I wish I had an A/C (or a nearby friend with a guest room and central air). The rest of the summer I am happy with fans and keeping my windows open. I’m lucky to live in a corner apartment on a lower floor, so I don’t have to worry about stagnant air or rising heat. I drink a lot of ice water, and try to ignore how long it takes me to stop sweating after a run. I don’t use the A/C in my car unless it’s raining and I have to close my windows, and that way I try not to get used to climate control. Plus, I work indoors in a heavily cooled office - it’s easy to go home to an apartment that might be a little warm when you’ve been chilled through and through for 9+ hours a day.
We already had a couple of hot weeks earlier this year, and my trusty and at-least-6-year-old fan bit the dust. It could have been a close call, too, because I think the reason the motor gave out was because my bedroom curtain was stuck in the blades (oops!). Since that happened I’ve been using the old pedestal fan that my dad fished out of the basement and handed to me a couple of years ago in my bedroom, but that is technically the LIVING ROOM fan, and if it gets hot again I will need to procure another fan. And if Al Gore has taught me anything, it’s that it’s gonna get HOT.
My first inclination was to repair my old fan. I just don’t know anything about fan repair! and I tried to open up the casing a couple of years ago to clean off the fan blades, and was entirely unable to. so for now, this is not the course of action.
Then I went to the internets. And for the first time, the internets failed me. I did a number of searches for efficient fans and all I learned was a lot about air conditioners. I know that air conditioners use a lot more energy than a simple room fan, but if I’m going to purchase something new, I want it to be super-efficient. I want some bang for my buck! Plus, if I am going to buy something new, I want it to be good-looking. I don’t know if that’s superficial, but I so rarely buy new things - my home is furnished with hand-me-downs and used goods - that when I do, I try to get something that is Just What I Want.
(I did think about making a swamp cooler, but it’s too humid in this part of the country for it to work well.)
So y’all have any recommendations for beautiful, well-designed, and super-efficient fans? Right now I’m wandering around shops and noting the general energy requirements of fans I see. for example: last week I saw a pretty fan named the VORNADO SWAN. I didn’t have my good camera with me, but I did snap a camera phone pic of the fan and of the sticker on its base describing energy demand and other technical requirements.
I know, that’s really hard to read… but from information like this I hope to determine which fans draw the least energy. for example - this fan says 120 VAC and 0.6 AMPS. My dad the electrical engineer confirms that power = voltage x current, so this fan requires 72 watts. now I just need to do a bunch of comparison shopping to figure out which pretty fan will be the best for me.
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You know what I wonder? I wonder how much juice the “fan” function on my bedroom A/C unit uses– because I use that way more frequently than I use the A/C. And I’ve kind of been thinking that it might not really be particularly energy efficient…but it’s already in the window so I kind of have to use it. So, that, in addition to the two other fans in the two other windows, plus my ceiling fan… and I’m not sure if I’m using more or less power than if I just cranked up the A/C!
Also, I wanted to mention a cool humidifier-hack that a friend of ours wrote about– Mary fills her humidifier water chamber with ice + water (or just fills the chamber halfway with water, and freezes the whole thing) — prestochango, a swamp cooler!
Jenn - sounds like we should do a Tiny Choices energy audit on your apartment!
As you may recall, I have the Hawaiian Breeze Tower fan, which may or may not be energy efficient (I bought it in a tizzy at an accidental trip to a large retailer) but it is snazzy looking and it works fine for me.
I’ve also barely used my a/c this summer - it’s in my bedroom and came with the apartment so I’m sure it’s horribly inefficient. I do, however, use it when I, ummm, have company and I think that’s a fair usage - you know, since I’m not using the tv ;)
Speaking of things using energy but not being used - do you gals think there’s a way to lessen the energy my tivo uses when I’m not attending to her? I bet I can play with her settings and ask her to dial in for info less often and not to record stuff willy-nilly for me - but isn’t that the fun of having a tivo? Hmm.. sorry to hijack your comment section
Stacey - can you send me the info on your Hawaiian Breeze Tower fan? I need the amps and the volts - I’ll add it to my “database!”
and I have no idea about your tivo! if you don’t mind, I’ll add that to the list of topics to look into (and post about)!
I tried to look it up (before I commented) on the internet, but couldn’t find it, so will look at the breeze tower tonight. I’ll look up the tivo stuff and let you know what i do.
I wanted to ask you about not using AC in your car because we try not to use it also. But then I read somewhere that it is best not to use AC if you are going under 55mph because it slows down your car’s gas efficiency, but if you are going over 55mph, having the windows open will actually cause enough of a drag on your car that you will use more gas than if you were using AC. Is that actually true, or a big lie fed to me by the oil industry to trick me? Or are there are other reasons to avoid AC as well? (I remember that there were problems with the chemicals used for coolants in the early 90s, but supposedly those were mostly resolved for cars made after 1995 or so? Or perhaps not?) I’m really curious about this!
Hey Kari, have you seen this post from the fabulous Umbra?
http://www.grist.org/advice/ask/2006/06/14/fans/index.html
Jenn - I hadn’t seen that! thanks! I love the testing-fans-in-floppy-hats visual.
Xuli - I am going to do some research and will figure this out definitely. I’ve heard the windows cause drag reasoning before too, but I just LOVE driving with my windows open, so I don’t worry about it too much.
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