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Why some people have cooled off of air conditioning
Slate's Daniel Engber discusses the bigger societal implications of air conditioning and why some Americans are against it.
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Kai Ryssdal: So you better believe -- what with the heat waves and all the dry spells we've been having -- that air conditioners are working over time this summer. But A/C is often frowned upon. Daniel Engber writes in defense of conditioned air today in Slate. Thanks for being with us.
Daniel Engber: Glad to be here.
Ryssdal: So let me question the premise of this piece, who could possibly be against air conditioning?
Engber: You'd be surprised. I know that most homes in America now have air conditioning, something like 87 percent. But I just find in my daily life that there's a lot of guilt and shame about using the air conditioner. People want to get by for as long as they can without turning it on.
Ryssdal: Now do you find in the winter time trying to go without heat? Does the flip side of this equation work?
Engber: No, the flip side of the equation never works. The very notion is absurd. So there are cafes in my neighborhood where it will be 95 degrees out and they don't have the air conditioning on because why would you succumb to the temptation of wasteful air conditioning?
Ryssdal: The other thing is, though, is that people always say, oh man you've got those chlorofluorocarbons and whatever it is that is in the coolant for the air conditioning and it's destroying the planet.
Engber: Sure. So the big argument against air conditioning now is this idea that when we turn on the air conditioner, when we try to cool off, we are ironically, I suppose, making the planet warmer. We're contributing to global warming both through the guzzling of electricity by the appliance and also by the refrigerant gases that are used.
Ryssdal: But you can only get -- this is a little convoluted -- you can only get so cool. You can only put your feet in a tub of ice and have a fan blow on you and there's a limit to how much that will cool you off. You can get warm in like a zillion different way.
Engber: Right. There's this sense, well maybe one of the reasons: we have this sort of thermal double standard. Part of that comes from this idea that maybe somehow cold is worse than hot -- that people are going to freeze to death before they catch fire. But that's just not the case, I don't think. The data on whether cold snaps or heat waves are more deadly are ambiguous. Certainly both kill lots of people in the United States every year. But for some reason again there's this notion that the rules are different on either end of the thermostat.
Ryssdal: You kind of tease us at the bottom of this pice talking about part two that's going to come out tomorrow, about the deeper societal implications of air conditioning in this country in the 21st century. Give us a preview, would you?
Engber: I think this goes to the question of sort of the politics or air conditioning. This is something that the journalist Dan Cox has written about. He's argued that the invention and spread of air conditioning has really been a boon for the Republican party because it's created this possibility of southward migration to the Sun Belt. It's certainly the case. If you look at the last presidential election, 8 of the 10 hottest states in the country voted for John McCain. It plays out in even policy discussions. The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program favors heating over cooling and that's been a source of political debate over the years with the warm weather states arguing that more money should be appropriated to them.
Ryssdal: Daniel Engber. His piece on air conditioning is in Slate today. It's called "Don't Sweat It." Part two comes tomorrow. Daniel, thanks a lot.
Engber: Thank you, Kai.
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Like most people, I'm all in favor of cooling and heating. But, as is often the case, we over-do it. In summer, when we wear light clothing, our offices and stores are cooled down to the point where we have to bring sweaters to work and to the movies. In the winter, when we're wearing warm clothing, we often roast in publicly heated places. It would be interesting to know how much energy could be saved if homes, offices and public places were cooled a few degrees less in summer and heated a few degrees less in winter. Let's reset our collective thermostat.
Exactly: "When we turn on the air conditioner . . . we are making the planet warmer." Air conditioning is a luxury, and like any luxury it should be used with good judgment. If my house had central air, would I use it on humid 90-degree days? Yes. But to haul out the window units from the garage, stick them in the windows, and then spend the entire summer trapped behind those ugly, inefficient boxes? No, thanks.
Ideally I'd like to keep the windows open all the time, too, but AC has made much of the south more livable. When my husband and I finished our usual 3-mile walk at 9 last night, it was still 85 degrees and 85% humidity, and our clothes were literally soaked. The AC (and the accompanying low humidity) felt great! We have tried to avoid AC as long as possible some years and ended up with the heirloom family portraits (this is the South!) covered with mildew. Before you condemn AC totally, spend a summer or two in a nice humid climate - say TN, GA, AL. You'll get a whole new appreciation. It's not the heat that's the issue; it's humidity. We visited Utah, where it was 100 degrees every day, but humidity was 8-14%. It was completely comfortable to run around outside and to leave the AC off in the house. This discussion ignores the real issue; AC is not for cooling, it's for humidity. The need for AC varies with where you live, and I agree that a lot of regions don't need it.
I can't understand why people willingly endure the sensory deprivation of living in air conditioning 24-7. Why would anyone choose not to know which way the breeze is blowing (and if your house is properly built and sited, there's almost always a breeze), not to hear the crickets and frogs (but still hear the fire trucks and car alarms), not to smell the flowers' perfume or the pungency of the corner hot dog stand, not to see the play of light and clouds - just to avoid a little sweat? That seems insane. I know some people have health problems and need AC. Thank God I'm not one of them. About 20 nights a year, it gets hot enough here in Baltimore that I'll reluctantly sleep in a bedroom cooled by a window unit. I hate it! Can't wait to turn it off!
I am totally anti-air conditioning. Okay, so I live in Wisconsin but it's southern Wisconsin with highs in the 70s only eight times since May 31 this summer. The rest of the time it's been 80s/90s (like today) and of course, 100. Winters are too long and I treasure each summer day. Window fans work. Also, since I shoot a lot of sports, I should be acclimated to the heat. Witness other sports photogs at the Kohler, WI LPGA event last month who were overcome with the heat. Not me. Window fans work.
There's a very simple economic reason why some of us try to keep our air conditioners turned off during summer.
Two words -- electric bills! Power companies traditionally raise their rates during summer, because it's "prime time" for them.
Because I resisted the A/C urge during June this year on marginal warm days, my July electric bill was down 25% from last year - both in usage and price. Since I'm currently unemployed, every little bit of savings helps. Three cheers for floor fans!
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