Our cheapest form of keeping cool in the summer starts with Sweating. Sweating cools the body down and maintains its operating temperature. Sweating prevents us from overheating and heatstroke.
Basic Physics of Water Cooling (Seating): When a liquid changes state by evaporating into gas, the process has the effect of cooling down the surface that it came from. Evaporation needs a triggering event and that would be our body getting hotter (exercising/ working hard) plus the movement of air across the water’s surface (our skin). Our body is similar to turning on the stove burner and placing a pot of water on top. The pot of water is actually trying to cool down the hot burner as the water evaporates into the air, but more energy coming out of the burner (I.E. our body) keeps the water hot triggering more evaporation to continue. When we stop exercising / working hard, we stop the source of high temperature and the skin evaporation goes way down.
CHEAP:
FIX - CLOTHING: WHITE Clothing surfaces reflect light while BLACK-surfaces collect light. Therefore, it is best to:
· Wear white clothes when hot outside to reflect the heat away.
· White umbrellas will reflect the most heat, while black umbrellas will collect and radiate amplified heat down to you.
· Wear wet collars around your neck which evaporate water to cool the warm blood entering your brain. (Sold at hardware stores.)
MEDIUM:
FIX - HOUSE EXTERIOR: White roofs and white walls will greatly reduce your air conditioning bills while Black roofs and dark colored walls will suck in heat which travels through the walls into
the house. A LOT of insulation (R70 – 100 per www.phius.org ) is required to prevent that extra heat from penetrating into the house. (Note: a standard 2x4 wall is only ~ R9 - 13) · FUTURE: Lets have Seasonal Color changing roofs and walls on our house for Summer and Winter
STEEP:
FIX - HOUSE AIR CONDITIONING:
· If Humid outside, run a “De-Humidifier” inside the house to attract moisture out of the air and allow your skin to evaporate easily.
· When purchasing an Air Conditioner insist on the highest SEER value (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating). Mini-Splits are twice (or more) as efficient than a “central” air conditioner. The Carrier MiniSplit rated at 9000 BTU (3/4 Ton) has a record SEER = 42. Model: 38MPRAQ09AA301. The best central air conditioners average around SEER 16 but you should insist on better. Plus by having multiple 90
00 BTU mini splits around various rooms, you can have individual room control.
· In dry climate, Use an "Evaporative Cooler" (Swamp cooler) instead of a central air conditioner. These use only the watts of the fan to blow across water-panels and no high powered compressor is required outside. Be sure a window is open on the opposite end of the house to let the cool humid air escape, else the house will become nearly 100% humid. The temperature of the output is usually around 58 to 62 on a low-humid day such as S.W. USA.
· WARNING: Sold to many unsuspecting consumers are floor standing interior air conditions that have no insulation divider wall between the cool side blowing on you and the warm side where air is entering the machine. Since the machine is using watts to run, It can only add heat to the room despite blowing on you. There must be a pipe or some equipment going out the window or wall to remove heat to outside.
FIX: - CARS: Car roofs don’t have much insulation if any. If your car is any color other than white, then the air conditioner load is increased to keep the interior cool. A paint shop can paint the car’s roof white. Most Toyota FJ Cruisers come with whit tops no matter what color the car is.
ENJOY MOTHER NATURE'S “EVER INCREASING’ HOT SUMMER!