The average daily high temperature so far this summer has been 93 degrees where we live, and it has gotten as hot as 103 degrees one time, and broken 100 five times. That being said, we have an excellent central air conditioner which we have not yet turned on this summer. It's not that we're crazy or anything, it is just that we see the benefits of not using all of that electricity. Not only can we save the world, but we can also save our bank account.
Mrs. True wants me to make note of the fact that in the desert where we live, the night temperature is much lower than the daytime temperature. This is true, the night average temperature in our are has been 67 degrees - much cooler than the daytime temperature. This is also the linchpin of the entire scheme that I am going to present in this post, so it bears mentioning. If your night temperature doesn't seem significantly cooler than your daytime temperature (we're not sure how humidity affects this process), your results may vary.
If you visit Weather Underground, click "more," "historic weather," and type in your zip code you will see that it probably gets colder during the night than it does during the day. When cooling your house using box fans, you take advantage of this by opening up your windows at night and venting the warm air out of your house while pulling the colder outside air in.
Every evening we open up two or more windows on opposite sides of out house and vent the house by placing box fans in the windows. One window (the kitchen for us) has the box fan placed so that it blows air into the house, and the other window (the master bedroom) has the box fan placed so that it blows air out of the house. The rest of the house can have the windows open, and more air will exchange based on where they are in relation to the two master windows.
In the morning we just reverse the process by taking the fans out and closing the windows. It takes less than 1 minute a day to do this, so we spend less than 3 hours a year doing this. We have collected box fans from our local thrift store, for an initial investment of about $15, plus electricity costs, which we have not broken down but are certain total less than running an air conditioner.
Mrs. True notes that our house gets up to 80 during the hottest parts of the day, and it gets down to 70 during the night, so our house is still fluctuating in temperature, just not as much as the outside air. We did add extra insulation to our attic when we moved in, which probably helps and maybe makes up for the ancient windows in the bedrooms and not-well-fitting exterior doors that leak our our cool air. We also have a small one-story house; we believe the method would work in other layouts, but it might take some experimentation to find the correct windows.
And, of course, it is very important that we are comfortable at a higher temperature than many people keep their houses at. We think most people probably could be comfortable at 78 degrees, though, barring medical issues. Isn't that why Southern California is so popular? (Mrs. True adds that in past years, she has consistently turned on the air conditioning only during the time she is cleaning the house; other physical activities done in the home might also affect your perception of an acceptable temperature.)
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