CA leads TX is total solar capacity (home and utility). CA also leads in backup battery capacity. TX is wsay ahead in wind energy. CA uses less than 1/2 the electrical energy than TX despite having more population and more EVs.
I've recently wondered why so few people in Europe have AC, this explains it! I live in the deep South where the heat index has been over 110 most of the week. Our detatched unconditioned and poorly insulated garage is getting up to 105 with a heat index of 130. It's been awful. It used to never get really hot until August. I think this summer will be typical going forward so Europe had better change its policy or lots of people will die every summer from a totally preventable situation. I'm thinking of getting a window unit and a solar battery bank in case the power goes out.
I personally think all this fossil fuel, is bringing on planet warming, The ice caps are melting. the summer months are hotter. The winter months, at least on the west coast seem milder. Wind farms, tide farms and solar power creates a lot of employment and it is a hell of a lot cleaner than coal and oil.
I live in Las Vegas, where for at least 4 months of the year, the temperatures are well into the triple digits. For 10 years I lived right on the Mexican border in Deep South Texas where it was routinely 95 degrees+ with 80% humidity. Living without A/C would be misery, but the energy required to power it doesn’t have to come from fossil fuels! What I can’t fathom is how this country can allow one selfish idiot like Donald Trump to dictate that renewable energy projects must be stopped! There need to be proper regulations that are stronger than one 80 yr old orange lunatic who insists on living in the 1970’s because it lines his own pockets on the back end! I am so tired of this country giving in to this man-child’s ridiculous tantrums! We need to get rid of him & all the Republicans who enable him, so we can jump back into the 21st century before it’s too late! 🤦♀️
Let's take a deep breath. Government opposition to clean energy is temporary—Trump and MAGA will be gone in a couple of years, then we have a chance for sanity to return to our national policies.
I grew up in Tennessee in the 1960s, and we got AC at home when I was about 6. No AC at school, and classes started in August. It was pretty unpleasant. But the worst heat experience of my life was the 1995 Chicago heat wave (google it), when we were living in a top-floor apartment that faced west with floor-to-ceiling windows, and of course no AC. "Hellish" is the word for what that was like. I understand being disgusted with American overuse of AC — I hate it myself — but I think everybody needs to accept that these terrible heat events are the new normal. The miserable future we failed to prevent is now arriving, and we all have to adjust. Turning up our noses at air conditioning is a luxury we no longer have.
I read about MAGAs having hissy fits because Mandami asked New Yorkers to set their AC at 78 and turn off unused electronics. I always have our home at 78 in the summer except when we're asleep. I'm in Tennessee and I honestly think I'd get heat stroke indoors this week without AC. It's going to be essential in many more places now. I'm actually pretty mad solar isn't more affordable or easy to install here, we should have figured out how to have cheap renewable energy on every roof decades ago.
I grew up in one of the most humid counties in America, but my worst weather experience was during a power outage in suburban DC. There was a big storm that left things freakishly humid, and no fan or AC in a South-facing 3 story apartment in an area that was mostly concrete/asphalt. Despite growing up in someplace with typically worse weather (months of high humidity, hurricanes, flash floods) and I was like "oh, I get how weather kills people now".
Urban heat waves are just a whole other level of misery.
Absolutely. One of my vivid memories of the Chicago episode was sitting outside on the street with a neighbor around 3 o'clock in the morning and still feeling suffocated by the heat. All the buildings and asphalt just create an oven.
Molly Ivins's essay about Willis Carrier, the inventor of air-conditioning, is a great read. Time Magazine 100 greatest something ..inventors? Minds? Of the 20th century.
Molly Ivins is / was amazing. Ranks up there with Twain and O’Rourke, and yet…hmmm. Such a girl.
She still makes me laugh out loud. I deeply honor any woman from Texas who could make the whole damn country laugh at her beloved and behated( really ought to be a word) Texas..
Another excellent article/post. I grew up in Northern Ohio near Lake Erie. We didn’t have AC and were told to open the windows to catch the cool lake breezes.
When I moved to the area I'm in I decided on a location where A/C was not absolutely necessary to survive. I simply didn't want to live in a place where you had to have it. There are some days where it really pushes my endurance but so far it has not become essential. Open windows, doors and several fans do the management. That said, I just about die everywhere else I go and they've cranked the A/C. I always need a jacket or coat in the summer.
But what do you use for heating? If the answer isn’t “I don’t need that at all”, then a heat pump will be your best choice, and heat pumps give you air conditioning for free. (Well, for no additional cost over having the electrified heating system, I mean.)
Yeah — it’s quite clear that many of the administration’s power-grid moves (which they can exert federally even in blue states) are designed to ensure brown- and blackouts become more frequent to ensure there will always be a market for gas. It’s even “better” than a subsidy because it’s elastic to whatever anyone is willing to pay to not take the chance.
It’s a really, really terrible policy distortion that your incentives run like that.
Hi Catherine, I really like your work on here and on MSNOW, but I'm afraid you're misrepresenting the UK position here. The right-wing press in the UK use net zero as a wedge issue and stories like the one you posted are often misleading and one-sided. That said, it is stupidly hot here this week!
The goverment is truly in favour of air conditioning. In fact, the UK government offers grants of up to £2500 ($3300) for residential users to install air-to-air heat pumps, which keep you warm in winter and cool in summer.
I'm 74 and grew up without home air conditioning until I was a Junior in high school. We also didn't have air conditioning in our car for a while. I grew up in St Louis County, known for weeks of 90+ F and high humidity. I think air conditioning is one of the best inventions ever. I do, however, hate closing the windows since I always open the windows once it's in the low 50s and only close them when it's raining or high 80s/90s with high humidity. I'm also careful when setting the temperature and since I live alone now, I get to decide. I'm all for renewable energy and can't wait unit the country can get back on track.
I put in a modern heat pump, so heating AND cooling, two years ago in my 50 year old three story town house. All electric. My monthly bill is a quarter of what it was before, for heating, cooling, and lights. Right now, it is 100 degrees outside, but it is cool and comfortable in my house with no ACC running. Heat pumps and mini splits are the future. Also, thank you President Biden for the $5000 rebate I received for the installation.
CA leads TX is total solar capacity (home and utility). CA also leads in backup battery capacity. TX is wsay ahead in wind energy. CA uses less than 1/2 the electrical energy than TX despite having more population and more EVs.
I've recently wondered why so few people in Europe have AC, this explains it! I live in the deep South where the heat index has been over 110 most of the week. Our detatched unconditioned and poorly insulated garage is getting up to 105 with a heat index of 130. It's been awful. It used to never get really hot until August. I think this summer will be typical going forward so Europe had better change its policy or lots of people will die every summer from a totally preventable situation. I'm thinking of getting a window unit and a solar battery bank in case the power goes out.
I live in the Seattle area, and rarely feel the need for A/C. It rarely makes it over 80.
I personally think all this fossil fuel, is bringing on planet warming, The ice caps are melting. the summer months are hotter. The winter months, at least on the west coast seem milder. Wind farms, tide farms and solar power creates a lot of employment and it is a hell of a lot cleaner than coal and oil.
I live in Las Vegas, where for at least 4 months of the year, the temperatures are well into the triple digits. For 10 years I lived right on the Mexican border in Deep South Texas where it was routinely 95 degrees+ with 80% humidity. Living without A/C would be misery, but the energy required to power it doesn’t have to come from fossil fuels! What I can’t fathom is how this country can allow one selfish idiot like Donald Trump to dictate that renewable energy projects must be stopped! There need to be proper regulations that are stronger than one 80 yr old orange lunatic who insists on living in the 1970’s because it lines his own pockets on the back end! I am so tired of this country giving in to this man-child’s ridiculous tantrums! We need to get rid of him & all the Republicans who enable him, so we can jump back into the 21st century before it’s too late! 🤦♀️
Let's take a deep breath. Government opposition to clean energy is temporary—Trump and MAGA will be gone in a couple of years, then we have a chance for sanity to return to our national policies.
with careful and creative baffling a window unit can be entirely inside the room.
I grew up in Tennessee in the 1960s, and we got AC at home when I was about 6. No AC at school, and classes started in August. It was pretty unpleasant. But the worst heat experience of my life was the 1995 Chicago heat wave (google it), when we were living in a top-floor apartment that faced west with floor-to-ceiling windows, and of course no AC. "Hellish" is the word for what that was like. I understand being disgusted with American overuse of AC — I hate it myself — but I think everybody needs to accept that these terrible heat events are the new normal. The miserable future we failed to prevent is now arriving, and we all have to adjust. Turning up our noses at air conditioning is a luxury we no longer have.
I read about MAGAs having hissy fits because Mandami asked New Yorkers to set their AC at 78 and turn off unused electronics. I always have our home at 78 in the summer except when we're asleep. I'm in Tennessee and I honestly think I'd get heat stroke indoors this week without AC. It's going to be essential in many more places now. I'm actually pretty mad solar isn't more affordable or easy to install here, we should have figured out how to have cheap renewable energy on every roof decades ago.
I grew up in one of the most humid counties in America, but my worst weather experience was during a power outage in suburban DC. There was a big storm that left things freakishly humid, and no fan or AC in a South-facing 3 story apartment in an area that was mostly concrete/asphalt. Despite growing up in someplace with typically worse weather (months of high humidity, hurricanes, flash floods) and I was like "oh, I get how weather kills people now".
Urban heat waves are just a whole other level of misery.
Absolutely. One of my vivid memories of the Chicago episode was sitting outside on the street with a neighbor around 3 o'clock in the morning and still feeling suffocated by the heat. All the buildings and asphalt just create an oven.
Catherine - you should speak with Ankit Kalanki. Recent interview with him: https://www.volts.wtf/p/how-to-keep-people-cool-without-making
Molly Ivins's essay about Willis Carrier, the inventor of air-conditioning, is a great read. Time Magazine 100 greatest something ..inventors? Minds? Of the 20th century.
Molly Ivins is / was amazing. Ranks up there with Twain and O’Rourke, and yet…hmmm. Such a girl.
She still makes me laugh out loud. I deeply honor any woman from Texas who could make the whole damn country laugh at her beloved and behated( really ought to be a word) Texas..
Another excellent article/post. I grew up in Northern Ohio near Lake Erie. We didn’t have AC and were told to open the windows to catch the cool lake breezes.
When I moved to the area I'm in I decided on a location where A/C was not absolutely necessary to survive. I simply didn't want to live in a place where you had to have it. There are some days where it really pushes my endurance but so far it has not become essential. Open windows, doors and several fans do the management. That said, I just about die everywhere else I go and they've cranked the A/C. I always need a jacket or coat in the summer.
But what do you use for heating? If the answer isn’t “I don’t need that at all”, then a heat pump will be your best choice, and heat pumps give you air conditioning for free. (Well, for no additional cost over having the electrified heating system, I mean.)
Wall furnace. The best part is that when the electricity goes out, as it often does if you're a PGE customer, it still works.
Yeah — it’s quite clear that many of the administration’s power-grid moves (which they can exert federally even in blue states) are designed to ensure brown- and blackouts become more frequent to ensure there will always be a market for gas. It’s even “better” than a subsidy because it’s elastic to whatever anyone is willing to pay to not take the chance.
It’s a really, really terrible policy distortion that your incentives run like that.
Hi Catherine, I really like your work on here and on MSNOW, but I'm afraid you're misrepresenting the UK position here. The right-wing press in the UK use net zero as a wedge issue and stories like the one you posted are often misleading and one-sided. That said, it is stupidly hot here this week!
The goverment is truly in favour of air conditioning. In fact, the UK government offers grants of up to £2500 ($3300) for residential users to install air-to-air heat pumps, which keep you warm in winter and cool in summer.
Don't take my word for it, here's the UK's energy regulator's page on the scheme. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-and-social-schemes/boiler-upgrade-scheme-bus
I look forward to your correction.
I'm 74 and grew up without home air conditioning until I was a Junior in high school. We also didn't have air conditioning in our car for a while. I grew up in St Louis County, known for weeks of 90+ F and high humidity. I think air conditioning is one of the best inventions ever. I do, however, hate closing the windows since I always open the windows once it's in the low 50s and only close them when it's raining or high 80s/90s with high humidity. I'm also careful when setting the temperature and since I live alone now, I get to decide. I'm all for renewable energy and can't wait unit the country can get back on track.
I put in a modern heat pump, so heating AND cooling, two years ago in my 50 year old three story town house. All electric. My monthly bill is a quarter of what it was before, for heating, cooling, and lights. Right now, it is 100 degrees outside, but it is cool and comfortable in my house with no ACC running. Heat pumps and mini splits are the future. Also, thank you President Biden for the $5000 rebate I received for the installation.
Another great piece from Catherine The Great!