Our heat wave of three days of 90+ along with high humidity is over. Of course another occurrence is possible this summer. Likewise for wildfire smoke. Here’s a roundup of tips for the summer, including some ideas you won’t find anywhere else.
Power Outages and A/C
With high heat comes high electricity demand for air conditioning, and coupled with thunder and lightning, we have a recipe for possible power outages. If you are running A/C in your house when an outage might be coming, it’s better to run it at a constant temperature all day, even if you’re gone, instead of letting the house overheat and then blasting on the A/C when you get home. This way, your house will already be cool at the start of a power outage, and you won’t be adding to the late afternoon power demand by running the A/C at 100%.
And that constant temperature doesn’t need to be 72F or lower! I have seen it reported online, as if it’s breaking news (and maybe it is), that people can be comfortable at 77F. Shocking but true. We in the building comfort industry have been preaching this for 50 years. I remember presenting a technical paper in 1978 that explained that the new-fangled oil-saving setpoints of 68F for heating and 78F for cooling can actually be comfortable, based on decades of human comfort research.
There are at least six factors affecting human comfort, and the trick for being flexible in your comfort zone is to modify the factors under your control. For most people to be comfortable at 77 or 78F, you simply need to wear lighter-weight clothing, have a bit of a breeze from your A/C system or a small fan, and not be at a very high level of muscle activity. People also report that they like not having such a huge difference between inside and outside temperatures when going in and out.
And remember—even though you are running the A/C, you STILL need fresh air! See our blog post of July 6th, 2023 for how to make the fresh air be clean air.
Another Summer of Smoke?
After last summer, there has been quite a bit of research on the health effects of wildfire smoke. The results are not good. The small particles of smoke and toxic chemicals can be inhaled deep into the lungs and cause lasting effects for people, particularly those already vulnerable. See, for example:
https://www.ehn.org/people-should-take-wildfire-smoke-more-seriously
Fortunately, we have many good technologies to avoid breathing the smoke. If you HAVE to be outside, masks refined for covid-19 are very effective. See Oct. 19th, 2023 blog post.
The key trick for the simplest masks is that you do NOT have to be rebreathing your stale and CO2-laden exhaled air, since you are not protecting others from exhaled viruses. So always get a mask with an exhalation valve. This valve opens to let your exhaled air escape easily, and closes to force the incoming air to pass through the filter material. Especially if you breathe a bit deeper and slower, the valve clears out most of your exhaled breath before the next incoming breath.
The weather services are doing more now for giving air quality warnings, and good information is available via the internet, as discussed in our June 8th, 2023 blog post.
If you want your own ability to monitor your local air quality, inexpensive meters are available and reliable. I like the ones that give you a simple green-yellow-red color code (instead of the six confusing colors from the government!). My current favorite meter is: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CLCL9HH4
Enjoy a wonderful and safe summer in the great outdoors!
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