Update on my "living without a/c" thread

[Jenlaana]

I just wanted to post and say thank you to everyone who gave tips on how to live without a/c. We ended up buying an $89 window unit, which other than a week or two where it was horribly hot (97 degrees) has worked out great. I got my electric bill, and just wanted to share the energy impact of going without a/c (and at the same time, I started cloth diapering which increased dryer/washer usage)

Date MailedkWh Usage
5/25/20071,140<--- the month we had no a/c!!
4/25/20071,976
3/27/20073,347
2/23/20075,987<--- the month we used "emergency heat" on our unit
1/24/20072,360
12/22/20063,837
11/22/20062,414
10/25/20061,686
9/26/20062,537
8/25/20062,247
7/27/20062,823
6/27/20062,540

I'm in shock at how big of a difference it is. The month we used emergency heat we had a bill OVER $500!! and the month we had no a/c our bill was $114. Our average is 2576.7 a month, which puts us at almost 1500 kw p/mo LESS than our average bill. Very very encouraging!!

[Pinoikoi]

I can't remember the last time I used a/c... oh, wait. I have used it in my car. Does that count?

[Jenlaana]

yes but you live in Alaska. I have not lived north of the "mason dixon line" in over 22 years, and I'm in the humid south east. It would be much easier for me to live without heat than without a/c. I just am happy that "suffering without a/c" saved me $200 bucks.

TO give a better idea... it was 98 in the shade last week, 90 and 60% humidity today.

[onlyboys]

I hear you!

We never turn our heat on, but in FL, I don't know how we'd survive without AC. Your results are so impressive though, I just bumped our AC up!

[kerc]

Originally Posted by Jenlaana

yes but you live in Alaska. I have not lived north of the "mason dixon line" in over 22 years, and I'm in the humid south east. It would be much easier for me to live without heat than without a/c. I just am happy that "suffering without a/c" saved me $200 bucks.

TO give a better idea... it was 98 in the shade last week, 90 and 60% humidity today.

I'm glad I wasn't the only person thinking that.




I'm living in Duluth, MN and dreaming of a little window unit too de-humidify.

[mightymoo]

I am amazed at how well the little units do energy wise. We haven't put any a/c units in yet this year (holding out as long as we can, use our whole house fan at night). Last year though, in June I think we installed two small units in the bedrooms, the little unit which was supposedly way too small for our bedroom did just fine. Then when it got really hot in August I had DH buy a big unit to cool the downstairs. The July electric bill was just a little higher than May, but the August one was a huge jump - the big unit drew so much more electricity than the two little ones it seemed.

[pixiewytch]

Yeah, after your original thread I bought a box fan for the living room and tried turning my A/C off for one day. I live in Florida. It didn't work. Unfortunately many of our windows are painted shut so there wasn't enough ventilation and DH about freaked out when he came home and it was 85 degrees inside. Oh well. If we ever get out of Fl....I did at least raise my thermostat to 82.

I read in the paper the other day that for each fan you run at the same time if you raise your thermostat 2 degrees you will save energy.

[Pinoikoi]

Originally Posted by Jenlaana

yes but you live in Alaska. I have not lived north of the "mason dixon line" in over 22 years, and I'm in the humid south east. It would be much easier for me to live without heat than without a/c. I just am happy that "suffering without a/c" saved me $200 bucks.

TO give a better idea... it was 98 in the shade last week, 90 and 60% humidity today.

Well, I was being a little facetious, but just a little. We are breaking into the 80s this week, and Fairbanks is usually much hotter. Plus, most of you have the advantage of your sun setting at some point in the day.. not us. My neighbors regularly mow the lawn around 1:30 am. Right now my neighborhood is about 80 degrees MOST of the day, it cools a BIT in the evening (it gets a little dusky but never really dark- probably after 11:00 at night), and stays that way for a few hours and heats back up again. Last night my stepson told me that his shoes were melting to the sidewalk as he walked. Of course, it is only June. Come July and August, we get hotter here too AND pretty much round the clock.

Alaska grows the world's largest vegetables because of our midnight sun.
Check out the Alaska mama tribe- there are quite a few Fairbanks mamas there that might give a better idea about Alaskan heat. I could never live there, that's for sure. I visited a few times- but it is not for me- freezing winters and sizzling summers. And it is getting worse. USATODAY called us the Global Warming poster state for the country.

I mean, don't most of you get some kind of reprieve at night?

[LaffNowCryLater]

I'm so proud, we have yet to use AC and we live in Tennessee. It's now became my goal to go all summer without it. We did buy a $10 fan onsale at Walgreens to go wherever we may need it.

[WaverlyBrinks]

I'm in north Texas and I'm surprised I've had the discipline to keep the AC off most of the time.
I've only had to turn it on once or twice at night when it just wouldn't cool down outside.
We use ceiling fans and very little cloting to keep cool.

This month has been easier since DS is with his Dad, but it's not normally all that bad since I work during the day and DS goes to daycare.

You would be surprised at what you can acclimate to.

My electric bill has been an average of $60 this summer. That's with no AC and most everything upplugged/turned off.

[aliah79]

That is great!

I love my house set on Frigid... I live in TN and our power bill doubles when April/May hit. Our little duplex is so old with poor insulation, if the wind blows hard enough you feel it come in aroudn the doors and windows... Windows are single pane and we can't open them b/c no screens means toddlers and cat get out LOL. Last month was 1738kwh $130... which just seems like a lot to me. I'm trying to turn the thermostat up one degree every couple of days to get used to it being warmer in here. We have a fan in the living room which helps, and then we have a ceiling fan going and window unit (I never use it though) in the bedroom. Oh and usually in the mid-afternoon the inside temp continues to climb, and the AC doesn't help...

Would it be more cost efficient for me to run the window unit and turn up the central at night?

Sorry for hijacking...

[BetsyS]

THis is so inspiring to me! I'm in Georgia, and when our AC was broken 2 weeks ago, I was a whiney mess. :

But, I'm definitely going to bump up the thermostat and see how high I can get it to feel comfortable.

I agree with the PP, though, who said that heat is alot easier to give up than AC. We keep our thermostat at 60 in the winter, nad that's not even a struggle. This AC thing really is. When it was broken, it was 89 degrees inside at 11pm. Just yucky hot.

[bobandjess99]

AGH! Barbarism! NO A/C??
Seriously though....the temps have been in the 90's every day this week but 1.....and I HATE feeling hot....my house is always set on "frigid", to steal from a pp.........
but, our utility bills are actually TONS lower in the summer than winter.....cuz in the winter we're paying for heat, which is gas, and uber-expensive....our A/C, which is actually C/A, lol, is just electricity...so it's a $40 increase in electricity and a $200 or so decrease in gas.....works for us, LOL!

[beanma]

i think i could go no AC, but DH would collapse into a cranky puddle. we keep our thermostat at about 80 as it is. that's just fine by me and if the AC is running sometimes my toes even get cold at that temp. i'm a freak i guess. i love summer!

Alaskan mom, i had no idea it got in the 80s in Alaska. that sounds so pleasant. it does cool down here (in NC) after dark. it's 73 right now (supposed to be 90 tomorrow), but it gets more humid, so that really bothers some people. i'd open up all the windows at night, but DH is afraid the dog would bark (we have one very barky dog) and you introduce the humidity back into the house that the AC takes out. mostly it just doesn't run at night with the thermostat set up high.

the heat just doesn't bother me. i mean i get hot, but i don't mind being hot. when i get cold and chilled to the bone in winter i turn into a whiny mess.

[Sheal]

a\c

we have two window units - 1 upstairs, 1 downstairs. They run during part of the afternoon and at night only. two of my kids and dh are prone to heat stroke, i have no choice and admittedly both don't draw all that much power! my fridge draws more power than both combined!!!

Sheal

[cloudswinger]

Originally Posted by alaskanteach

Well, I was being a little facetious, but just a little. We are breaking into the 80s this week, and Fairbanks is usually much hotter. Plus, most of you have the advantage of your sun setting at some point in the day.. not us. My neighbors regularly mow the lawn around 1:30 am. Right now my neighborhood is about 80 degrees MOST of the day, it cools a BIT in the evening (it gets a little dusky but never really dark- probably after 11:00 at night), and stays that way for a few hours and heats back up again. Last night my stepson told me that his shoes were melting to the sidewalk as he walked. Of course, it is only June. Come July and August, we get hotter here too AND pretty much round the clock.

I mean, don't most of you get some kind of reprieve at night?

I had to go check the 10 day forecast for Fairbanks... highest high I saw was 81, and Low was 57! So the highest high here(S. Florida) is 87 and the low is 76. Plus with the humidity factor, 87 feels like 91 (so they say on weather.com) I keep my ac at 84, and that's even higher than your high, but it's been running more than I'd like lately.

I don't understand how it cools off that much if there is still daylight, but that's still cooler than some of our winter days. It's really kind of neat.