Evaporative Coolers Vs A/C Cost Effectiveness

[Airbrush]

What is the most cost-effective way to cool a home?  We live in very hot climate in this Socal valley.  We had many days over 100 F and days over 110 F.  We have 2 large evaporative coolers, many electric fans, and central A/C.  We are able to stay cool on the hottest days using just our 2 evaporative coolers and maybe a couple of hours of A/C on the hottest days.  It seems we are saving energy by not using A/C all day, but rather using most evaporative coolers?  Should energy companies be encouraging customers to use evaporative coolers?

[swansont]

Evaporative coolers only work in low-humidity areas, but where they work, and water is available, sure, people should use them.

[mistermack]

57 minutes ago, swansont said:

Evaporative coolers only work in low-humidity areas, but where they work, and water is available, sure, people should use them.

I used to play snooker in a fairly large snooker hall, and that had no air conditioning, (fairly standard in the UK) but it did have a stand-alone evaporative cooler, which they call a "mobile air conditioning unit" in this country. On very hot nights, you could be playing a game of snooker, and suddenly become aware that conditions just got much more sweaty and muggy, going from hot but ok, to pretty unbearable. And it always coincided with someone switching on that "mobile air conditioner".

If you stood right in front of it, the air stream was nice and cool, but it would raise the humidity to an unpleasant level in the whole room. So yes, in arid areas, where the humidity is low, you might benefit from cooling without taking the humidity to unpleasant levels. But when humidity is not low, as in my snooker hall example, they just make conditions a lot more unpleasant. 

But, standing or sitting directly in the cool air flow IS nice, so if you can arrange that, without affecting other people, it's probably ok. 

[TheVat]

Off top of head...

Earth tubes

Reflective coatings on roofs

IR reflecting films on window glass

Shifting home activities and sleeping to basements (I know basements are less common in SoCal and the Southwest due to caliche and similar soil issues)

geothermal heat pumps

Ceiling fans set to run counterclockwise

 prepare cold meals to avoid stove usage

 

etc.

[TheVat]

16 hours ago, mistermack said:

used to play snooker in a fairly large snooker hall, and that had no air conditioning, (fairly standard in the UK) but it did have a stand-alone evaporative cooler, which they call a "mobile air conditioning unit" in this country. On very hot nights, you could be playing a game of snooker, and suddenly become aware that conditions just got much more sweaty and muggy, going from hot but ok, to pretty unbearable....

In an attempt to understand a British definition of unbearable, I looked up average July daily high temperatures for Sheffield UK (it seemed sort of in the middle) and then the US plains town I lived in for most of my childhood.  The temps were 70 and 92, respectively.  

As you may imagine, pool halls or snooker halls without AC were as common as unicorns in Kansas.  😀

[mistermack]

We speak the King's English over here. 

Even a leaky pen can be unbearable in England : 'I can't bear this bloody thing': King Charles gets frustrated with leaky pen - YouTube

 

[swansont]

1 hour ago, TheVat said:

In an attempt to understand a British definition of unbearable, I looked up average July daily high temperatures for Sheffield UK (it seemed sort of in the middle) and then the US plains town I lived in for most of my childhood.  The temps were 70 and 92, respectively.  

As you may imagine, pool halls or snooker halls without AC were as common as unicorns in Kansas.  😀

The anecdotes I’ve run across for why heat waves are such an issue in Europe is the lack of AC. In the US it’s lacking the electrical capacity to run all of the AC

1 minute ago, mistermack said:

We speak the King's English over here. 

And we fought a revolution so we don’t have to. Got rid of most of those superfluous vowels, like the u in colour or flavour. 

[mistermack]

I perdict that Mercans who can't spell will always win out in the end. Except the ones who get indited. 

[Endy0816]

They're looking at combining evaporative cooling with liquid desiccants(saltwater) for consumer use.

Looks like it could work well in terms of sustainability and increasing the number of areas evaporator coolers can be used.

Edited September 17, 2023 by Endy0816

[Ken Fabian]

As noted the evaporative coolers work well where there is low humidity. What airconditioners can do is heating as well as cooling where Winters are not extreme - and the heat pump technology makes them exceptionally (above 100%) energy efficient for heating.

[mistermack]

On 9/17/2023 at 9:13 PM, Ken Fabian said:

As noted the evaporative coolers work well where there is low humidity. What airconditioners can do is heating as well as cooling where Winters are not extreme - and the heat pump technology makes them exceptionally (above 100%) energy efficient for heating.

Maybe so, but they use the energy source that is most expensive to produce, supply and buy. Unless you have your own solar panels and wind turbine.