All these assume that the ambient temperature outside will be lower than the temperature in your home, hence you want the air to come in but keep the sun out.
In southern Europe this is false for many weeks during the summer. During heatwaves you want to open all the windows during the night, and close everything at 9ish-10. Because the temperature outside is going to rise to 40-45 celsius the ambient air will only heat your house, even drafts will feel burning hot. So not just shutters, but glass windows and curtains too,
Then about 8 hours later, you want to open everything back up and wash your balcony or terrace (evaporative cooling it essentially), you want to use a minimum amount of water, that will evaporate in the next 30-40 minutes because it attracts mosquitos.
> In southern Europe this is false for many weeks during the summer.
This is also now often false in non-southern Europe as well.
Apparently oOne of the reasons why French don't have air conditioning is because nights tended to be cool, and so people left windows and doors open while sleeping creating drafts and letting the masonry cool.
But in the last ~15 years nights have been as hot as days at times, and so this strategy is no longer effective: you're cooked at night as much as you're cooked during the day during the heat domes.
nice of you to think that by evening you get cooler air :D we have had days where the only time of the day where the outside temp was lower than indoor's was between 01-07. So either you stay up to open the windows, or wait till early morning... but then you just get 1-2 hrs before having to close everything again
Yeah, anecdotally night time temperatures have gotten much worse the last decade. But in the 90s-2010s you could easily get by without air-conditioning and no misery, with just passive temperature control.
If you live in a brick/stone hours you can still go a long way by maximally ventilating house at nigh and during the day keeping sun out (shutters, awning e.t.c) and keep ventilation minimal. It would not help if the nights are warm (so you'd need AC) but there are still many more days with cold nights and by using shutters and timed ventilation you can reduce AC energy use.
AC full on without other measures and passive thermal control techniques are no only two available options, one can combine them.
I have long regarded Monocle with prestige and still to this day do. No gatekeeping - just get down to business - well researched and written. Keep it up folks.
Maybe we need shade structures - a shade above/around the building and detached so that air flows underneath and there are no thermal bridges to the building proper. Like you would make to protect tents at e.g. Burning Man.
>> While all of these might offer some cooling in your home, nothing beats air conditioning.
> By what measurement? […]
The measure of the air's temperature.
It does not matter if you have shutters: if the air outside is 30C then eventually the air inside will eventually get to 30C (good insulation will simply mean it takes longer).
If your outside is >30C then the only way to keep your inside <30C is to transfer the heat (which an AC does via an evaporator, refrigerant, and a condensor).
They are complimentary. Shutters reduce the amount of heat coming in. AC gets whatever heat managed to go in out.
One thing I'll never understand is not having shutters, only curtains. I live in France, almost everyone has shutters. But in other countries it's often different. I lived in Thailand for a couple of years and had only curtains, so the sun would still get past the window pane, heat the curtain, and the AC would then have take this heat outside again. This seemed massively inefficient.
I thing the best compromise is using whatever traditional, passive means of cooling we can, and then AC as needed.
Most of the time these things are governed by whatever's cheaper (in the short run).
Maybe electrical energy is massively subsidized or just cheap in general. Installing shutters can be a large up-front investment, especially when installed by somebody else. It may take many years of burning energy with an AC to earn that back.
Also maybe the home isn't even yours, but you are renting. The owner doesn't care about your energy bill.
I thought it was more of a cultural thing, or perhaps enforced by the building code ? Here in France I've never seen a house or flat without shutters. In Bangkok, when I was looking for a condo, none of them had shutters.
A cursory web search tells me shutters can influence the DPE ("diagnostic de performance énergétique".) A bad rating means you can't rent your property.
Bangkok being tropical, in summer the sun basically shines straight down (and some on the east and west walls in summer and winter), some N/S roof overhang and you’re set. In Northern Africa and southern Europe the sun is significantly lower and will shine straight through windows.
There’s definitely a cultural or historical component. In my experience shutters are extremely common, near universal, in southern Europe but much less so in northern. Which is a shame because a modern PVC roller shutter, well installed and with insulated slats, also does wonders in winter.
Since they’re using French for the rating, I’d think the shutters improve the score and that contributes to their pervasiveness.
From a quick search, older versions of the DPE ignored shutters, modern ones take them in account and their effect ranges from neutral to positive depending on details (materials, insulation, fit). It’s not entirely clear if both high seasons are considered (insulation and fit I’d think a lot less critical in summer).
But that is exactly the point. Air conditioning doesn't keep heat out - it burns energy to change the air once the heat has gotten in. There are ways to keep it out in the first place.
FWIW, it isn't either/or - we practice keeping the shades, curtains, and windows drawn when it is hot, open when it is cool.... and we have air conditioning. Best of both worlds.
You’re simply never going to get through to someone who has internalized the idea that AC is perfect and free. They have accommodated to the luxury and will burn the planet to keep it.
We have more energy hitting the planet every second as radiation than we can possibly use. This is a non-issue for any civilised society switching to solar.
Going for an AC before you even have shutters or anything on the outside is like sending an audio file of you reading a pdf per email because the "record reply" button is right there, but figuring out where on the filesystem the PDF you have open on your screen would take 5 seconds. It's not about whether you can afford it or if the recipient can, but more what it says about you and your whole approach to this life thing.
I've put some fabric on the outside of my windows using nylon thread, a stapler and some plastic suction cups. It made the day time temperature of my living room go from about 32°C to about 23°C during a heatwave in the UK. I won't need aircon in that room now. I do have an upstairs office that will keep on getting hot, so I might get an aircon there in a year or two. But I'm not desperate thanks to a tiny bit of effort.
Insulation is way more important than cooling capacity.
Instead of adding a 2nd condensing unit, try adding spray foam and double glazed windows. I can keep my 2400 sqft Texas home ice cold with a small 3 ton system. There are similarly sized homes right down the street from me with 5+ tons of capacity across multiple condensing units.
The biggest problem with oversized cooling systems is latent heat removal. It's much better to have a slightly undersized system running constantly through the hottest part of the day than it is to have a very powerful system running with 50% duty cycle. It's also significantly better for system life (capacitors last much longer this way). During summer months, my hvac system cycles maybe one time between the hours of 10am and 10pm.
I think it is an American thing; a principled grounded in many Americans not actually believing people like you when they claim "that isn't being suggested". Moralistic arguments that using air conditioning is harmful to society (which certainly exist in America, even if they're more common in Europe) are the rhetorical basis for actual laws regulating the use of air conditioning and trying to legally discourage its use as a matter of government policy. I have learned via European heat wave discourse that there are actually a surprising number of building regulations in various places in Europe that restrict or ban the installation and/or use of air conditioning. These kinds of laws are less common in the US, but there's definitely vocal energy conservation activists who would like to see more of them enacted here. And those are the people who the "you'll pry it from my cold dead fingers" types are opposing.
> Moralistic arguments that using air conditioning is harmful to society
Can you name one? That isn't the same argument as against all needless waste?
What I'm seeing is we can't even talk about shutter designs without talking about AC instead. Using AC may not harm society, but some people knowing about it kinda does.
The old school way where? And for what class of people? The working class weren't moving for the summer.
Further I put a jumper on in the winter, have insulation in my house, have curtains etc to keep heat in. What's wrong with having passive ways of keeping warm or cool?
The old-school way of dealing with excess heat or excess cold was to go somewhere else. People have been doing that for thousands of years. And yes, workers would also leave the cities and go stay with their relatives in the cooler countryside.
There's nothing wrong with the passive ways, when they are enough.
Ah the entire population of Spain moved to the UK every summer and back in winter. That must be the immigrant invasion that Reform are screeching about.
You seem to be hellbent on marketing AC. I don't understand why it has to be a polarizing issue.
Clearly it is much different than heating in winter; the latter is a matter of survival, while the former is mostly a matter of comfort.
One could indeed argue that in the precarious state we are in, expending energy for unnecessary comfort should be minimized, something that passive designs can aid.
As we also try to minimize energy expenditure of heating, through insulation and other passive means.
There really is nothing "unnecessary" about the comfort of AC. Just like there isn't anything unnecessary about the comfort of heating in winter. People can at worst die without it, and they do. When your environment is uncomfortable, that is your body telling you that the environment is wrong, and it has millions of years of wisdom.
Anything except using AC like the rest of the world, hey Monocle? There is no comparison, and not to mention the excellent efficiency of R-32 based super inverter systems that are no different to winter heating heat pumps. AC should be the norm in Europe, but apparently it's "far right"!
All these assume that the ambient temperature outside will be lower than the temperature in your home, hence you want the air to come in but keep the sun out.
In southern Europe this is false for many weeks during the summer. During heatwaves you want to open all the windows during the night, and close everything at 9ish-10. Because the temperature outside is going to rise to 40-45 celsius the ambient air will only heat your house, even drafts will feel burning hot. So not just shutters, but glass windows and curtains too,
Then about 8 hours later, you want to open everything back up and wash your balcony or terrace (evaporative cooling it essentially), you want to use a minimum amount of water, that will evaporate in the next 30-40 minutes because it attracts mosquitos.
But overall air conditioning is the way to go.
> In southern Europe this is false for many weeks during the summer.
This is also now often false in non-southern Europe as well.
Apparently oOne of the reasons why French don't have air conditioning is because nights tended to be cool, and so people left windows and doors open while sleeping creating drafts and letting the masonry cool.
But in the last ~15 years nights have been as hot as days at times, and so this strategy is no longer effective: you're cooked at night as much as you're cooked during the day during the heat domes.
nice of you to think that by evening you get cooler air :D we have had days where the only time of the day where the outside temp was lower than indoor's was between 01-07. So either you stay up to open the windows, or wait till early morning... but then you just get 1-2 hrs before having to close everything again
Yeah, anecdotally night time temperatures have gotten much worse the last decade. But in the 90s-2010s you could easily get by without air-conditioning and no misery, with just passive temperature control.
If you live in a brick/stone hours you can still go a long way by maximally ventilating house at nigh and during the day keeping sun out (shutters, awning e.t.c) and keep ventilation minimal. It would not help if the nights are warm (so you'd need AC) but there are still many more days with cold nights and by using shutters and timed ventilation you can reduce AC energy use.
AC full on without other measures and passive thermal control techniques are no only two available options, one can combine them.
I have long regarded Monocle with prestige and still to this day do. No gatekeeping - just get down to business - well researched and written. Keep it up folks.
Maybe we need shade structures - a shade above/around the building and detached so that air flows underneath and there are no thermal bridges to the building proper. Like you would make to protect tents at e.g. Burning Man.
That's called a tree, they work quite well! A little time consuming to grow to sufficient height however
Already in widespread use https://www.sips.org/what-are-sips
But there is no airflow inbetween the outside and the building core - the panels are still part of the building itself.
While all of these might offer some cooling in your home, nothing beats air conditioning.
By what measurement? They all surely beat air conditioning in terms of energy usage.
>> While all of these might offer some cooling in your home, nothing beats air conditioning.
> By what measurement? […]
The measure of the air's temperature.
It does not matter if you have shutters: if the air outside is 30C then eventually the air inside will eventually get to 30C (good insulation will simply mean it takes longer).
If your outside is >30C then the only way to keep your inside <30C is to transfer the heat (which an AC does via an evaporator, refrigerant, and a condensor).
They are complimentary. Shutters reduce the amount of heat coming in. AC gets whatever heat managed to go in out.
One thing I'll never understand is not having shutters, only curtains. I live in France, almost everyone has shutters. But in other countries it's often different. I lived in Thailand for a couple of years and had only curtains, so the sun would still get past the window pane, heat the curtain, and the AC would then have take this heat outside again. This seemed massively inefficient.
I thing the best compromise is using whatever traditional, passive means of cooling we can, and then AC as needed.
Most of the time these things are governed by whatever's cheaper (in the short run).
Maybe electrical energy is massively subsidized or just cheap in general. Installing shutters can be a large up-front investment, especially when installed by somebody else. It may take many years of burning energy with an AC to earn that back.
Also maybe the home isn't even yours, but you are renting. The owner doesn't care about your energy bill.
I thought it was more of a cultural thing, or perhaps enforced by the building code ? Here in France I've never seen a house or flat without shutters. In Bangkok, when I was looking for a condo, none of them had shutters.
A cursory web search tells me shutters can influence the DPE ("diagnostic de performance énergétique".) A bad rating means you can't rent your property.
Bangkok being tropical, in summer the sun basically shines straight down (and some on the east and west walls in summer and winter), some N/S roof overhang and you’re set. In Northern Africa and southern Europe the sun is significantly lower and will shine straight through windows.
There’s definitely a cultural or historical component. In my experience shutters are extremely common, near universal, in southern Europe but much less so in northern. Which is a shame because a modern PVC roller shutter, well installed and with insulated slats, also does wonders in winter.
Do shutters make it worse? How? Is it just a bad metric?
Since they’re using French for the rating, I’d think the shutters improve the score and that contributes to their pervasiveness.
From a quick search, older versions of the DPE ignored shutters, modern ones take them in account and their effect ranges from neutral to positive depending on details (materials, insulation, fit). It’s not entirely clear if both high seasons are considered (insulation and fit I’d think a lot less critical in summer).
By the measure of "keeping the summer heat out of your home", which was in fact the topic at hand.
But that is exactly the point. Air conditioning doesn't keep heat out - it burns energy to change the air once the heat has gotten in. There are ways to keep it out in the first place.
FWIW, it isn't either/or - we practice keeping the shades, curtains, and windows drawn when it is hot, open when it is cool.... and we have air conditioning. Best of both worlds.
You’re simply never going to get through to someone who has internalized the idea that AC is perfect and free. They have accommodated to the luxury and will burn the planet to keep it.
We have more energy hitting the planet every second as radiation than we can possibly use. This is a non-issue for any civilised society switching to solar.
Going for an AC before you even have shutters or anything on the outside is like sending an audio file of you reading a pdf per email because the "record reply" button is right there, but figuring out where on the filesystem the PDF you have open on your screen would take 5 seconds. It's not about whether you can afford it or if the recipient can, but more what it says about you and your whole approach to this life thing.
By all means, install off-grid AC powered by solar on your roof. Please report on how well it goes.
I've put some fabric on the outside of my windows using nylon thread, a stapler and some plastic suction cups. It made the day time temperature of my living room go from about 32°C to about 23°C during a heatwave in the UK. I won't need aircon in that room now. I do have an upstairs office that will keep on getting hot, so I might get an aircon there in a year or two. But I'm not desperate thanks to a tiny bit of effort.
Insulation is way more important than cooling capacity.
Instead of adding a 2nd condensing unit, try adding spray foam and double glazed windows. I can keep my 2400 sqft Texas home ice cold with a small 3 ton system. There are similarly sized homes right down the street from me with 5+ tons of capacity across multiple condensing units.
The biggest problem with oversized cooling systems is latent heat removal. It's much better to have a slightly undersized system running constantly through the hottest part of the day than it is to have a very powerful system running with 50% duty cycle. It's also significantly better for system life (capacitors last much longer this way). During summer months, my hvac system cycles maybe one time between the hours of 10am and 10pm.
Is this an American thing? There seem to be a number of comments akin to "you'll prise it from my cold dead fingers" when that isn't being suggested.
I think it is an American thing; a principled grounded in many Americans not actually believing people like you when they claim "that isn't being suggested". Moralistic arguments that using air conditioning is harmful to society (which certainly exist in America, even if they're more common in Europe) are the rhetorical basis for actual laws regulating the use of air conditioning and trying to legally discourage its use as a matter of government policy. I have learned via European heat wave discourse that there are actually a surprising number of building regulations in various places in Europe that restrict or ban the installation and/or use of air conditioning. These kinds of laws are less common in the US, but there's definitely vocal energy conservation activists who would like to see more of them enacted here. And those are the people who the "you'll pry it from my cold dead fingers" types are opposing.
> Moralistic arguments that using air conditioning is harmful to society
Can you name one? That isn't the same argument as against all needless waste?
What I'm seeing is we can't even talk about shutter designs without talking about AC instead. Using AC may not harm society, but some people knowing about it kinda does.
The old school way was to go away somewhere else in summer.
There is no replacement for air conditioning. It's a modern marvel. People who hate it should also refuse to have heating in winter.
The old school way where? And for what class of people? The working class weren't moving for the summer.
Further I put a jumper on in the winter, have insulation in my house, have curtains etc to keep heat in. What's wrong with having passive ways of keeping warm or cool?
The old-school way of dealing with excess heat or excess cold was to go somewhere else. People have been doing that for thousands of years. And yes, workers would also leave the cities and go stay with their relatives in the cooler countryside.
There's nothing wrong with the passive ways, when they are enough.
Ah the entire population of Spain moved to the UK every summer and back in winter. That must be the immigrant invasion that Reform are screeching about.
You seem to be hellbent on marketing AC. I don't understand why it has to be a polarizing issue.
Clearly it is much different than heating in winter; the latter is a matter of survival, while the former is mostly a matter of comfort.
One could indeed argue that in the precarious state we are in, expending energy for unnecessary comfort should be minimized, something that passive designs can aid.
As we also try to minimize energy expenditure of heating, through insulation and other passive means.
I think you are the only person polarizing here.
There really is nothing "unnecessary" about the comfort of AC. Just like there isn't anything unnecessary about the comfort of heating in winter. People can at worst die without it, and they do. When your environment is uncomfortable, that is your body telling you that the environment is wrong, and it has millions of years of wisdom.
Anything except using AC like the rest of the world, hey Monocle? There is no comparison, and not to mention the excellent efficiency of R-32 based super inverter systems that are no different to winter heating heat pumps. AC should be the norm in Europe, but apparently it's "far right"!