Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Keep Yer Cool Challenge

Keep Yer Cool ChallengeI know the rest of you are probably already sweating it out, but I'm a little slow to respond given the Arctic temperatures that Seattle tends to sport up until the end of June. But that's no excuse for failing to launch the summertime equivalent of the Freeze Yer Buns Challenge!

Last fall and winter there was a tremendous turn out of people, well, turning down their thermostats to save money and energy. So, for those of you with or without air conditioning, I'd like to offer the same sort of challenge for summertime.

I'll do check-ins called The Sweat Lodge (look for it every other Sunday) to see how you are surviving the heat and give everyone the opportunity to share hints and tips on how to keep cool. I'll also share information that I've found to work in keeping cool. Clothing is optional.

If you have air conditioning in your car, it is up to you to decide whether or not to use it this summer as well. I'll discuss the environmental impact of using auto air conditioning in a future post.

As global climate change affects us all, producing a hotter experience than we are used to, it will take creativity and learning from other cultures to figure out a better way to cope than just slamming on the aircon. So, I'll explore what our brothers and sisters in tropical climes do to help beat the heat.

You can sign up by stating how high you'll keep your thermostat before the air conditioning kicks in. 80 degrees? 85? 90? No air conditioning? The choice is yours. If you are already feeling weak at the knees just thinking about this challenge, you can choose to do one "keepin' cool" day a week or hour a day. For those anal retentive types (unlike moi), you can compare your energy consumption to last year and see if it makes a difference.

If you don't have air conditioning (like moi), you can still participate because you'll be needing the support more than anyone! Just sign up with "No aircon" as your pledge. Does that sound like cheating? Hell, no! Because you can just as easily go out and install some air conditioning and you aren't, are you?

To sign up for the challenge, add your pledge to the comments of this post.

As usual, you can grab the badge to help spread the love. Just copy and paste the following code:

<a href="http://crunchychicken.blogspot.com/2008/06/keep-yer-cool-challenge.html"> <img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpZu1OWOHyaV2im-GN2h2F9GlLwWH1tgglKjmg44pbhxWzvXsglIzUbj6UQX4PDBBb8DXlPQo9Vci-d9iAOZK3KMocoydxnOj9K6iMvdnty7pTAfQtwz4VoxdRt8LoGCYL_OeBZVS7KK4/s1600-r/CoolBanner.jpg" alt="Keep Yer Cool Challenge"/></a>

179 comments:

Anonymous said...

No Aircon!!

This is my first pledge, though I did make some of the changes anyway (diva cup and freeze yer buns...)

lauren said...

No Air Con!

I live in the Bay Area in an apartment that is 40 years old, you know back when Berkeley didn't often see 90+ temps.

Just last Friday, it got to 93 degrees in my house. I was a little cranky, but I survived!

Robj98168 said...

My roomate hates you-shouldn't be too hard to do this one I am sitting here now in the livin room cooling by opening windows and using the ceiling fan- no a/c yet- it helps that i recently added the living room and insisted on higher insulaation r- rating than usual. and my ceiling fan is energy star rated.

Kim said...

NO Aircon!

(But, I might really be cheating...since I live in Alaska. It does get to 80 around my parts...but I've never needed aircon even though that's miserable to me. And this year, we haven't even broken 70 [officially] in Anchorage yet!)

camp mom said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
camp mom said...

okay now that I know how to type-I can go in on this one too with no aircon at all. Except if someone else has it on in their place.

Anonymous said...

No aircon. Just windows :)

We're going to the South of France next week, though, so for at leats part of the looooong drive, we'll use the car's aircon. For smaller trips once we arrive, though, I pledge to just open a window.

Unknown said...

No aircon for me! I have none in my apartment (though I very well will be using a fan at times), and the aircon has been nonfunctional in my car for many years! I'll be on a boat later, and there isn't aircon there either, or at my work.

I am also in Seattle though, and it doesn't get terribly hot here! (though I may think it does)

Burbanmom said...

OK, so apparently I'm the first wuss to post. I'll keep my aircon set at 78 here in sunny Virginia. I'd put it higher, but we only have one thermostat in the house - downstairs. So when it reads 78, that means it's about 85 upstairs, where we sleep and where I work.

I suck. I know. But with closing the blinds on the south side of the house and opening the windows at night, the a/c usually doesn't kick on until the late afternoon anyhow.

Have I justified my extravagant lifestyle yet? :-( Yeah. I'll repeat. I suck. But I don't suck as much as I did last year.

Anonymous said...

No aircon!

Jenn said...

I can't do it...I just can't.

We finally turned the air on yesterday. 93 degrees, 3000% humidity, heat index in the 100's.

As long as the nights drop into the low 70's I can tough it out but July and August are just too dang hot!

I am, however, driving without the air on in my car...when I'm driving...which is less than I used to.

In a strange sweaty, noisy kind of way...I like it.

Amanda said...

burban mom...don't feel bad here in 90+ georgia i will commit to 79! anything less and i melt!

Anonymous said...

Okay. I will see Burbanmom's southern challenge and work on letting the inside temp in my North Carolina abode reach 85°F before the a/c kicks on. Except at night when I crankily insist on sleeping.
File this in the "not much but something" category, I guess.

Anonymous said...

Like last year - no a/c here in Missouri. Even with keeping my insulated drapes closed during the day - it did reach the 90s inside a few days last year, although, being on a slab does help keep the house a little cooler than most.

A ceiling fan in my office and an industrial sized fan I move from living room to bedroom works fine for me.

Air conditioning in the car? Yep. I drive so little, but a/c in the car is my little treat.

Anonymous said...

No A/C. We live in So WI by the big ol' FREEZING lake MI so even though it's hot, we can always go swimming. We joke that for the 4th we can turn ourselves into human bomb pops - blue legs from swimming, white tummys, and sunburned shoulders and faces!

Unknown said...

Oh goody, this will be my first challenge since discovering your site! I'm not a summer person, so I don't do heat well (I think I'll be much better with the winter challenge because we rarely have the heat on!). I use a rotating fan most days, but when the KY weather hit 90+ degrees and 500% humidity, I had to turn the air on - I'm shooting for 78 - 79 degrees.

But I don't use the air in the car! So I think I should get credit for that - don't you think? :)

Good luck everyone!

Howling Hill said...

The links at the bottom of the post appear to be broken.

We don't have AC in our home. When it gets hot we put the fans on, pulling the hot air out. In my car, I use the AC when I first get in to cool down the air, then I shut it off and leave the windows down. It's never on for more than five minutes.

BerryBird said...

I'll sign up, but put me in the no aircon group--I have no air conditioning to run. I admit I would be mighty tempted at night sometimes... I just don't sleep much when it's hot. But not quite tempted enough to go buy one, despite all the people telling me I should get a window unit for the bedroom. *must resist*

Anonymous said...

I could do without air conditioning if I had nose, ear and eye filtration. Mostly I keep it set quite high but filter the air during the two weeks that the pollen is trying to kill me.

I seriously hope the pollen in Vermont is enough different but if it's not I think I might suck it up anyway (no pun intended) and do without AC. I need to stop being such a wuss and realize that nose whistling isn't so bad after all.

Anonymous said...

no a/c during the day, 80 at night. during the day we use fans, close the blinds or do something outside. i also limiting the amount of cooking i do since using the oven and stove only heat up the house. my kids have discovered the appeal of the public library as a source of not only a plethora of "free" books but a/c as well. dontcha love that treating the environment more gently turns out to be better for your health and well-being too?

Robin said...

I was wondering why this challenge hadn't already happened but I didn't want to sound like I was giving you sass.

No air conditioning here. Sweatin' our buns.

Hannah said...

We don't have central air but do have a room unit in our bedroom (upstairs) which we turn on at night when the daytime high is above about 93. 9yo Son camps on our floor on those nights. (During the days we go to the library, the book store, the museum, and the movie theatre.)

And it looks like the next two nights are going to be like that.... Our goal for the challenge is to turn up the unit temp by a couple of degrees.

EcoBurban said...

Hmmmm, we have one window unit, bought 4 years ago when our newborn was very, very sick and we couldn't keep the fever down. We only use it sparingly and cutting back on the aircon was part of this month's challenge over at Chile's. I can keep it off until it reaches 85 inside the house on days with 100% humidity.

The Simpleton said...

The aircon has already been set to 85 for the last month and a half. I'm sorry to say that it has come on some anyway. I'd be willing to set it higher except that, like burbanmom's, 85 means it's 98 in the upstairs, where the bedrooms are. Thus tip #3, after ceiling fan upstairs and Energy Star dehumidifier downstairs, is "sleep in the basement." Count me in.

Anonymous said...

My kids get Really cranky when it's very hot, so I'm not going to say no aircon. I'll keep with my usual guideline of turning it on if the interior temp is above 87. I "had" to turn it on twice this year when the outside temp was 100+ - and in upstate ny in June. Sigh.

I've turned my 3yo on to having her car window open, so the whining for AC has gotten much less. I'm going to try and save the AC for the truly unpleasant days.

cyndy said...

We're doin' 82 in the house during the day and night (unless in a pregnant moment, I turn it down to 80). I turn it up to 84 when we're gone (if I turn it off, the house gets up to 90's pretty regularly, and the mold/mildrew grows like crazy!!).

I'm in sunny Houston, where the humidity and temp often have the heat index above 100. I can't do no a/c in the car though... I sweat like a hairy old man and A/C and deodorant keep me presentable in the summertime.

maryann said...

Count me in, I'll say 79.
Unless the humidity is really bad we leave the central air off and rely on the ceiling fans. We kick in on once it reaches about 83 in the house and then it usually gets set to 78 while we're home and 80 while we're away. To keep the house cooler I put shades up over the skylights and keep the insulated drapes and windows closed during the day and open everything up at night. I don't use AC in the car.

Anonymous said...

No Aircon! And I'm preggo, so that should count for extra!

Lauren said...

I would love to go 'no air' this summer, but in a stuffy second floor duplex in Texas we just can't handle it. About half the windows in our place are sealed shut! We even tried, but it just made us both sick:(

For the last month (since it's been hitting 100 here) we've had the air on 79. Our friends complain, but a twenty degree difference from outside seems to cool us down.

Captain Mary said...

I live in South Florida and my relief from the heat is to go on the ocean boating, jump in and stay cool. Lots of sunscreen. Don't stay inside its better off under a nice tree or in a pool.

roxanne said...

Count me as no a/c. We have 2 window units we borrowed from some friends last year, and thus far in northern NY I have been able to get by without installing them. This gives me the motivation to not install them at all this year. Of course, that's easy to say on a rainy day like today...

Oh I do have to take a 2 week hiatus though, especially in the car, because my husband is coming home to visit from Iraq and I don't want to subject him to unpleasant conditions when he has seen nothing but unpleasant conditions for the past 10 months, and still has 5 months to go. But maybe he won't be too hot in 90 degrees after being in 120+ regularly. We'll see.

Robin Shreeves said...

This is one my husband will have no part of. He's willing and even the instigator in some other eco-friendly endeavors of ours, but he insists on the air. But perhaps, I could raise it one degree each week and see if he notices the change.

Sarah C said...

No Aircon!

Our apartment is in an older house and we're not allowed to install a window unit, so we'll swelter in the 45+ degree heat (that's celcius, not farenheit). And we don't own a car, so no a/c there either :)

Michelle said...

I'm with Lauren, if I tried to go w/o air in North Texas (105 degrees, 100%humidity) we would all get sick. Once it hits about 85 in the house, I get woozy.

Wendy said...

No Aircon!

But, like Kim, I feel a little like I'm cheating. I don't have AC, because I live in Maine, and having AC in Maine seems a little ... well, extravagant.

Enough said...

I'm in! I can commit to no air conditioning until it gets in the 100 range, and only turning it on for short periods. We have window AC units so that makes it easy to just cool one room at a time, too.

Here in Central VA we've already had our first sweltering heat wave with temps over 100... yeah, that was horrible and I need to figure out how we would deal with those temps in the future without AC.

This week it's been in the low 90s and we've actually been quite comfortable without the AC. Luckily we have TONS of shade trees, blinds, insulated curtains, and good cross-breezes so the house hasn't gotten past 80-85 inside.

This ties in nicely with your deodorant post, lol!

TheNormalMiddle said...

We cut the air back when we are gone, and when we are home during the day we leave it on 79 or 80.

But at night...my husband just has to freeze his buns off so we dip it back to about 72 for the night.

I know, I know. Crazy and makes no sense. Try living with the man!

Anonymous said...

No Air Con! Here in Western Massachusetts we have many days above 90, but our nights are cool. I leave the windows open at night and close them during the hottest part of the day. We manage to get along fine with fans, but there has been some whining during prolonged stretches of high temperatures (including me). My neighbor offered us their older AC unit, but I said no. Didn't make me too popular, but I was happy when I received my electric bill, as we pay the highest rates in the country for some unknown reason. We're with you all the way Crunchy! Debbie C

AP said...

No air con! There was a really old air conditioner left at our house (we're renting), but there's no way I'm reinstalling that behemoth, energy sucking thing. I grew up without air conditioning in NY, currently living in NJ, and fans suit me just fine. My boyfriend, however, may sneak out and buy one while I'm traveling for work this summer, and I will NOT be a happy camper if that happens.

Riana Lagarde said...

Its a sweat lodge at my house, we just need some buckskin and a peace pipe to have the works. No air con. Not in the car either, we have been like dogs with our faces out the open windows, you can talk to each other you have to yell, but its pretty exhilarating! So count us in!

Kelsie said...

Central air is OFF and will stay off.

We bought a tiny, energy star window unit that is in the front room. We keep this set at 80 with the doors closed. Our hamster is in there, and the cats can go in and cool off if need be.

A Kentucky summer has been a mild adventure without a/c...I imagine I'll classify it under high adventure/utter insanity come mid-July or so.

The hottest it's gotten in here so far was 90. My biggest problem is getting the house to cool down after a temp spike like that, but I'm workin' on it...and doing a rain dance.

I'm thrilled to see this challenge, as I was just wondering if I was the only one out there instigating a ban on the air conditioner!

-Kelsie

Katy said...

Yeah, another Texan here! So I have A/C and I plan to use it. I'm keeping it set at 80 and turnign on my ceiling fans. I would turn it off completely during the day when I'm at work, but I have a dog, and well... I want him to live through the summer.

Melissa Anderson said...

Okay, I'm in, but this is much harder than the winter challenge. I like to be cold! Last summer we kept the a/c at 78 during the day and 75 at night. This year I will change it to 79 (there's something psychological about not seeing the 80) during the day and 77 at night. If we can do that I will try to push it up more.
Melissa in Kansas

Chile said...

I don't have A/C but I have an evaporative cooler which works well in a desert environment until the summer monsoon rains start and it's too damn humid for the thing to work. It is either ON or OFF, on High or Low. No thermostat control.

While we don't run it unless we have to, I'm not quite sure it's fair to sign up. You see, we have to run it when the house is not hot yet or the building itself absorbs enough heat that the cooler can't bring it back down if turned on later.

Green Bean said...

No Aircon.

I'm in. :)

hoorayparade said...

I am down for it as much as I can be.
I have roomies that insist on air conditioning. As in, the higher I have it the lower they turn in to =/
But, I don't use my A/C in my car and I turn it up to 80 in the house when I leave for work.
So, I'll try for 78 and see what I can come up with.

Anonymous said...

You know, signing on for this challenge could send some of us wives to divorce court? Hubby has been really supportive thus far but the AC is his baby! But, I will commit to set the thermostat to 80 and we can duke it out - it may drop to 78 on occasion when I lose the battle! Looking forward to the suggestions for staying cool! And does driving somewhere that has AC count? Even if you don't use AC in the car? What about the gas you burn? Just wondering if trips to town to the library, theater, etc. are 'ok'? Probably won't do that though...Just stay home and sweat! Pee and sweat together - it is going to be a stinky summer at our house!

Anonymous said...

I'm in. I've been in for a few years. Houston here and live in an upstairs apartment with windows that don't open, so gotta use the AC.

I keep it at 84. Keeps the humidity under control and the temp difference between inside and outside keeps me cool.

I work from home, so I'm physically acclimated. It is much harder for people that work in over-cooled businesses. Going from 70 degrees during the day to 80-something at night is difficult.

Anonymous said...

No AirCon!!

I'm there! We do this already! Something that has really helped us is ceiling fans...they use way less electricity than AC!

Anonymous said...

I turned my AC on for the first time this morning at 4am...woke up too hot, even with the ceiling fan on (no, it wasn't a hot flash)....so I will commit to only AC, temp set to 72, during the night.

jewishfarmer said...

No a/c here - there are usually about 10 days when I wish we'd have it, but we just suck it up. I'm hoping to go the whole summer without car a/c either.

Sharon

Anonymous said...

Last summer we did 80 during the day, 78-79 at night. This year, I'm going to up the ante:

No AC during the day, 79-81 at night (or off, if I can stand it). I know it's not too dramatic, but it's Tennessee and I just cannot sleep if it's too hot!!

Anonymous said...

Turning on the window unit in my Teeny Tiny DC Apartment cools the entire place down in half an hour, but I often forget that I've turned it on until hours later when I find myself thinking "Man, it's cold in here! I should put on a sweater..."

So I was thinking of signing up for no more than a half hour per day, but really that's not much of a challenge. If I'm gonna be in, might as well be all-in: No aircon for me!

Corinne said...

No Aircon!!!!

Debby Brown said...

I work at home and have A/C only in my office. I haven't turned it on yet.

My plan is to work from 6am-2pm, hopefully lessening the need for turning the A/C on.

The rest of the house is hot! hot! hot!. We make do with a few fans.

Theresa said...

No aircon!

Things don't get too hot up my way for long, but compared to what I'm used to, even an 85 degree day (about 30 C) can really make me miserable. I will also do my best to use little or no vehicle aircon.

scifichick said...

I'll sign up too. We have a window AC and I try not to use it. Normally it's off, and if it's too hot when we get home, then I turn it on. Didn't have to yet this year though. We have fans to keep us cooler and more comfortable. I will try not to use AC this summer at all. We'll see if I succeed. My son starts complaining when he gets hot, so we'll be battling that one out.

EJ said...

No aircon. Open windows at night, draw blinds and keep doors shut during the day.
From southeast BC where the forecast is for high 90's this weekend with lows of mid 60's, but dry.

Anonymous said...

We only have window AC in select rooms. I can do without air (except at the office where I a) do not have complete control and b) have a private office that could double as a sauna on a summer afternoon). BUT my man would never ever go for it, he's the king of A/C and he works from home. I'll try to keep the temp no lower than 78 when I'm around, and one room only. I'd prefer 80 but I know that's not going to happen. It's his car too, so no commitment on car A/C.

MamaWestWind said...

We live in the desert Southwest. It gets pretty hot here! We also have a swamp cooler not an air conditioner so I don't know how that differs in terms of energy output. I will commit to no swamp at night and setting my stat to 90. That means it probably won't turn on until late morning or early afternoon.

Anonymous said...

No Aircon!!

I live in the Lake Tahoe area and our house does not have it. Instead I will open the windows (after all the smoke clears from the CA wildfires of course)and use our ceiling fans.

Anonymous said...

We don't have air conditioning, and it doesn't really seem fair to participate since it's not a change, and it doesn't get that hot here in Minnesota - there will be about 2 weeks this summer when we swim or go to an air conditioned museum every afternoon, but that's it.

I'm trying to run the fans less (turn on in the evening to cool off the house, then turn off) and take fewer showers and baths, though.

Lamzeydievey said...

no aircon.

we will also limit our use of ceiling fans.

Erin said...

Well, here in humid, hot, yucky Arkansas, it is hard for me to commit to no ac. Last year, however, we did start making some major changes in how we use it. Last summer, and this, we waited until the middle of June to start the AC, and turn it off if we ever get cool days and nights. We keep the thermostat at 78-80, which is pretty high for us. We also use fans in every room and turn the AC off when we leave the house -- it's a start! I'm in to try to bring it up few notches . . .

Erin

Hit Pay Dirt said...

No air con and not getting any!!!

Annie said...

I would love to not use my AC in my car, but in LAS VEGAS with a baby, that is just not going to happen. I will commit though to always keeping my home AC at 78 and maybe even 80 (that is good for me). I had already been trying that for the entire week before this post. Thanks for keeping me motivated!!!

Anonymous said...

No Aircon!!

We only have a portable unit anyway. We use it to keep the inside temp below 95 degrees. At full strength on the hottest days, the coolest it gets is 85.

Anonymous said...

I'm in! I'll sign up for "alleged 80" (not sure what *actual* temp that is, but 80 where the thermostat is).

Although technically we don't have an air conditioner; we have an evaporative cooler here in Denver, so it's some water and a furnace fan running. We open windows mornings/nights and don't use the cooler much. But I will use the a/c sporadically in the car - for some reason our Subaru absorbs tons of heat and the windows don't seem to ventilate it.

J said...

We're in too. We'll keep the AC off until it gets above 85 degrees in the apartment. And since we have a window air conditioner, we'll close off the rest of the apartment so we'll only cool the room we're in.

Anonymous said...

I'm in. I have no air conditioning in my house, no air conditioning at work either. I do have AC in the car, and I do turn it on now and then if it's truly miserable. But hey, I'm supposed to be driving less often so this will be one more encouragement not to drive.

equa yona(Big Bear) said...

We just moved here(mid So Dakota) a month ago and great weather so far, but we have been told that 110-113 F is not uncommon here.If so, we may pop in the bedroom window unit later. But no AC so far
and none planned.

Anita said...

I've done several pledges, so I'm all in for this one too! (in the Freeze yer Buns challenge my dh accused me of being a "thermostat-Nazi"!!)

I live in a FEMA trailer at the moment... as soon as the AC goes off it's broiling (it's regularly in the triple digits here) so we do use it a bit, but the thermostat is set at 85. We don't use the AC in the vehicle, of course we rarely take any long drives in the hottest part of the day, either.. lol

Deoxy144 said...

Count me in! I'll keep the AC at 80 and try to employ various tactics to make it as easy as possible for unit to keep the house at 80. Such as: opening the windows at night when it gets cool, not using the stove or oven any more than necessary, turning off the AC if we'll be gone for a while, etc.

I would use the fact that I'm pregnant as an excuse for not going no AC, but since cyndy and d have already proclaimed themselves pregnant and braver than I, I guess I'll just have to admit that I'm a wimp!

Diana

Anonymous said...

Okay, I'll sign up. Though I have no a/c, and just two oscillating fans we move from room to room. I don't feel very challenged, because I'm saved the temptation of buying an a/c unit by poverty. And the a/c in my car died one month after I purchased the car 8 years ago, and I said "Hell No!" to the $800 repair bill, so we've just been enjoying the breeze ever since.

It's me said...

No Aircon*

*except when canning. Or to stave off husband shooting me.

I could cheat and head to the basement... aaaaaah, blessed coolness. And it is a bit of a cheat since we're high desert and it's quite arid. Temps usually stay in the 40s at night, but the climate is a changing, so we'll see. Last year was one of the warmest yet. Although we did have a freeze two weeks ago, so who knows.

ruchi said...

I've already been doing this challenge on my own!!! (It gets hot early in LA.) So I'm going to go with no a/c. It hit 100 degrees last weekend, and I managed to deal. (I did escape for a while to a nice cool movie theatre, but whatev.) I am going to allow myself 10 cheat days mostly for visitors who didn't sign up to stay in a sauna.

Segwyne said...

No aircon for me. I had it for one summer, at my husband's request (he is hot when it is 50 degrees and wears shorts year-round), and I was freezing with it set at 70. We ditched it when we moved and replaced it with some box fans and window fans. We have one in each bedroom, and one downstairs, which moves about depending on where my husband is. The poor man has to have one blowing on him directly nearly all the time or he ends up sitting in a puddle of his own sweat. He mentioned getting one the other day for this summer and I gave him "the look". Fortunately, we can't afford to buy one, so I don't think he will sneak one home.

Anonymous said...

No Aircon... but we do have an evaporative/swamp cooler that I use periodically. Lucky for us, we live in an old brick house with double-hung windows, so it works great to open both the top and the bottom of the windows at night (creating really awesome air circulation) and shut them first thing in the morning. The thick brick tends to hold the cool really well.

That said, I can't go without a/c in my hatchback. Only the front windows open so there's invariable a mass of hot air in the car that never really moves out, even with the windows open. (Poor design on Honda's part; an earlier model of this car had a way to crack the windows open in the hatch, which worked wonders to keep the interior of the car cool, kinda like the double-hung windows!)

anajz said...

I'm in! Because our temps can get above 100 degrees, I am sad to say that we cannot do the no aircon, but we have moved to window units to condition only the room(s) occupied.
When we were having near 100 degree temps a few weeks back, my friends thought I was nuts to not run the a/c.
~the sustainable backyard~

Jamie said...

I really want to say "No Aircon" which I will definitely try to stick with to the best of my ability, but if I am dying of a heat stroke I might have to put on 78... now if only I can get my husband to stop being such a cranky pants about the heat. hmmmm

Humble wife said...

Although I think that this is an interesting challenge, I use a swamp cooler, like another commenter mentioned. We live in southern New Mexico, so we have been over 100 for nearly 3 weeks.

But our family has re-introduced the siesta...and we work in the am on the farm(5 am -9 am) kids go back to bed and then at 12:30 lunch and indoor rest, either reading playing games or what not. At 6 we are ready to go outside and play. We stay up to midnight enjoying the desert breezes and cool air.

Perhaps this will not work for everyone, but I stay home and we home school the kids, so our schedule is flexible and we can conserve energy(even body energy) to match the outdoor temperatures.
Jennifer

Unknown said...

87 currently(:

My goal is to not use it at all this summer and at 87 it hasn't kicked on yet. I'm in south central WA state where it's desert and gets well over 100 degrees in the hottest part of the summer.

The only time I see it will be a problem is when guests come over since they won't be aclimated.

A. Brown said...

I've already been keeping to my goal of 80 before the a/c this summer. :) We don't do it on weekends because no one else in the house can manage that. We're really well insulated and have ceiling fans, so some days it's 2pm before the a/c comes on (preset thermostat).

lee lee said...

We have a window air conditioner in the bedroom. The turning on/off of this is entirely up to my husband but he knows that I do not really like air conditioning and prefer to open the windows.

During the day we are both out of the house most of the time at work and simply leave windows however they were the night before. Ocassionally my husband, who farms at our house, will come in and open/close more windows based on the heat.

We are in south western Wisconsin on the Mississippi. We do see very few days over 95 but the end of June through the beginning of September it is consistently 85-90 with a nice humidity percentage to boot. Everyone assumes it's freezing here but we see our share of hot weather in the summer.

We tend to cool down by not eating, not cooking, not moving and showering. Nothing more enjoyable after a long day at work or on the farm or exercising than a cold shower. This usually chills me out enough to feel good when I climb into bed at night.

I will work on the husband to reduce the nights with the a/c on as much as possible.

No car a/c as I prefer windows to be down, although I don't prefer the knots in my hair. A/c comes on again when my husband is in the car. He doesn't like windows down, though he doesn't have any hair so I don't know what he is complaining about.

Good Luck to everyone!

A. Brown said...

Oh, I left out that we do run the a/c at night. I'm 8 months pregnant and sleeping very hot and my 19 month old has bad nightmares if it gets hot when he's sleeping. The rest of the house just plain can't sleep if it's too hot!

And there's no way I'm forgoing a/c in the car when it's 110. :(

ib mommy said...

I would love to be able to live without my 'dishioning but we live in SE Virginia close to two wildfires, one of which is burning in the underground peat. We are getting air quality alerts pretty much daily and a few days the heat index has been around 108! Opening the windows here is like having a campfire lit inside your tent.

We have pledged to keep the air on 78 and with the shades closed it doesn't really turn on that often. We do open the windows on the mornings when it is clear outside.

Count us in!

homebrewlibrarian said...

No aircon here but then like Kim, I'm in Alaska. I kept the heat set at 65 for the winter and when I turned that off, well, the place stayed 65 degrees. The outside temperature hasn't yet hit 70 although there were a couple of times when I had to open the windows because 70 degrees inside was too warm!

When I was in college in Florida I lived in a second floor apartment with no air conditioning. Me and my two roommates had window fans and there was another fan in the living room window. Except for one night where I had to get up, drink some iced tea while the living room fan blew on me to cool down, I never had trouble with the heat or humidity the five years I lived there.

Fast forward twenty years to me attending graduate school in southern Wisconsin. I lived on the third floor of a very old building with an air conditioning unit in the dining room window. None of the bedrooms had a/c but I had a corner room with windows on both walls. I positioned my bed to be next to one of the windows and put a window fan in the other window blowing outside. This sucked in air through the other window and cooled my room down considerably once the sun went down. In fact, I'd get up in the morning and the rest of the apartment was toasty. Sure wish I'd thought of that when I was living in Florida (except I would have put the fan in my doorway pointed at the rest of the place to pull in air from outside over me).

Kerri in AK

Rachel said...

No Aircon. Couldn't turn it on even if we wanted to as we don't have it installed. We make do with fans and on the really hot days (35+ degrees) i wet my hair before I go to sleep and put my feet in a tub of cold water when I'm sitting in the living room (the garden gets the water afterwards). I find both of those really help to bring down my body temperature.

When we still had the fridge plugged in sometimes I'd put ice packs in the bed! I hate hot feet in the summer about as much as I hate cold feet in the winter!

Tara said...

Another Texan here! I haven't seen a day below 90 for many weeks now. I will try to make some adjustments, but I'm afraid I can't fully commit to this one. If we only had occaisional hot days, or if it cooled down at night, then I'd feel differently, but it's blazing during the day and uncomforably warm at night, every single day. I'm afraid I'd be in for a divorce if I took on this challenge. My husband could take the heat, but I turn into Super Crab.

We have window units now that are too small to keep up, so when it's set at 71, the true temp in the room is around 78-80. I will do my very best to cut back wherever I can and try to just cope. We aleady have many, many fans that get put to creative, cool-air-circulating use.

Tara said...

Oh, and - I'm anxious to hear some "keeping cool" tips for places that really don't cool down at night. I don't have any cool nighttime air to take advantage of.

Yael said...

no air conditioning here! woo for a long and hot summer!!

and Im a little too late for the dva cup challenge but I do want to give it a try (probably come the fall!)

Retired Mama said...

No A/C! Our house was built in 1925. Last week it was 95 INSIDE. We lived.

Anonymous said...

I too live in the Bay Area with no heating or air conditioning, so I think I'm automatically enrolled.

Oh, that girl again... said...

Can't fully commit, sorry... While not in Texas, I am in swamp like mid-Atlantic. On the eco plus side, I don't own a car & walk to work. Besides with the humidity there's no sense even bothering to dry & straighten my hair, so I won't be using those appliances.

Anonymous said...

Although I have lived without a/c in the past, it just isn't that doable in humid central Tennessee. We keep the a/c set at 80 because that makes it run just often enough to keep the humidity and thus mildew and mold down. Also, the littlest one has respiratory issues which means we need filtered air when the air quality plummets in mid-summer. However, we did not use the a/c for most of last month because the temps were in the mid-80s, humidity was low, and air quality was good.

Question. Does any one else live in an area where it is not safe to leave one's windows open at night? What strategies do you use to cut down the use of a/c and have the house get so hot that everyone gets heat exhaustion?

--Ave

Irish Cottage Dreams said...

I went without A/C while driving
on the autobahn today.....does
it still count as I already did this?

Okay fine, I will do it again tomorrow
on my way to work :)

Awesome blog! ~kimme

Anonymous said...

I kind of feel like I am cheating because I live in Anchorage, but I'll join! We don't have air conditioning at home, and I never use it in the car-- I can't stand the feeling of that canned air. But the heat might come on if the thermostat gets below 60F....

Kelsie said...

Ave,

I question the safety of my neighborhood here in Kentucky. We live in an old river town that saw its heyday between 1900-1940ish and then hit a rapid decline. It's now being revitalized. For instance, the block we live on now used to be nothing but crack houses and brothels, and I think a little of that still remains. We occasionally have homeless people knocking on our door at 2 in the morning, as well as the occasional shooting, stabbing, or robbery. With that said, I'm comfortable opening MOST of the windows because they're about 5 feet off the ground. I am not, however, comfortable with opening the windows on the front or back porch...but I do it anyway...I've put screens on all of the windows, most of which are bolted to the window frame. Someone would have to kick in the screen to come in, but they'd also have to get over the fact that I installed security flood lights on both the front and back porch AND the fact that there is a street light in our front yard. I guess what I'm saying is that I can't NOT have the windows open, so I've done what I can to make sure that no one comes in. If they do, I've got the hunting rifle under the bed. :p

Jenn said...

No Aircon!

No heat and no thermostat, either, for whatever that's worth.

Ah, the joys of living as a renter in the Bay Area. At least we don't *need* air conditioning...

Actually, I lived in New Orleans for 4 years without A/C - I love 90 degrees and 100% humidity. It's way too cold in SF Bay Area for me most of the time.

When I drive, it's usually no A/C -- the only time I turn it on is when I am on the freeway and having the airflow set on coldest makes it too hot and stuffy in the car. I don't like driving on the freeway with the windows down - too much exhaust (at least I have an air filter in my car's ventilation system!).

Anonymous said...

Done! My family (2 adults, 2 wee young children, 1 dog) is living A/C free in NC. We're sweatin' like the oldies - humans did manage to survive for many moons without a/c, so I figure the challenge is mostly mental.

My tips? Spend a lot of time outside in the morning/evening, taking shelter in the afternoon (siesta! I wish!). Close the windows before it starts to warm for the day, earlier than you'd think. Avoid places with a/c when possible. And, skip the bellyachin'. ;)

Anonymous said...

No Aircon!

Okay, with one possible exception being next Monday, when I'm having a small party at my house (with lots of cooking). And even then, I won't turn it on unless the house looks to be heading towards 80*F. But no aircon so far, so good.

Anonymous said...

No air conditioning. (at home or work!)

I'm in Berkeley, where it shouldn't be hot, but it was 96 last Friday, and hotter in our non-insulated, full-sun bearing apartment.

Connie said...

We don't have AC - but do have a swamp cooler. It's more efficient but still uses energy. We close up in the morning and then sometimes hubby feels the need to turn it on in the later afternoon. After a couple of hours, it's time to open the house for the nice cool evening.

When hubby's away at work the kids and I hardly turn it on.

Unknown said...

OK We're going with 78 during the day and 76 at night. We live in the desert. The hot desert. It was 98 yesterday, and I thought it was cold. It's regularly 104 plus, so this is the lowest we go!

EJ said...

In the Times yesterday:

Kill Your Air Conditioner

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1818028,00.html?xid=feed-cnn-topics

Anonymous said...

Where we live it had already hit 100 degrees a few weeks back (thankfully not every day), and I'm used to cooler climes, so the thought of NO air conditioning scares me.

I will pledge 76 degrees or higher while the sun is up, 77 degrees or higher after that.

It's a start, right?

mudnessa said...

i will try with all my might to do no aircon and i think i can especially since its a really crappy in wall unit, like the ones that can be found in windows usually, it does ok, costs way too much but it blows HOT HOT HOT HOT air onto my potted herbs on my patio. i almost killed them all unknowingly this past weekend.

If i can get some great tips i will not turn it on, but i live in an upstairs corner apartment and have good airflow if i set up a big box fan in the bedroom window blowing out but last year the EXPELTIVE (meanest nastiest one you call the people you hate the most) management chopped down the big tree that shaded our now in the sun ALL DAY apartment. the insulation is horrible.

I am so beyond pissed that they chopped the trees down. they did it again this year but it didnt effect us because they already chopped ours down. dont even get me started on the other things they do that are just so ecologically wrong, just WRONG. (i think our fridge is from the 1950's!!)

please all the tips you can would be great. i really really want to stay cool this summer with out using this horrible ac unit.

Kelsie said...

A Few Tips on Living the Hot Life:

-Stuff your pillow into the FREEZER about an hour before bed.

-Take a cold sponge bath before bed. It's not just for nursing homes anymore! It'll not only save you water (provided you replace a shower with the sponge bath), but it'll also leave you slightly damp, which feels HEAVENLY when you've got a fan blowing on you. It's how I fall asleep when the house is still at 85 degrees.

-Go outside and hang in the shade, especially if there's a breeze. It can feel a lot cooler outdoors in the shade than it does in a stuffy old house, even if the temps are roughly the same. I teach online college courses during the summer, so I'm at home much of the day. I have the luxury, then, of biking down to the river and making my lesson plans in the shade of a willow tree. The long, sweaty ride home makes my 88 degree house feel that much cooler. :)

-Make up a cooling mist for your face/body. I use cold mint tea and some peppermint or tea tree essential oil. Keep it in the fridge, spray yourself with it whenever you want, and stand in front of your fan.

-Come to Kentucky! We'll have a mint julep and forget all about our 90 degree houses. ;)

-If you live in a house with a walk-up attic, USE IT. Older homes (like bungalows and crafstman style homes) were designed with walk-up, windowed attics for a reason. Leave that attic door open and open all the windows in the attic. The hot air will rise into the attic and out the windows, as it's supposed to.

-Don't use the heat-dry function on your dishwasher. I couldn't BELIEVE how much it heated up my kitchen. Now, when the dishes are done, I just leave them in the washer until they've air-dried (which doesn't take long, when your house is an inferno;).

-Invest in a crockpot and use it to replace your oven/stove. Crockpots not only use a lot less energy, they also give off a LOT less heat. Bonus--you don't have to supervise your meal making! Just put everything in, turn it on, and go about the rest of your day.

That's about all I can think of right now...hopefully, these tips will help someone, if only a little.

-Kelsie

Jennifer said...

No Airconditioning for us! We will pledge to not run our fans as much, too...

It's pretty nice here in Colorado... it shouldn't be too hard!

Anonymous said...

Since January 2008, I have vowed to set the central heat on 67-68, not move it up and down as I was prone to do. Same with this summer in Alabama--setting it on 79 and leaving it there. I have blinds closed during the day. The basement is so much cooler than the upstairs - but it is such a mess down there, I do not spend all my time down there....but will try to increase.
At my age, sweat is ever present with the slightest activity - I just shuck clothes and rinse off in the shower more and quickly.

Now if the 4 cats would quit asking to go in-out-in-out-in-out, maybe I could keep what cool air I do have IN the house.
~Mad(elyn) in Alabama
www.xanga.com/madewyn

Unknown said...

No air conditioning UNLESS we have an air quality action day, as we had today and a few days ago. I have restricted lung capacity, so I have to make a concession on those days. (Although I HATE how air-conditioned feels.)

Even with air conditioning on, the thermostat is set for 80º.

2ndheartmom said...

First pledge. I've had the central AC set at 75 (up from 73 originally...) and I will pledge to move it up to 78 during the day and bust out the fans at night - but I'm going to have to do it gradually because we've had four days of smoky air quality warnings, so we're supposed to keep the house closed up. News said it would clear out this weekend, so I should be able to start then...

Rebecca said...

It's already pretty hot here in Las Vegas but we try really hard to not use the A/C too much. I will keep it at 84 when we're home and 90 when we're gone. The house can get up over 100 if we let it but I'm afraid that would kill the cats and the A/C has to work so hard to cool it down after that I think it is more efficient to just keep it at 90.

Tina Cardone said...

I can't let it get any hotter than 80 (due to pets again). But I'm going to do my best to open windows at night so the AC won't be necessary to keep it at the temp.

Jena said...

No aircon!

We had it at our old house but didn't use it anyway. We work outside so much & it just makes it harder to go back & forth. It usually feels colder in here than outside at least.

Malva said...

No air con!

Sign me up!

Anonymous said...

no aircon in pennsylvania!

nicole said...

We're air-con free too. We've got it but I'm not planning on turning it on. Made it through the NY metro heatwave earlier this month, so I expect we can make through the rest of the summer too. Keeping the windows and blinds closed during the day with the fans running, opening up the house and letting the air in at night. Worse case, we play in the stream out back to cool down - that and lots and lots of homemade lemonade :)

-Nicole

katecontinued said...

No Aircon.

JessTrev said...

We're sort of on Burbanmom's plan. I held out until about a week ago (no AC) and then turned it on since we live on a busline so keeping the windows open at night keeps some of the humans in our house awake. I keep it off during the day most times and have only turned the car ac on once or twice (pretty good in DC summer -- looking fwd to that post tho). So, will check thermostats and set to 78 if they're not up there already. Love the tips in the comments, btw, pillow in the freezer esp.

Anonymous said...

No Air Con!

We're in SoCal and it was 92 in the house last week. We opened up the house at night, then shut it back up (to keep in the "cool") in the wee hours of the morning. The more you go without AC, the more quickly you adapt.

Ellen said...

I'm in. We had already planned to do without as much as we can tolerate (DH works at home, so it needs to be decent.) Luckily, he is also much tougher than I am. I am not 100%, but I believe we decided to not turn the air on until it got to 90 degrees inside. It might be 88, but I think it was 90.
I so love challenges. It's like math homework. You just do it. Without challenges, it's too free, like an essay. I may enjoy writing essays better than crunching numbers, but I also like seeing a tangible result at the end of all my hard work. Thank you!

Ginny said...

I'm in! Luckily in MI, it cools quite a bit at night for the majority of the summer.

Kristin said...

Count me in for No Aircon!!

We don't have a/c, and like Debby, I work at home. Makes for some less-than-motivated days!

We've become pretty adept at regulating our house by keeping it closed up until the temps outside are cooler than the inside of the house. ONLY then do we open windows. It actually keeps the house about 10-15 degrees cooler than it is outside.

Crunchy Domestic Goddess said...

no aircon here either. thankfully, it hasn't been super freaking ass hot here (in CO) yet, so it's been bearable. i'm sure it won't last though.
great challenge. :)

Anonymous said...

No aircon here -- don't have it in the house -- will survive with a ceiling fan, a box fan, a solar oven, and window screens. Oh, and a bamboo blind to hang outside over whichever window gets hottest (I'm in a rental I haven't spent a summer in before).

Also no aircon in the vehicle -- I love my little triangular vent windows for keeping the air moving over me when it's hot! However, I just today completed the purchase of a 1994 Geo Metro, which will become my primary driving vehicle. The Geo will double my gas mileage but it doesn't have little triangular vent windows (nor A/C).

Although it can get hot here (above 100*F) it nearly always cools off drastically at night -- like mid-40s as a usual summer nighttime low temp, and mid-50s as the low temps for the extreme heat days. That makes it much more bearable, as the heat has to build up on its own volition each day.

cindy24 said...

Have no AC. Put in central heat last year and left off the air cause in west LA don't really need it..until this year it has been 100 several times already. I will use no AC in my car as much as possible.

Anonymous said...

You can sign me up, but of course it really is cheating for those of us here in the Bay Area where we only have a couple of hot days per year (and I think we just had them last weekend.) We don't have air conditioning. And we don't have a car, so no air con there. We do have a little fan, but it's pretty useless and mostly we forget about it anyway.

This reminds me, we do need to get screens for the windows cuz this year we have kitties and can't leave the windows wide open for fear they'll jump out.

Unknown said...

No air con here. Yet... I do have a window unit sitting in the basement, but it takes some pretty extreme heat to go to the trouble of installing it...

oh man, I hate the heat though. But sign me up. Sigh. I count the days until September

Our Green Nest said...

Alright, another North Texan...it's HOT -100+ degrees and HUMID here...already mid-80's when I woke up...We open all our windows and turn on all fans and our circulating fan...it's pretty warm, even at night, but no sheets and minimal clothing helps! Our unit is broken right now so it's 85-90 in here during the day, but before it was broken and once it's fixed, we keep it at 85...sometimes as a treat and if it's REALLY hot like in the afternoon or if we're going to have people over, it'll go down to 83, but I start to feel really bad and can't handle it for very long so it goes back up...Most people think it's an oven in our house but we feel like we've walked into a freezer when we enter other people's homes...You do really get used to it though - the AC up high that is...

Fresh and Feisty said...

Okay, only air conditioning in one room and only if it gets above 80 in there. That's higher than last year. Plus, we moved our bedroom. Might be worse, might be better. Not too sure yet. But that's what I'll shoot for.

Carla said...

I'm in, Crunch, with the no-air-con crowd. Finally a challenge from you that I think I can handle! (smile) But, it's easier to do in northern Idaho: we don't have that many days above 100. But, we'll be hitting our first batch of 90+ weather this very weekend. ugh - no UGH! I'm like Chile - not very 'pleasant' when I'm too hot. So the cats & I just lay low, in a shade darkened house with a few fans running.
I'm also doing this because it's the only way I can counteract the fact that the neighbors on the other side of the duplex ALREADY have their air conditioner running and it's only been in the 70s! ARRRGGH!!
Carla in No. Idaho

Kristijoy said...

NO aircon 8 years and counting.

Robj98168 said...

I gues I forgot to say whether I am in or out- I am in- my roomate says you can go and do something very interesting and impossible for most of us to do to ourselves- he ain't in but iof course will respect my right to do so (guess that means his room will be the refrigerator it usually is!)

Maddie Can Fly said...

NEVER use the a/c in my car -- you can almost see the gas gauge going down, down, down. After freezing all day in an over a/c office, it usually takes me most the way home to defrost (g). At home, thermostat is set at 82. I'd do without, but I have a cat and can't leave the windows open when I'm gone so a/c for her, then fan and open windows when I get home. After freezing this winter, I can't imagine being too hot.

Maddie Can Fly said...

Forgot to say, we're in Kansas -- home of high temps and higher humidity which brew BIG thunderstorms and tornados.

Anonymous said...

easy one.....
no air-con at home or in car
wish we had some sun and heat actually........

LawSchoolMom said...

Hmm...not sure what happened to my earlier comment but in a nutshell: I'm in. I pledge to keep my home a/c OFF during the day and set to 78 at night.

Anonymous said...

we don't have air conditioning, so no aircon for us:) We have ceiling fans in the 3 bedrooms that are in use. It does get up to 100 degrees here (between 30 and 40 degrees C for us) but it usually cools down at night. We do have aircon in the van but almost never turn it on. Instead, my daughter and I stay out of the van as much as we possibly can.

Mist said...

I'm completely willing to go no aircon during the daytime, but when the hubby gets home at 11pm, that baby'd better be humming or I most likely won't be married for long.

MamaFeelgood said...

My a/c usage averages 78 degrees a day and it's been 97 or higher here. Happy to pledge.

Anonymous said...

Well finally a challenge I cannot do. I think if we had the right kind of house and furniture and no carpet it could happen. In North Florida it is really humid and hot, but not as hot as other places. We used the A/C the first week of June pretty solidly and since the rains have started it cools down and we are only using a/c now and then. July and Aug will be worse since it won't stay cool at night. So I pledge for same as we did last year keeping temps at 82F day and 84F night. And only conditioning half the house. We have two systems and can close the doors in the middle.
Cindy in FL

Tajrw said...

I've never had air conditioning. I have a ceiling fan that my boyfriend found in a dumpster and a room/portable swamp cooler given to us. As far as I know the swamp cooler uses 75 percent less energy than an air conditioner. Keeping all lights off helps too. So, I don't know if that disqualifies us for using an electrical cooling method. Swamp cooling is all I've ever known. It also helps to humidify dry air so we don't get dry sinuses/bloody noses. We both have not had cars for at least five years, so no car aircon. Love your blog! I've ordered a Divacup as a result. Thanks!

Laura said...

No aircon! :) (sophielovespb here.) We have one box fan and lots of windows. And a lovely porch with some decent shade.

Krista said...

Even though we have both, we plan to use no A/C in the house or car.

(The only exception might be when our house guests are here next week. They have health issues and might need the A/C. If so, it will be turned off as soon as they leave.)

Sharlene said...

Hi- I am new to your blog (which I love). I can't go along with no air but I have moved my thermostat from 78 to 80 this year. I live in the Sacramento Valley and when our air conditioner broke earlier this summer it quickly got to 98 inside my house!I couldn't sleep and my poor son with sensory issues was losing his mind. We do use fans as much as possible to keep cool so maybe I can get a B for effort?

Anonymous said...

No aircon for me, although it is winter here. Since climate change, we only have about 2 months of cooler (not cold anymore) weather, with maximum daytime temps around 75 (minimums about 57). Today we were all outside in short sleeves and quite toasty in the sun.

In summer (about 6 months), we have maximums generally around the 86-88 mark (minimums around 66) but it can get as high as 102, with high humidity. We have aircon and we do use it on days when the man is home and working and the temp is set to exceed 95. When the outside temp comes back down to 86, off it goes again. This is mainly because it is hard to push paper when you are sweating.

Last summer we did not use it at all. To cope with hotter conditions, we take the cooking outside - barbecue and solar oven. Likewise, laundry is line dried (actually that is the norm here, not the exception). We eat loads of salads, fruits, yoghurt and other cooling foods. We have some fans for really hot days but only turn them on when we are actually in the room (they work on your skin, not the air temp). Finally we take cold showers - the water is not really icy cold in summer and it really refreshes.

You aircon will be most efficient if you close all windows, curtains and blinds and set the temp to 75.2, and then don't use anything that heats, like an oven or dryer.

Laura Kaeding said...

Sign me up! I have an airconditioner that I turn on only when I'm BOILING, and only leave it on for 5 minutes at a time. I also use the water that condenses and drips off of it to water my balcony plants. I don't know what temperature it is, I just wait until I can't handle it anymore.

Anonymous said...

no air conditioning for me...
i never use the car a/c 'cause i hate the feeling and it hurts my feet. it's so unnatural... as for the apartment. dear god, i'm going to have to suffer, but not willingly. i just can't afford to buy a window unit and the ones on freecycle go far too quickly for me to nab. i live on the top floor of a very old apartment building with terrible insulation. my bachelor apartment absorbs all the heat from the sun through the brick walls and then this place just turns into a f**king oven. anyone with tips? it's unbareable - and ceiling fans/stand up fans don't help. it just pushes hot air around. i keep all the lights off, blinds and dark drapes are drawn all day but the windows are open for 'circulation', i have no oven, but no cooking (heat) or showering (humidity) before 7pm, and it's still ridiculous. what do you guys do when it's in the 100's?? (high 30's/low 40's here). i will admit though, i can't bare to make my rabbit suffer so much, so i let her hang out in the fridge sometimes when she looks like she's dying. she begs me for it! i only allow a minute at a time though... i can't handle seeing that door left open.

Joanna said...

Would joining in be a cheat as we don't have air-conditioning anyhow?

Mel said...

Well, here's my first commitment to one of your challenges, though not as good as some of the others.

I AM a WIMP!! I don't handle heat well (I've had heat stroke a couple of times and that just seems to mess with you) but I am going to do better than last year.

Last year I didn't know as much as I do this year, so last year my thermostat was set at 72 and 78 (day time vs night time). This year my PROGRAMABLE thermostat is set at: *drumroll please*

78 and 82 through out various stages of the day! Somebody, please clap for me! This is a miracle!! You might not know this, but really, it is!

So there is my pledge: 78 to 82 degrees all summer (unless it gets up to 110 with 98% humidity, which this year I seriously doubt...for the love of pete, it the 29th of June and only 73 degrees with low humidity!! A miracle, I tell you, a miracle!!)

Anonymous said...

no aircon. and it's hot in thailand. and we do have it, we just don't use it!

also, just got my lunette cup and can't wait to try it. recently started with cloth pads and was very happy!

Anonymous said...

No aircon!

Ok, maybe in the car, and I don't control the thermostat at work, so maybe that's cheating an itty bit, but no AC at home is at least something!

I've already formulated a fan plan.

Sonnjea said...

No aircon. One fan. A lot of sweat.

Sonnjea said...

No aircon. One fan. A lot of sweat.

shabadeux said...

Ugh this won't be easy! But seeing how my electric bill jumped from $6 to $46 because of one stupid heat wave I'm going to give it a shot. I'm going to say no AC till it hits 95, and then I'd say 78 on the dining room AC unit (if I'm in there) or 76 on the inefficient bedroom unit. Should be better for my pocketbook. Freezing my buns this year will be far easier.

Anonymous said...

We only have one small energy star window unit in my toddlers room. We only use it a handful of times during the summer, just a night here or there during those rotten heat waves where it is like a digusting oven upstairs in the bedrooms. All 4 of us pile into that bedroom to cool down and sleep. So I guess I'll say no A/C unless it's close to 100 outside, and even then just at night to sleep. 100 degrees doesn't happen too often in our NH summers, but we have already hit it once this summer. Also I will cut down drastically on the AC in the car. I didn't realize that was "bad" so to speak. I actually do prefer the windows open but then I heard that that it really effects your gas mileage and it's better to just run to the AC so that is what I have been doing. Love your challenges! I'm finally getting to break in my new Diva Cup and I'm loving it!

Gretchen said...

Um, okay. I live in Texas, where we've had temps at 92 or higher since May 1. I just moved here, and I've been told, "Oh just wait till August. It gets REALLY hot." I'm like, WHAT THE F#@$? This isn't hot??? So while I'd like to take your NO Air Con challenge I don't feel that I can. I do set my AC at 78 during the day and 80 at night. Also I only run my big appliances (washer, dryer, dishwasher) at night. By the way I have 4 kids and a hubby so there's lots of us in the house!

a/k/a Nadine said...

No AC in my house!

Lifedreamed said...

I went without air the last three years (I do have central air - I'm just not using it). So far I plan on doing it this year, too. However, I am due in August during our normal 100 degree days and high humidity levels. So, I commit to No Aircon until I bring home my newborn. Then the air will be kicked on at 80 degrees to keep her comfortable for the remaining three weeks (or so) of summer heat. Next year I'll fully commit again.

Anonymous said...

No A/C in my home...so I'm taking the pledge I have to say I'm in SF Bay Area, it's cold here!

Anonymous said...

I feel like I'm cheating b/c I don't have an air conditioner and simply wouldn't ever buy one here since the temps are only that hot maybe 2 weeks out of the year. I experienced my first 90 degree heat when I lived in Boston for a year - I had a newborn and we hid out in the bedroom where the only air conditioner was!

I will also pledge not to use AC in the car but only when I'm the only passenger. With two young kids I'll have to think about it - maybe I'll just wait until they complain. They do like having their windows open...

Unknown said...

i don't use AC in my car. well it doesn't work as of right now. it broke down last august. i swear it quit working on the hottest day of the year last year too. but so far i haven't gotten it fixed because i just dont feel like i need to.

so, here's my question: we have a really pathetic home AC unit that no matter what the temp is in the house it runs all the time. so we turned it off, but we have a small window AC unit running. our house is only 750 sq ft. so my questions is... how does a small window AC unit differ from an actualy AC unit? what about window fans when you have the AC off?

Luckily we have 6 big trees surrounding our house so it's in the shade 90% of the day. it makes a huge fieerence in the temp. of our home.

shabadeux said...

I wondered about the window fan feature of those units, too. Like whether they use less energy. I like using the fan feature, it seems to pull in more cool outside air. Since not all my windows have screens, I like that. I would like to get a fan to blow hot air out of the kitchen, though.

Last night I'm happy to say that although it was a warm night, a cold "bed buddy" on my neck made me feel cool enough to fall asleep!

Anonymous said...

Count me in on the challenge.
This one shoudln't be too hard, since I don't have an air conditioner!

thanks crunchy!

Sarah (fr Canada)

Anonymous said...

I pledge that home aircon will not go below 78 and will be set to 85 for when I go off to work. No aircon in the car. (blower died this spring, can't bear to find out how much it will cost to fix!)Can't swear off aircon at work, though. No control over that. Once the monsoon season in Phoenix is over in September, I can pledge to turn off the aircon (and then heater) until next Mother's Day.

Anonymous said...

A tip that I learned from my dad. I grew up in Minnesota. Hot humid summers. Dad worked in an ice factory. We didn't have A/C. On really hot days, he'd bring home a block or two of dry ice (the kind that people use to make fog on Halloween.) He'd put in front of a fan to blow the cool air off it. Sometimes he'd set it in the basement, blow the cool air into the furnace and turn on the furnace fan to ciculate the air throughout the house. That house was built in 1912, had newspaper for insulation, etc. It was such a treat to get that cool air!

Amanda said...

It's 105 degrees out, with hazardous air quality, and my poor chickens are sweating it out with ice cubes in their water. But the A/C's running, sorry. Set at 78 during the day, 80 at night. Any warmer and the kids wake up sweaty from nightmares.

Kimmie said...

I'm in Fort Worth, TX, where no aircon really isn't a possibility. I always keep it 80 or above, up to 85 when gone. I've gotten lazy this summer because I'm prego and like it cooler, but this is my reminder to keep it turned up and sweat some! Nighttime is the big issue. I just can't sleep if it's hot. But I'm in the market for a fan just to blow on me (for some reason the ceiling fan hits hubby just right and I hardly feel it...and we're centered under it!) and that should help. As for the car, sometimes it's on, sometimes not, just depends. Don't want the kids to suffocate...

Anonymous said...

No Aircon!

Sarah-the-Yente said...

No Aircon! And I'm ok with that!

Amelia said...

I'm a little late finding out about this- but count me in!

When my boyfriend and I moved into our apartment in hot'n'humid Washington DC last August, we resisted using the air conditioning for the remaining months of the summer. In the winter we removed the two window units to let in more light in, and at that point we challenged ourselves to never reinstall them.

So there isn't an option for air conditioning in our apartment, and people are always appalled to learn that it's completely by choice. Luckily we're in a corner apartment so we leave the windows open and get some occasional cross breezes, and we also have ceiling fans in the living room and bedroom. As I write this we are both in our underwear, drinking massive amounts of ice water.

I do feel guilty inviting guests over, but the true friends (or truly green friends) don't mind, and have come to expect it from us.

Carla said...

Okay, I'm really late joining in. Mainly because I'm hugely pregnant and I get pretty irritable when overheated. We have managed to keep the A/C set at 74 degrees, which is darn near Sahara according to my friends who have theirs set on 68. I didn't think I could manage the summer with no A/C, but I have actually kept it off for the last two days with temps outside <80. I pledge to keep it off until the thermostat in the house creeps up to 78. Then, I'm caving. Irritable pg woman is no fun for anybody else.

Anonymous said...

I didn't officially join the challenge, but I'm celebrating two full months without air con in the house. We successfully survived all of June and July without turning it on in the house or the car. Here's hoping for August!

Anonymous said...

Well, better late than never! We've been keeping the A/C at about 80. We just moved to the NE from the SE so that makes it much easier. Now come the winter we'll be working really hard to keep that thermostat in check.

Doyu Shonin said...

We put up tarps as giant awnings around the south and west sides of the house 2 months ago. There have been only 2 heat waves but they both went a lot easier than previous ones. We have never had A/C in the house and we always got by, but now we're getting more skilled at it. Thanks!!

Jenn said...

any chance of getting smaller banners in the future? 216px wide is a bit big -- maybe 150 px and taller?

I had to tweak my template and just lost all my blog links ... *grump*

Anonymous said...

I wished I would of found your blog sooner - I would've challenged myself more in these past summer months. Usually I don't even run the A/C which for most people can be hard living in Sacramento but having animals & a boyfriend that gets cranky & seems to run at a higher temp then I do I have had it on more often.

But I pledge to keep it at 82 or higher from now on...I may have to cheat when company or my boyfriend is over. I don't mind the heat so much but a pissy boyfriend can be torture!

Anonymous said...

No Airconditioning... By choice.

I moved to Austin, Texas in November, from Missouri. Have just moved out of Austin to South Texas... I decided at the beginning of Spring to go without AC, and consequently, this summer has been the hottest on record for 87 years. Sigh.

I have stayed honest, even though I got pregnant in March. I may feel like I'm melting sometimes, since the upstairs in our apartment never got below 95 degrees, even at night. A few fans, and opening all the (sadly) few windows helped.

At least in South Texas we get decent breezes, so even though it's hotter still, it doesn't feel as unbearable.

When we visit people with AC (My inlaws think my husband and I are crazy to go without AC), my eyes and nose always dry up (also part of why I chose no AC). We don't use it in the car either.

I grew up without AC, my husband always had it until this summer. He doesn't mind going without it, though. We help keep each other honest.

We are looking into all natural cooling for our new house, and are currently taking the AC unit out that already existed in it.

Ready for an AC-free future. Our kids will never have it to become dependant on.