The evaporative coolers are a popular and climate-friendly cooling option in arid regions, but temperatures in New Mexico are rising beyond what the home appliances can manage.
Swamp coolers suck, they don’t work on humid days, they make any paper in your house damp and damage books, the pads will get moldy and you’ll be breathing in that mold blowing directly into your house along with its smell and to even get any use out of them they have to be moving a ton of air so your whole house is a wind tunnel when it’s on. My first summer living in NM we had one, my dad pulled it and installed a real air conditioner shortly after.
But they’ve been used for decades effectively at a fraction of the energy use vs air conditioning. The problem is climate change pushing temps above their operating range. Do you think burning more coal so your paper stays rigid is the pragmatic solution for society?
Arguably it’d be better to use air conditioners as long as that energy is from renewables such as solar (where the southwest is particularly suited) to help save water, which is in critically short supply in those areas.
True, if you had AC units powered solely by on-site solar and if they never operated powered by the grid (so never at night) you could potentially save water. But any grid electricity comes with exponentially more water use so realistically that will never happen.
I don’t think we should continue burning any fossil fuels but that’s not what I was talking about. I was making a personal testimony on why I dislike swamp coolers.
Swamp coolers suck, they don’t work on humid days, they make any paper in your house damp and damage books, the pads will get moldy and you’ll be breathing in that mold blowing directly into your house along with its smell and to even get any use out of them they have to be moving a ton of air so your whole house is a wind tunnel when it’s on. My first summer living in NM we had one, my dad pulled it and installed a real air conditioner shortly after.
2/10 wouldn’t recommend
But they’ve been used for decades effectively at a fraction of the energy use vs air conditioning. The problem is climate change pushing temps above their operating range. Do you think burning more coal so your paper stays rigid is the pragmatic solution for society?
Arguably it’d be better to use air conditioners as long as that energy is from renewables such as solar (where the southwest is particularly suited) to help save water, which is in critically short supply in those areas.
True, if you had AC units powered solely by on-site solar and if they never operated powered by the grid (so never at night) you could potentially save water. But any grid electricity comes with exponentially more water use so realistically that will never happen.
I don’t think we should continue burning any fossil fuels but that’s not what I was talking about. I was making a personal testimony on why I dislike swamp coolers.