Posted on 08/02/2021 5:29:41 PM PDT by Jonty30
It averages between 30 - 50 F in GA in the winter. We heat our home all winter (Georgia) with a wood stove insert in our fireplace. Saves us a lot in heating costs.
Does it ever mention the ice storms?
not 100% sure but California requires $9,500 solar for new homes or add-ons. Funny but not KW etc. Just a dollar amount. Little room to abuse the home owner?
Houses built before modern utilities were designed to cool down. For example, in Virginia early homes have an open corridor from front to back for a breeze.
Because it is too stinking hot down here to not have air conditioning.
“That’s what’s called geothermal-Not used in residential applications due to its first cost, and it won’t really do the full job in a hot southern summer.”
We have geo. Cools great in 90-100 degree temps. Does not heat as good as fossil fuels in 5-10 degree ranges. It is a cold heat. The thermostat say’s 74 but it feels like 66.
Low electric bills though. Overall satisfied with it.
Southerners figured out how to deal with the heat a few hundred years ago; that’s why their architecture usually has 12-foot and 14-foot ceilings. It’s basic physics: heat rises. Toss in some ceiling fans (yes, they had those before electricity), and add a couple transoms to circulate that heat out of the house, and you have a tolerable home.
As you watch the water flowing from the condensation pan drain pipe.
Sometimes enough to water the garden.
Short answer: Because we are surface dwellers not Mole People.
Never heard of a rancher?
Modern homes are built for A/C.
Reason 1. Because the desire to let lots and LOTS of natural light in = lots and LOTS of cooling/heating.
Probably because we have Evan Williams. A solid, unpretentious brand of Bourbon that pleases whiskey novices and experts alike!
They did at one time. High ceilings, tall double hung windows, shutters that let air through.
That’s what I’m thinking of.
The building I built does. Southern AL.
Interesting that you mention the wood stove insert, for the f/p.
I was just wondering if something like that even exists, a few days ago.
How does it work? Do you have to have a traditional f/p?
After the first few feet down, the earth temperature is equal to the average annual temperature in the area. It stays close to that for a couple hundred feet, and then starts warming deeper than that. I fail to see how this system would work for long.
That is how they were made, especially in New Orleans. As others have said air conditioning is cheaper and you can have a concrete slab as a foundation instead of a basement.
However, this problem is tackled a bit differently in other countries. In Hungary the slab is two meters thick and supporting walls can be up to a meter in size. They are all brick and reinforced concrete construction. The things are built like tanks, even the communist-built ones.
The bulk of the house maintains an even temperature, much like a cave.
Hungarians have to do this because they have only a small quantity of low-grade coal, no uranium, and little hydroelectric. Most energy is imported.
During the summer it can easily get to 40 degrees Celsius, during the winter -40 degrees. In this respect it is a continental climate similar to the states of the Great Planes.
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