Super Eco

When I first approached Crowd Fusion about becoming managing editor for Super Eco, it was with the same combination of guilt and hopefulness some people approach priests and social workers:  Negative self-talk ("I'm not greeeeen enough!") countered by firm coaching a la Stuart Smalley ("I'm good enough and people like me!"). So let's a few things straight: I drive places, I eat meat, I wear nylon clothing,  and my children do not know who "Gaia" is.

But the worst of it is this: we installed central air in our house two summers ago during an unseasonably warm heat wave (it reached 90 degrees! for three days!).  Pillory me at will.  Burn me in effigy.  Or, as we hope you'll find here at Super Eco, join me in learning more and then doing better.

I can’t even blame it on some carbon footprint hog who lived here before (oh how I wish I could!)  What I can do, and hopefully you can too, is ditch the guilt in favor of finding out a little more about air conditioning. What’s the real damage done to the environment by using it, and can any of that damage be mitigated in any way (short of the obvious: never ever even thinking of using it again)?  There are solar powered air conditioners, highly expensive but highly efficient portable units, shade trees, and cool showers.  

If, however, you're already set with a system like mine and you are looking to mitigate the impacts, here are 5 quick means of doing so:  

1. Pump it up - By installing a heat pump add-on (which we did), we actually use less energy to heat our home in the winter; not enough to wholly offset the central air energy usage, but somewhat.  

2. Energy star - By using an Energy Star rated air conditioner, we can insure that less energy is used to generate each unit of cool (although according to some this rating is nearly meaningless.)

3. 72 degrees of cool - Set the temperature to take the edge off the heat, rather than turn your house into a refrigerator.  If the outside temperature is 95, and you set your thermostat to 72, you'll use far less energy than if you insist on keeping it set at 69 or lower.  

4. Trees - Plant trees on the west and south sides of your home to decrease the need for A/C. If you live in a very ungreen newer development, which apparently necessitated complete denuding of all forests to maximize profits, planting a few trees makes a huge difference.  

5. Check it - I recently discovered that many of us are highly sensitized and intolerant to extremes in heat or cold, and this sensitivity can be related to vitamin deficiencies and malfunctioning thyroid or pituitary glands.  So before installing central A/C perhaps a good thorough check-up is due.

Perhaps air conditioning is the root of all evil (some claim it is responsible for political apathy and the depopulation of the Midwest), but people are frequently imperfect and sensitive to the heat, so let's use the a/c intelligently.  

And if Wired is to be believed, A/C emits less CO2 than heating anyway.

(Photo Credit: How Stuff Works)