No air conditioning.

Ok. So there’s no air conditioning – and that’s a good thing. In our last apartment we paid around $250-$300 per month to run the thing, and that was just one wall unit and one window unit. Yuck.

What to do? A two-stage evaporative cooler, that’s what!

From toolbase.org:

Getting out of a pool and standing in a breeze will help you feel cool, even on a hot day. This is the principle behind evaporative cooling. Evaporative coolers, often called “swamp coolers”, are cooling systems that use only water and a blower to circulate air. In the system, warm, dry air is pulled through a water-soaked pad. As the water evaporates, a cooling effect on the surrounding air occurs. Evaporative coolers use only a fraction of the energy of traditional air conditioning systems.

In the first stage of a two-stage cooler, warm air is pre-cooled indirectly without adding humidity (by passing inside a heat exchanger that is cooled by evaporation on the outside). In the direct stage, the pre-cooled air passes through a water-soaked pad and picks up humidity as it cools. Because the air supply to the second stage evaporator is pre-cooled, less humidity is added to the air (because cooler air can’t hold as much moisture as warmer air). The result, according to the manufacturer, is cool air with a relative humidity between 50 and 70 percent, depending on the climate, compared to a traditional system that produces about 80 percent relative humidity air.

An advanced two-stage evaporative cooler uses 100 percent outdoor air and a variable speed blower to circulate cool air. Two-stage evaporative coolers can reduce energy consumption by 60 to 75 percent over conventional air conditioning systems, according to the American Society of Heating and Engineers (ASHRAE). Yet this relative improvement depends on location and application. Evaporative coolers work best in very dry climates and are not suitable for much of the East Coast, Midwest, and Coastal U.S.

Great for us! Even better…

According to one manufacturer, a commercially-available two-stage cooler can condition a 1,700 square foot house in Sacramento, California during peak cooling season for less than $30 per month.

One manufacturer reports that the system uses about 3,000 to 6,000 gallons of water per year. Using one of the most expensive California water rates from another locale, Santa Barbara, water costs are less than $16 to $32 per year respectively.

And, the cooler is much quieter than conventional A/C units.

The great thing about buying a house that has so few updates is that we aren’t having to pay for, and ultimately replace, the wrong updates. Of the 83 houses I looked at, I’d say about half were abandoned flipper projects and had been updated with bland builder grade materials like laminate counter tops, bad tile, and carpet. We get a pretty clean slate here, and don’t have to tear out and chuck anything new (well, ‘cept for the concrete). We have so much room to update efficiently, with systems and finishes that are earth-friendly and beautiful.

I hope that once the solar panels become more efficient power producers and a more cost effective option, we’ll be able to go off-grid. Wouldn’t that be amazing?