Cool spot

[Cross-7]

Temp close to 100 with humidity
Ac in the pickup on full blast
I pull over here for a little lunch and the tree is shading the shaded picnic table and it's pleasant, not hot at all.
For humans to be intelligent as we are, our buildings are poorly designed.
We use massive amounts of electricity for cooling when better design could reduce the electric load.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I just had them put a metal roof on the house. Off white. Its amazingly cooler. Just a change in color makes a difference too.

 

[Cross-7]

Makes sense
Reflect the sunshine and heat

 

[TexasBred]

Temp close to 100 with humidity
Ac in the pickup on full blast
I pull over here for a little lunch and the tree is shading the shaded picnic table and it's pleasant, not hot at all.
For humans to be intelligent as we are, our buildings are poorly designed.
We use massive amounts of electricity for cooling when better design could reduce the electric load.

That would depend on the type building you chose to build, the materials you used and how we'll it's designed to hold the cool or heat when needed and keep it outside when not needed inside. A lot of factors come into play to get maximum benefits from the design. The area where you live would probably be best served by a house built out of bales of straw and covered with stucco. Seen some still occupied that are going on 200 years old and they are very efficient.

http://southernnewmexico.com/Articles/S ... ilNew.html

 

[Cross-7]

Yep here you can get in the shade and it's not bad. Last summer east of Tulsa the humidity was so high shade didn't help but we put a big fan out on the patio and it made a big difference, but at home a fan just blows hot air.
Other parts of the country keeping warm would be the issue.

Just thinking with the strain on the grid and rolling blackouts
Our buildings aren't designed well
Attic spaces reaching 130-150 degrees with 1/2" Sheetrock and insulation separating the living space
Just seems with better designs we could do a better job keeping the heat out before it heated up the attic and building.
I have a customer that had his flat top roof sprayed with a foam type insulation then coated with cool seal
His shop used stay hot and ac wouldn't hardly cool it down below a 100
Now it seldom gets above 80

 

[boondocks]

As I think I posted a few months back on another thread, we had that high-tech insulation blown in and MAN did it make a big difference on a brick farmhouse. It was night and day. Wish we'd have done it 10 years ago!

On the point you made about houses not being built very thoughtfully, I would agree. Here in upstate NY, we have many neat old, large homes in town with great architecture and FLAT roofs--with the kind of snow loads we get, I really wonder what the heck they were thinking! People often have to get out and shovel off their roof (very dangerous) in the middle of snowstorms. Crazy!