Air conditioners in Japan

[JimmySeal]

The reason there are people dying from heat stroke and the sort is nothing to do with the weather - it happens every year anyway, its because the media is on a global warming witchhunt and these people who die from heatstroke, dehydration and other fairly common summer problems are being brought into the light.

Well said. People die from heat because they're not dealing with it correctly, and more air conditioning won't fix that.

Another thing that contributes to excessive use of A/C in Japan is home construction. Almost all homes have no insulation, and have giant single-pane glass sliding doors, so they heat up rapidly the instant the A/C is turned off, usually becoming quite hotter than the outside air. I have yet to find a reasonable explanation for this grossly wasteful behavior.

 

[Hachiro]

Well said. People die from heat because they're not dealing with it correctly, and more air conditioning won't fix that.

Another thing that contributes to excessive use of A/C in Japan is home construction. Almost all homes have no insulation, and have giant single-pane glass sliding doors, so they heat up rapidly the instant the A/C is turned off, usually becoming quite hotter than the outside air. I have yet to find a reasonable explanation for this grossly wasteful behavior.

Jimmy you are so right.... the house I live in is 100% concrete, it retains all the heat of the sun and stays hot as friggin hell nearly all night.

Newer houses have the "dan nestu zai" but even those houses retain heat. Not accounting for the A/C that is lost because of poor insulation.

Many houses here in Okinawa are poorly insulated, to properly insulate a house here would cost tons of money.

My wife and I are in the process of remodeling our house and we are spending an inordinate amount of money trying to properly insulate the house.

Architects here need to learn to be more energy efficient as well.

 

[JimmySeal]

My wife and I are in the process of remodeling our house and we are spending an inordinate amount of money trying to properly insulate the house.

Hopefully if you stay in that house long enough it'll pay off in the long run.


I've heard that people from Hokkaido complain about the cold when they visit destinations south in the wintertime, because where they come from, proper insulation is a necessity.

 

[-Rudel-]

Also that the earth's orbit around the sun is becoming more eliptical like pluto's orbit. So during certain seasons, were are closer to the sun, than other seasons.

 

[Hachiro]

Hopefully if you stay in that house long enough it'll pay off in the long run.


I've heard that people from Hokkaido complain about the cold when they visit destinations south in the wintertime, because where they come from, proper insulation is a necessity.

If it isn't us then the next owners will be happy that we took the time and energy to fix it for them.

 

[nice gaijin]

I've often wondered about the poor insulation of Japanese houses... Is there a historical or contemporary reason for such oversights?

 

[JimmySeal]

Japan on the whole seems to be much less environmentally minded than the rest of the modern world, even though one of their favorite words is "mottainai," but such hypocrisy is unsurprising.

According to one person I asked, homes used to be naturally insulated when they were made out of clay, but wooden homes don't have such insulative properties. Proper insulation costs money, which I guess most people aren't willing to spring for, and builders eager to keep costs down will forgo it (after all, they don't have to live in the homes they build, and the residents don't seem to know what they're lacking). Supposedly some people are afraid of insulation because the kind we used to use (asbestos) turned out to be very dangerous.

 

[Hachiro]

I've often wondered about the poor insulation of Japanese houses... Is there a historical or contemporary reason for such oversights?

In Okinawa the houses are built using steel reinforced concrete, firstly because in the hot semi-tropical climate wood frame houses would get eaten up my termites. Secondly because of typhoons. The average cost of a house makes it cost prohibitive to build it properly insulated.

 

[Ewok85]

You do have to admit though...the Earth is getting a little bit warmer. Even 1 or 2 degrees can have adverse effects on the whole planet.
But yes, many people now-a-days are drinking more and more soda, and over doing themselves in the hot weather. Need to drink that waterr! But not to much or you will lose your salt and sugers.

In the last thousands years the Earth has been 2 degrees warmer and cooler without any human input for extended amounts of time. Until the mid 1800's we experienced a global "little ice age" in which the global temperature dropped. In the winter of 1780, New York Harbor froze, allowing people to walk from Manhattan to Staten Island - imagine that! The warm period from AD800-1300 saw warmer temperatures than we have now.

I think its arrogant to think that we are the sole reason for any global warming that we might be observing considering the number of times the planet has warmed and cooled without us doing anything. Our "evidence" is nothing but observations of data with possible theories tacked on.

I read an article about 2 weeks ago in which scientist found that the sun is giving off more solar radiation. They said it is some sort of sunspot cycle.

Its been known a few years actually, but doesn't get mentioned in the papers. You know, the sun, the one thing that keeps our planet warm and not a -200 C rock pumps out more heat than usual and we ignore it?

The earths orbit is also not circular and even then it "wobbles" a little bit on known cycles.

 

[Davey]

see if your a/c has a dehumidifier option and use it instead...you basicially just remove the moisture from the room and it will cool down as well. I live in Okinawa and never use the a/c function only the dehumidifier.

Isn't that making the air more dry, using the dehumidifier? My wife says it is even worse for my throat

- to keep it off during night. If you cannot sleep, use timer so that it will be switched on when it is getting hot.

We keep it on until 1 in the night, but the temp. is rising so fast after that, and it is not possible to have a timer so that it will be switched on when it is getting hot again... to bad

All the other posters have given you sound advice, but I'll chip in my two yen:

I think the heat is hitting you hard mostly because it is your first summer here. (Sorry if I'm wrong! ) It is the humidity combined with the heat that makes summer oppressive to the uninitiated. So, you might be able to handle it better next year!

It's my second summer in Japan, even though last year was only a short holiday. So I already knew that the summer would be really hot. But I indeed hope next year will be better... already this year I hope haha.

At night, I place my electric fan by the window, facing toward the inside to make the fan pump in the cool night air inside the room. The fan is positioned upward toward the ceiling or somewhere away from you. The aim is to circulate the air and create a natural breeze inside the room.

HTH!

I will try this the upcoming night, Thank you!

Dave, what are you setting the a/c to? I set mine on dehumidify and usually set the temp no lower than 26 or 27 while I am sleeping. I will set it to 24 to initially cool the room down though.

We put it on 26 all the time, sometimes when it is really hot we put it on 24, and later on back to 26.

Holland doesn't yet have a airco culture like in Japan or the US (where according to the news here 90% of all homes own airco's!?

Because of this, I really have to get used to a/c's... But like you are saying the airco culture in here is not good...

ESPECIALLY INSIDE THE SUBWAYS... they put the airco so high, that I am almost getting blown away out of the subway

Drink water and avoid excessive physical stress in summer!

I miss Dutch tap water.... here I have to buy my water. I will try to boil the water one of this weeks.

Physical stress... haha, I just arrived in Japan 6 weeks ago, and still searching for a proper job, etc... I got stress so now and thenﾂ

Another thing that contributes to excessive use of A/C in Japan is home construction. Almost all homes have no insulation, and have giant single-pane glass sliding doors, so they heat up rapidly the instant the A/C is turned off, usually becoming quite hotter than the outside air.

You are right about that, when I turn of the airco, the house will indeed heat up like a b**ch.


Thanks you guys for all the entries... I will try the fan in front of the door. And try to life with the airco in some other way!

Any other tips, to make especially the bedroom feel cooler? ﾂ Cold blankets or something... cold shower before sleeping. etc

 

[-Rudel-]

In the last thousands years the Earth... ...more heat than usual and we ignore it?

I never mentioned or thought about the facts that we are the sole reason for global warming. I'm not stupid. I'm very aware that solor activity, volcanic activity, and the arctic/antarctic iceburgs play a large role in the planet's warming & cooling cycles too.

 

[JimmySeal]

We keep it on until 1 in the night, but the temp. is rising so fast after that, and it is not possible to have a timer so that it will be switched on when it is getting hot again... to bad

It seems so logical to be able to choose an OFF and and ON time, but most people have to choose one or the other. I have yet to see a unit that allows you to set both at once. :banghead: :banghead:

 

[epigene]

Any other tips to make especially the bedroom feel cooler? ﾂ Cold blankets or something... cold shower before sleeping. etc

This is what I use when it's too hot to sleep:

http://www.hakugen.co.jp/products/icenon_1.html

The pillow-type non-freezing gel you keep in your freezer. Wrap it with a towel and use it as a pillow. It remains cool for at least 3-5 hours. This is the top brand, but there are cheaper equivalents at your local drugstore!

Best when placed not under your head but at the nape (back of your neck). It cools your major blood vessels and lowers your body temperature slightly when sleeping.

I have one for every person in the family!