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Tony Bounsall's avatar

Good advice all round. We live on Vancouver island, Canada the only time we really need to be concerned is from Late June throughJuly & August. We don't have AC so we have adopted a strategy that works: We leave all windows open all night to cool the house down, sometimes we run fans to push the cold air into the house or bring it up from the basement. We are up early and draw all the curtains and blinds and close all the windows until sunset. It keeps the house quite cool. I also make a point of walking the dog as soon as I get up. Dogs can get heat exhaustion quite quickly, remember if you can't touch a paved or concrete surface with the back of your hand for 30 seconds then it is too hot for a dog. Cold towels, a kids wading pool and cool treats ( frozen banana pieces) are another way to cool down a pet. My dog often spends the summer crashed out in the basement. Sunset walks or early evening walks are the way to finish the day. Keeping everyone hydrated is also important. We also spend the early and late hours watering the garden. Hope this helps!

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Terrance Ó Domhnaill's avatar

I don't have any options for a basement where I live but I do have solar panels on the roof. It's good to know about the capacity of the panels though. I had my system configured to provide my house with 100% power at its peak, which is typically the summer months here in central Virginia.

We just returned home from out west, to massive humidity and temps in the low 90's. Working outside is like being in the jungles of southeast Asia or the Philippines.

I'm still working out storage battery options as the current batteries being offered by the solar companies only last 10-15 years tops at the cost of $10,000 or more per set as told to me last year. With the tariffs now, that price is likely a lot more or the batteries are no longer available from China anymore.

As for your cooling solutions, some sound pretty interesting. I am familiar with swamp coolers from the old days of cheap HVAC and that principle has been around for decades. If I lose the grid here, I will keep those ideas in mind.

Who knows where the U.S. is heading right now but things are starting to look real bad right now. With the jungle humidity and evening thunder showers nearly every night, I am reminded of a Pacific Island monsoon season right now here in the eastern U.S. seaboard. I just left northern Arizona a couple weeks ago and it was nice and cool up in the mountains there at the Grand Canyon. I imagine it won't be too much longer before Phoenix will become uninhabitable due to the extreme heat and water shortages. That's a lot of climate migrants who will be looking for a place to live.

Parts of southern and central California will be right there with them. Especially out in the Mojave Desert. We baked in Bakersfield, CA and during our drive east to Arizona through the desert. Things are looking pretty dire out there now.

I think you may be right. It's looking like this summer may set some new records and that's a bad thing. I guess we need to start preparing for another type of climate disaster. I feel bad for those people living in these, soon to be, uninhabitable places as Trump and company is not going to lift a finger to help them.

As we've been saying over and over again, take care of yourselves as there is no longer any government that will help you anymore. They have bigger priorities, such as chasing down immigrants, jailing dissidents and a war brewing in the middle east that may cost more American lives very soon. Save these articles as the advice in them may save someone's life in the near future.

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