How To: Stay Green During a Heat Wave?

We're in California and it's hot!

Really hot. So hot that the California Independent System Operator (ISO) has announced A "Flex Alert," which is essentially a plea for California residents to conserve energy during the heat wave. All those air conditioners running at the same time makes for one unhappy power grid.

But how are California residents (especially in the really hot areas) supposed to avoid heatstroke and conserve power at the same time?

As Native Californians, this was not our first "Flex Alert." We've been aware of them before, but this is the first time we dug a little deeper.

We went to the ISO web site, hoping for a little more conservation and cool-off guidance.

We didn't find much: a few links to some good conservation resources, and a PDF of conservation tips.

The PDF is actually quite helpful, containing a number of energy-saving habits we should incorporate into out everyday lives.

However, we're still looking for some good off-the-grid cool-off advice for our sweltering California readers.

Got any?

Thanks to jamie brelsford at sxc.hu for the great photo of the Australian desert.

Comments (3)

I heard this story on NPR the other day and thought it was interesting how your bodies cells react and adjust to heat ...

How Does the Human Body Cope with Heat?

posted by Chad on August 30th 2007 at 8:31am
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This human body gets a migraine and has to sleep for hours to recuperate just from the heat of walking from the apartment to the car!

posted by SallyGirl on August 30th 2007 at 11:28am
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Okay, back in the day, what we did in California's torrid Central Valley was this:

--Open the windows overnight and run all fans, if it was cool overnight. You want the house filled with cool air without running A/C if you can help it.

--Close the windows first thing in the morning and also shut the curtains or blinds. Dim light is the price of coolth. You can leave blinds open a little longer on the west and north sides of your place, but the east windows must be dimmed out before sun hits them.

--If you're going to run AC, do it early in the day. It needs to be off from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Shut it off or turn it warmer when you go to work.

--Consider turning the AC to a higher temperature. I grew up with 78 degrees as the height of cool luxury, but people now set it much, much lower.

--Don't use your oven for dinner. All you'll want is a salad anyway. (Or maybe ice cream.)

--Drink lots of cold fluids.

--If you own your space, consider whether canvas/vinyl awnings would be compatible with its style. These make a huge difference, especially in homes that only have window AC.

This was reasonably effective in California. Here in AZ, we have much hotter temperatures without cool nights, so I run AC more than I'd like, but I still leave it warmer as much as is even remotely bearable.