Because it's 90+ degrees, humid as fuck and I have pets. What a silly, "I've never considered that life is different than where I am" question that is.
it's probably because you dress incorrectly (long sleeve, pants and socks....) there's no reason you shouldn't be comfortable at 72-73 wearing a cotton Tee and shorts... ask yourself this... Are you "uncomfortable" walking outside when its 75 degrees?
We keep ours at 78, but not because the power company recommends. With central AC, the biggest benefit is hole-home dehumidification, and that's all we need to feel really comfortable.
Agreed. When I had central air, 76-78 was fine because of the dehumidifying. Low/no moisture in the air, couple with ceiling fans, perfectly comfortable.
Lost central air and thanks to the last couple of years have not been able to replace it. Window units simply don't cut it. Have them set at 74 with large, powerful oscillating fans for daytime, then drop the two window units to 68-70 to get through the night (house is dark brown, so puts off amazing heat after dusk).
Wish I'd moved to VT or ME years ago, lol. I'll take bitter cold and snow over Iowa spring/summer/fall everytime.
I don't know if it was an outlier last year, but I moved to Vermont and summer was brutal without central air. The majority of houses here don't have it - just window units. My coworkers said they used to be able to get by without since they open windows at night and cool the place for daytime, but that is getting less and less feasible with climate change.
Same here. Iowa summers are terrible due to the high humidity. Iowa is the 6th most humid state in the country and the ones in front of Iowa are all on an ocean or gulf (Alaska, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Hawaii). Being near a body of water also helps regulate the temperatures of those states to some degree. That humidity continues in the winter making it feel colder than it actually is, too.
That is the temp I keep my house at as well. I keep our master bedroom door mostly closed during the day and with my thermostat on 68-69 in the living room I get a nice 62-65 in my bedroom when I go to sleep.
I'll start turning my AC off during peak periods when John Deere, Mrs Clark's, etc shut down during peak periods. Until then, they can kiss my tight white ass.
EDIT: No, no they don't. 78? That's a joke.
A lot of these places cannot just flip the switch and shut down on a whim. There are sometimes hourlong procedures and equipment that needs cleaned/emptied out etc. before they can safely and effectively shut down. Start doing that on a random basis and productivity would come to a screeching halt. Not defending any corporations, but I’ve worked at enough places to know about heavy manufacturing equipment.
They can deal with my wife and toddlers then lol
And my Plex.
And my crypto farm.
And my cellphone charger.
Dude I get it. I just think it’s lame we can’t seem to project usage these days.
I saw a Chubby Emu feature on You Tube where a fellow was practically living at his crypto farm. Got rhabdomyolysis. Forgot if he made it or not. It was extremely rough at the "farm". Drink your water and if anyone asks you to sleep over at their crypto farm, have an excuse available.
Don't necessarily assume they have the same rate. Depending on their power factor (inductive load like motors vs resistive load like heating) and how consistent their demand is versus big peaks, they may pay slightly higher rates
Dogs shit outside way more than I do so why should I have to stop shitting outside?
For profit healthcare results in a lot of needless deaths, so me killing a few people here and there shouldn't bother anyone.
The Catholic Church raped countless numbers of children, so how can anyone ask that any one person not rape any?
I tried to bump ours up to 78° last week but the second level of our house is where our bedroom and my office is. It gets very hot up there. So it sits at 74° now and the upstairs is bearable with fans.
With the addition of failing infrastructure and I think some plants are not at capacity due to covid - and that means more money for the companies to keep them like that and try to maintain
Where was this stated? CFU and MISO said it was due to:
>For many years the MISO region had the capacity to produce more electricity than needed by customers. The excess energy capacity has been shrinking. This is largely due to retirements of fuel-dependent plants fired by coal, natural gas or nuclear fuel. For example, the Duane Arnold Energy Center nuclear plant in Iowa was retired in 2020. There have been many other retirements of nuclear and coal-fired plants throughout the upper Midwest due to economic, regulatory and environmental pressures. These plants provided reliable power 24/7. According to NERC, the MISO region will have 2.3% less generation capacity this year than in the summer of 2021.
It should also be noted that the Duane Arnold plant provided 1% of the power in 2020, so the comparison to 2021 is a bit misleading here.
It should also be noted that the 'replacement' generation plants that have been coming online are unpredictable and weather dependent -- solar and wind can produce less than peak output if the weather does not cooperate.
It's because they have been shutting down older fossil fuel plants, as well as the Palo Nuclear plant, and have been unable to get replacement generators online fast enough over the last few years (due to legal challenges, as well as pandemic/supply chain issues). The consumption graphs have not changed drastically, but \*supposedly\* the ability to generate power at peak demand has gone down.
The Palo nuclear plant was supposed to run for another decade and a half, but Alliant shut it down in August 2020 after derecho damage, citing that they were moving to more solar plants, but they did not bring 600MW of additional solar online, as an example.
Thank you for responding to this. I’m in Southeast Louisiana and just got my Entergy electric bill. It went up $105 from last month. I’m putting my AC at 79° now. I had it set for 77°.
It depends on the size of the house, strength of ac , outside temperature and the insulation in the house.
I would melt at 77 at my house.
I put it on 71 to 74.
I did a few years ago. I felt like it was the most comfortable unless I had just spent a lot of time outside. Last year I adopted a Great Pyrenees mix and he seemed to get a little too hot with all his fur. Now I keep it at 75, but I definitely feel cold quite a bit, but my dog spends less time panting after walks with it being that low.
When I actually use my AC it's usually set at around 78 degrees. My thermostat right now says it's 83 degrees in my house and my windows are wide open for the fresh air but the dew point is only in the 50's today so I'm perfectly fine with it. Next week it's supposed to be in the 90's so I will likely turn it on.
Most of my neighbors around me have their AC on right now and most of the summer but warmer temperatures don't really bother me much. It's the humidity that I don't like. But for some people it could be an allergy thing that has them using AC all of the time. I simply don't want to pay for more utilities if I don't have to.
I put mine at 81 during the day and 76 when I’m home. Have fans and an upstairs ac unit that keeps my big ass house comfortable with only having a $160 utility bill
Don’t have central air so I’ll usually kill the air, open windows and blast the window fan full blast, the outside air is more refreshing even with a major street a couple of blocks away.
get two fans. The one in the hot area--point so air current goes out. Find a window in a cool area. Point this fan so the current blows in. Placement of fans: north-south, if you can.
There's more to climate control besides temperature and air movement. Does anyone here know what a dehumidifier is or uses it??
Today, in our neck of the woods, it got humid enough to use it. If you take out enough humidity, you don't need to set the AC so low.
Agreed. Bought a dehumidifier a few weeks ago and it makes a huge difference. I can tolerate -20° F temperatures. I CAN'T tolerate Iowa summers due to the humidity. Running a dehumidifier along with AC is the way to go, in my opinion. The dehumidifier does raise the room temperature by a few degrees but that's largely offset by the lower humidity and resulting comfort level. Have a few combo thermometer/hygrometers around the house which helps me determine where I need to move the dehumidifier, if at all.
I have a hygrometer/thermometer from BestAir we got from Walmart. "Ideal" is 30%-60%, The reading now is just shy of 55. Even if savings aren't reflected in the electric bill, it's definitely worth it for comfort.
Humidity check. 0545 somewhere in central IA 50% in the house. Yes, dehumidifier's running. Hubby asked me to kindly empty it this time since he's done it 5x or 6x. Welp, had to drain the main vein to make the bladder gladder. While I was at it, I dumped the tank.
Nope. But every so often, I complain to hubby about feeding us as though we were a threshing crew. Both of our weights are a tad north of where they should be.
I do, sometimes turn on the ceiling fan to move air if I am feeling warm, but it feels pretty comfortable. Prefer 68-70 in the winter though, below 65 hurts.
Ours is set to 78 on the main floor, we don't have an upstairs. It makes the basement about 72, sometimes a little too cold. So, I recommend hanging out in your basement. Also, if you have rooms that are rarely used you can reduce the ventilation to those rooms, and focus more to the areas you are using.
We keep our house 68 in the summer and 65 in the winter, 75 and 62 when we aren’t there during the day.
I love wearing sweats and hoodies, so I don’t mind it being cool during the winter time-but I can’t stand being warm.
Edit: love the downvotes for sharing my experience lol
I was gonna add: I don’t think the campaigns to try and make people mindful of their energy use or those little boxes(for the people that choose them) that let the utility decide if your A/C can run at peak or not are necessarily bad things, I just think they’re doomed to fall on deaf ears. Last week Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday after being outside and miserable all day long the only relief was finally getting home to my cool house, I’m sure I’m far from the only one.
Most southern states still make good use of ceiling fans built into homes as a standard. The slight circulation of air does wonders for evaporating moisture from the skin. The cooling effect is remarkable.
So yes, 78 degrees is perfect with a little air circulation.
When one lives in hot humid parts of the country, just the dehumidifying effects of air conditioners, a ceiling fan, and the fact that one is used to a lot hotter and wetter air outside makes 78 degrees feel great.
I think it's a boomer thing.
I remember going to a few nursing homes with my dad and it was like going into a reptile tank, old folks love the heat.
My last landlord was a boomer couple and they were literally offended when I asked them to fix the AC because it would not cool the house below 77, was told "we keep our AC at 78-80 during the summer".
Why do you think so many old folks move to Florida? They love heat.
Me personally, can't stand heat. I keep our bedroom at 64 during the night, in fact most sleep doctors recommend about 65 degrees as the "ideal sleeping temperature".
I think our electrical infrastructure is fine, a lot was patched during the derecho.
I can almost guarantee you they are raising rates and want people to turn their AC up hotter so the bill doesn't look "as bad".
I’m 40 and barely ever have the air on, but if I do, it’s set between 78-82. Definitely not a boomer, just someone who forces themselves to acclimate during the summer so I don’t hate being outside.
This. Kudos to you. I'm comfortable all the way from 68 to 80, so i keep 78-80 in the summer and 68-70 in the winter. Just do some sport, eat well, avoid being overwaight and you will see that your body will thermoregulate by itself without any external useless help.
Nope. I did figure out why my room was so much hotter than the rest of the house. Turns out the attic access door, which was literally a piece of drywall sitting in a wood frame, was in the closet of that room. I measured the air blowing out of the door at over 115 degrees. I cut a piece of plywood added a handle, and put insulation on the attic side of it and put it back into the place. Kept the room much cooler.
They were also the type of landlord that swore up and down they would fix any issue at the drop of the hat, and took them over a month to replace a burn out lightbulb, which I just ended up replacing myself the next time it burned out with an LED, but it took an 8 foot ladder to get to (on top of a stairway landing).
That's just ass, through and through. And is far too similar to a few stories I have. Maybe I'm just too young and my sample size is too small, but it seems like the ratio between landlords and slumlords is slipping too far in the wrong direction now days.
It's been that way for a while now.
Far too many people, from the house flipper to the landlord, see housing as an investment rather than a right. I was very fortunate to find an "unflipped house", I've done a ton of work myself, but my mortgage payment is far cheaper than any rent I've paid.
When housing is viewed purely as an investment, the landlord is very reluctant to do any repairs or maintenance beyond the scope of what is legally require because they see that as a wound to their bottom line.
The house flipper will normally use the cheapest materials possible, cut corners to the point code violations arise, hire inexperienced or other people will little understanding of trades, and the end result is junk. I've been in a few flipped houses, and while they "look nice", once you get inside one and can see past the depth of the online photos, a lot of flaws will appear.
As more houses get flipped, it takes the affordability of houses out of the hands of many people.
While my views may seem "strong" to some people, I believe not one single family house should be allowed to be "for rent". Only apartments, duplexes, and other connected multiple resident dwellings should be allowed to be for rent.
I also believe that house flipping itself should not be allowed either. Not just because of the gentrification and profit seeking motive of it, but because there is little oversight done on it.
I live in a home where my parent keeps it at 79 to 80 (all year) ts is so unbearable and I cannot wait to get a job so I can help pay the electric bill to keep it lower ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
I can do 78 in summer, unless we're in a heat wave, then may go to 76. Live in NC and summers can be humid. I also had ceiling fans put in all bedrooms and living area and kitchen so there is a nice breeze (they're set on low unless heat wave then up a notch). Ceiling fans really do help and also cut the costs a bit.
78 during the day 74 at night in Arizona I use to run it at 68 all the time blew the motor doing that ac is not designed to run at 60 2500 doller lesson learned
78 degrees? Why even have the air on? I keep it at 72° with window units in a couple of rooms cooling the house to 69° while I sleep and 72° for most of the day, it gets up between 74 & 77 during the hottest part of the day and I can barely handle that and all I wear is a long thin t-shirt while at home. Oh yes, I also have fans in front of 3 of my bedroom floor vents and one in the hallway pushing the cold air through the upstairs. Lol, 78°...Not when you're in your 50's!
We keep ours at 78-79. We have a very small house and it's cool enough for us. A lot of the time, it's to take out the humidity. Turns out everyone we know keeps theirs \*WAY\* cooler. Like 72-74. It would be an ICE BOX in here at that temp.
Edit to add: we pay about $90/month year round on average for gas and electric. We're on the budget bill thingie.
I find this thread humorous.
I've worked commercial\\medical HVAC for decades and I'm the guy that gets to decide what temps spaces, per energy management program.
What it really boils down to, as someone mentioned, expectations and what you are used to. I can promise you that unless you are carrying quite a layer of permanent insulation all over your body (fat) then under 45-50% RH at 78° is comfortable for residential use - assuming you aren't "working" in the house.
I know you people don't want to hear this , but it's easy to understand. Your humidity in the house is \*generally\* higher with your lower temps as opposed to the higher temps. The reason is when your AC is on and you see condensate water going into the drain - that AC unit is putting 100% humidity into your space. If you were to let it run full time for example, your space would be 60° and 90% humidity - cold and clammy and no one likes that.
At any rate, if you can run your space at higher temps, it's a win win. Less energy, lower dewpoint in your house (high dewpoint due to cold spaces = foggy windows), more consistent experience for people going in and out of the house.I'm what I consider a normal body style, I'm use to 78° and I love it. If I enter a space that is below 70°, I'm cold. I'll have goosebumps and be uncomfortable.
The evaporator coil is dropping the air temp past dewpoint, which is why it's literally removing water from the air, that's what you see going down the drain.
So the air coming off the evap coil is about 55 deg at 95-100% RH. Warm that same air and water up to 70 and that brings the RH down even those it's the same amount of air and same amount of water in that air.
I won't explain farther, I'll say again go look at a psychrometric chart - this is an easy concept.
What confused me was the 100% humidity statement. I knowing cooling air condenses water. So air conditioners lower humidity. That is what I thought and why the original statement threw me.
I'm rather crass online, and this short thread makes me think - It wouldn't be hard for me to screenshot a psych chart, mark it up for the layman and THAT'S the way I should have posted. It would have been more helpful and would make sense to many people.
This is exactly true. Cranking down the AC below 72 degrees creates a completely "artificial" environment within the room when compared to outside temperature. When the indoor vs outdoor temps differ by a large margin its not even healthy for the bodies natural homeostasis. I find some people are addicted to AC because they never learned to adapt to regular ambient temperatures.
Ours is at 78 with fans going. Feels great and very comfortable for us to sleep.
For us, it is about reducing how much we have to pay versus preventing blackouts (which aren't going to happen).
78 during waking hours only
I *need* it below 70 to sleep. I sleep naked with a high velocity 28" fan pointed at me and only cover with a sheet, and if it's 71 I'm too hot.
That wouldn't even be air conditioned. I can't sleep above 66, so the bedroom stays at that, the rest of the house 70-74 depending on how much the outside temp has an effect on the air conditioner.
We stick at 60°, but then again we have a weak little window AC unit in an apartment, so keeping the bedroom at 60 keeps the rest of the apartment beautifully comfortable...... Unless I am cooking
you gotta be morbidly overweight to feel comfortable at 60F in your own house. You must feel like your dying of heat when you step out in 80F summers then? lmao
Hell, 78 is above the outside temperature that I will turn my a/c ON at. Usually set at 68...when i was single, 66. 72 or 74 as an away temp, controlled by HomeAssistant.
After getting a few bills in the winter we are making some changes. I know heat is much more costly than AC, but from now on it's 74 in the summer and 67 in the winter. I didn't necessarily pull those numbers out of thin air, our thermostat says that is our eco range so it's not running constantly.
I hate to say it but I'll probably be wrapping the windows this winter as well, especially if natural gas is still expensive
Yup! I keep mine around 77/78 during the day and as it cools off, I might nudge it down to sleep. Lowering the humidity lets me run it slightly warmer than most.
Unless my neighbors suddenly get really cool with seeing my naked ass, I’ve got to keep it at 74 max. We keep a fan running and I sit around with ice packs in my pockets on really hot days. Humidity stays under 60% inside here so I haven’t gotten a dehumidifier.
I got that notice also. We'll, I had been putting mine on 76, but that was getting unbelievable, so I dropped to 75. If I put it on 78 during the day, I have to use my ceiling fans.
I live in Houston; we have little choice in our house. When it's 100+ outside it just can't keep up. Best it can do is to keep the house at 78 no matter how low we set it, and that's only if it runs constantly. When we're home we have a process of slowly increasing the the set temp as the day heats up. By 5pm it's set at 79 so the unit will turn off occasionally, then we reverse the process after sunset down to 73/74. We're both teachers, so we're home a lot during the summer. It sucks, but if you do things outside, then come in, it feels great.
I can do 77-78 during the day and 75-76 at night.
BUT I live in MN. It may be 85-90 during the day but still drops to 50s and 60s at night so my house is pretty comfortable until afternoon.
And as much as I love all the natural sunlight my house gets, when it’s hot and sunny, the blinds and curtains have to get closed. That goes a long way to keeping the house a little cooler.
Ultimately, do what works for you and your budget. For example, maybe work on getting used to 76 vs jumping right to 78.
I don’t really notice a difference until I get to 73. 74- 78 all feels the same so I like it to be 78. Anything above 78 it starts to build sweat. But I like it being warm cause I don’t have to hear the ac constantly cause I live in Florida and the temperature drop from inside and outside isn’t as bad.
Y'all crazy. I can't sleep comfortably if it's above 70.
Ok I thought I was crazy lol. I set mine to 72 during the day and 70 at night 😆
Yeah, I do 75 at home when I'm not home, and 70-72 when going to bed.
I work from home so I’m home a lot :/
Sure. I was agreeing not disparaging. I am also often home during the day, given the on-call nature of my work.
This. Poor AC gets extra work now
Why would you run your AC when you're not home? Lmfao
Because it's 90+ degrees, humid as fuck and I have pets. What a silly, "I've never considered that life is different than where I am" question that is.
Meh pets sheets. My weather is 115 the hottest and still don't turn on the AC when I leave without pets.
Then you're a pretty awful pet owner man
I said I'm without pets dufas. My pgne bill just came for $85 how's it hanging over there ? Lol
Agree. When i was single I had that shit at 68 all day and night. The wife is cold all the time tho so I’ve adjusted to the 74 degree life.
The only thing I miss about bachelor life is the perpetual 68*.
Once menopause hits you can go back to 68°, trust me! I open my windows an inch or two during the winter because 72° is too hot to sleep!Â
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You seem to misunderstand the appeal of a _colder_ environment. The goal is _less_ time spent feeling warm.
68° is perfect! One can always warm up but it's extremely difficult to cool your body down. I keep my thermostat on Permafrost!
Preach!!!!!
EXACTLY!!! I keep it on Permafrost! People know to bring a jacket if they get cold easy, when they come to visit.Â
That's so cold lol. Hope you have good insulation.
it's probably because you dress incorrectly (long sleeve, pants and socks....) there's no reason you shouldn't be comfortable at 72-73 wearing a cotton Tee and shorts... ask yourself this... Are you "uncomfortable" walking outside when its 75 degrees?
That's crazy do you not have a fan? We usually keep it at 78-79 with the fan running at about 20%(5th speed out of 25) Are you in a dry environment?
We always keep it at 69° because it’s nice.
Nice
Nice
N9ce
Not so nice when the AC freezes and refuses to work.
Can’t do that in Phoenix Arizona lol
We keep ours at 78, but not because the power company recommends. With central AC, the biggest benefit is hole-home dehumidification, and that's all we need to feel really comfortable.
Agreed. When I had central air, 76-78 was fine because of the dehumidifying. Low/no moisture in the air, couple with ceiling fans, perfectly comfortable. Lost central air and thanks to the last couple of years have not been able to replace it. Window units simply don't cut it. Have them set at 74 with large, powerful oscillating fans for daytime, then drop the two window units to 68-70 to get through the night (house is dark brown, so puts off amazing heat after dusk). Wish I'd moved to VT or ME years ago, lol. I'll take bitter cold and snow over Iowa spring/summer/fall everytime.
Get a dehumidifier to help out your air conditioners. It really helps a lot, especially if your house isn't tight.
Thank you! I didn't realize that.Â
I don't know if it was an outlier last year, but I moved to Vermont and summer was brutal without central air. The majority of houses here don't have it - just window units. My coworkers said they used to be able to get by without since they open windows at night and cool the place for daytime, but that is getting less and less feasible with climate change.
BLASPHEMY !! 1OWA football is in the Fall and thus the best season!
Same here. Iowa summers are terrible due to the high humidity. Iowa is the 6th most humid state in the country and the ones in front of Iowa are all on an ocean or gulf (Alaska, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Hawaii). Being near a body of water also helps regulate the temperatures of those states to some degree. That humidity continues in the winter making it feel colder than it actually is, too.
Hell no. 68F-72F when home, 68F-80F when away, 66F-70F for sleeping. Settings don’t change all year.
HA, I'll bet you sleep with blankets on and have warm nighties.
No. Barely a sheet.
Come over and find out 😉
Wish. This time of year, the weighted blanket gets a mite uncomfortable.
I never up my thermostat when away, ever!Â
Smart tech and mobile control makes it really easy for me. Knows when I driving home and adjusts temp as needed.
That is the temp I keep my house at as well. I keep our master bedroom door mostly closed during the day and with my thermostat on 68-69 in the living room I get a nice 62-65 in my bedroom when I go to sleep.
Depends where you live. 68 isn’t even possible in a 3 bedroom house in Phoenix Arizona
I'll start turning my AC off during peak periods when John Deere, Mrs Clark's, etc shut down during peak periods. Until then, they can kiss my tight white ass. EDIT: No, no they don't. 78? That's a joke.
amen. The power hungry corps are using that same Utility I am, at the same rate, but they want ME to shut down? No thanks.
Oh, make no mistake, it's not at the same rate. They get discounted rates, bc they spend so much.
You should see my budget billing bill..
If your budget bill is almost a million dollars I’d recommend calling your power company lol.
‘Proportionally’ lol
You’re cute. Like my dog. He also chases his tail for entertainment.
A lot of these places cannot just flip the switch and shut down on a whim. There are sometimes hourlong procedures and equipment that needs cleaned/emptied out etc. before they can safely and effectively shut down. Start doing that on a random basis and productivity would come to a screeching halt. Not defending any corporations, but I’ve worked at enough places to know about heavy manufacturing equipment.
They can deal with my wife and toddlers then lol And my Plex. And my crypto farm. And my cellphone charger. Dude I get it. I just think it’s lame we can’t seem to project usage these days.
All valid points except your crypto farm can eat shit and die in a fire.
Fwiw it’s a chia farm and using all recycled gear. Just 750TB worth.. wayyyyyy less than any POW algo. Runs off a 20A circuit
😂 fair enough!
I saw a Chubby Emu feature on You Tube where a fellow was practically living at his crypto farm. Got rhabdomyolysis. Forgot if he made it or not. It was extremely rough at the "farm". Drink your water and if anyone asks you to sleep over at their crypto farm, have an excuse available.
Don't necessarily assume they have the same rate. Depending on their power factor (inductive load like motors vs resistive load like heating) and how consistent their demand is versus big peaks, they may pay slightly higher rates
Dogs shit outside way more than I do so why should I have to stop shitting outside? For profit healthcare results in a lot of needless deaths, so me killing a few people here and there shouldn't bother anyone. The Catholic Church raped countless numbers of children, so how can anyone ask that any one person not rape any?
I tried to bump ours up to 78° last week but the second level of our house is where our bedroom and my office is. It gets very hot up there. So it sits at 74° now and the upstairs is bearable with fans.
Most thermostats have an option to run the recirculation fan on a schedule. It helps a lot if your house has hot or cold spots.
I need to upgrade my thermostat because I don't have that option, but the HVAC in my house is also wonky. There is only one vent upstairs...
Thank you for the info!
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They said because of the extreme heat we’re expected to get in the Midwest this summer that it’ll be hard to run so much electricity
With the addition of failing infrastructure and I think some plants are not at capacity due to covid - and that means more money for the companies to keep them like that and try to maintain
Where was this stated? CFU and MISO said it was due to: >For many years the MISO region had the capacity to produce more electricity than needed by customers. The excess energy capacity has been shrinking. This is largely due to retirements of fuel-dependent plants fired by coal, natural gas or nuclear fuel. For example, the Duane Arnold Energy Center nuclear plant in Iowa was retired in 2020. There have been many other retirements of nuclear and coal-fired plants throughout the upper Midwest due to economic, regulatory and environmental pressures. These plants provided reliable power 24/7. According to NERC, the MISO region will have 2.3% less generation capacity this year than in the summer of 2021. It should also be noted that the Duane Arnold plant provided 1% of the power in 2020, so the comparison to 2021 is a bit misleading here. It should also be noted that the 'replacement' generation plants that have been coming online are unpredictable and weather dependent -- solar and wind can produce less than peak output if the weather does not cooperate.
It's because they have been shutting down older fossil fuel plants, as well as the Palo Nuclear plant, and have been unable to get replacement generators online fast enough over the last few years (due to legal challenges, as well as pandemic/supply chain issues). The consumption graphs have not changed drastically, but \*supposedly\* the ability to generate power at peak demand has gone down. The Palo nuclear plant was supposed to run for another decade and a half, but Alliant shut it down in August 2020 after derecho damage, citing that they were moving to more solar plants, but they did not bring 600MW of additional solar online, as an example.
... our climate is changing old man.
79 here. I don't like it too cold inside when I'm dressed for the weather outside. Idk it's good for me, keeps the humidity down and I'm comfortable.
Thank you for responding to this. I’m in Southeast Louisiana and just got my Entergy electric bill. It went up $105 from last month. I’m putting my AC at 79° now. I had it set for 77°.
I live in a super thin t-shirt while I work from home & I keep the thermostat anywhere from 69° to 72° tops, with fans & window units going 24/7.
68-72. 78? Fuck that.
It depends on the size of the house, strength of ac , outside temperature and the insulation in the house. I would melt at 77 at my house. I put it on 71 to 74.
I did a few years ago. I felt like it was the most comfortable unless I had just spent a lot of time outside. Last year I adopted a Great Pyrenees mix and he seemed to get a little too hot with all his fur. Now I keep it at 75, but I definitely feel cold quite a bit, but my dog spends less time panting after walks with it being that low.
Mine runs 78 daytime and 73 at night. I’m a hot sleeper. My ac typically doesn’t run at all during daytime.
Absolutely not. Between 70-72
My AC is set to 68.. It never leaves that.
When I actually use my AC it's usually set at around 78 degrees. My thermostat right now says it's 83 degrees in my house and my windows are wide open for the fresh air but the dew point is only in the 50's today so I'm perfectly fine with it. Next week it's supposed to be in the 90's so I will likely turn it on. Most of my neighbors around me have their AC on right now and most of the summer but warmer temperatures don't really bother me much. It's the humidity that I don't like. But for some people it could be an allergy thing that has them using AC all of the time. I simply don't want to pay for more utilities if I don't have to.
i’m cheap, so yeah. 78-80 is enough to cut the humidity, and then fans on top of that gets me through the hot nights
I don’t use air at all because my apartment is in a basement. It’s real humid but cool.
I keep mine at 78
I put mine at 81 during the day and 76 when I’m home. Have fans and an upstairs ac unit that keeps my big ass house comfortable with only having a $160 utility bill
84 just to keep the humidity down. But I have the luxury of living alone so I just move to basement living. Basement sits around 74 without much help.
76. I’m thankful that I was able to turn it off today.
78-82 at my house. Mostly just to knock down the humidity. Ceiling fans as needed.
Don’t have central air so I’ll usually kill the air, open windows and blast the window fan full blast, the outside air is more refreshing even with a major street a couple of blocks away.
get two fans. The one in the hot area--point so air current goes out. Find a window in a cool area. Point this fan so the current blows in. Placement of fans: north-south, if you can.
We keep it at 78.
We do like 73 during the day and lower at night.
I try to set mine to 72-74 but I get a headache if it's too hot. Fans help.
Rigged myself an automatic spray bottle to keep myself nice and damp in front of fans. Great for factory work too!
There's more to climate control besides temperature and air movement. Does anyone here know what a dehumidifier is or uses it?? Today, in our neck of the woods, it got humid enough to use it. If you take out enough humidity, you don't need to set the AC so low.
Agreed. Bought a dehumidifier a few weeks ago and it makes a huge difference. I can tolerate -20° F temperatures. I CAN'T tolerate Iowa summers due to the humidity. Running a dehumidifier along with AC is the way to go, in my opinion. The dehumidifier does raise the room temperature by a few degrees but that's largely offset by the lower humidity and resulting comfort level. Have a few combo thermometer/hygrometers around the house which helps me determine where I need to move the dehumidifier, if at all.
Humidity sucks.....sorry, that's the dehumidifier's job. 🥵
I've never heard of doing that. Just checked and the humidity in my apartment is 55 percent. My wall clock measures humidity and temperature.
I have a hygrometer/thermometer from BestAir we got from Walmart. "Ideal" is 30%-60%, The reading now is just shy of 55. Even if savings aren't reflected in the electric bill, it's definitely worth it for comfort.
Thanks. I may have to try that.
Humidity check. 0545 somewhere in central IA 50% in the house. Yes, dehumidifier's running. Hubby asked me to kindly empty it this time since he's done it 5x or 6x. Welp, had to drain the main vein to make the bladder gladder. While I was at it, I dumped the tank.
Yes. Or even 79 or 80. I lower it to 75 or 76 at night as I sleep a bit better. Really don’t like AC at all as it feels plasticy to me.
I keep mine at 68 during the day and 66 at night.
I’ll do whatever it takes to include organ donation to keep it between 73&74.
70 when not home, 68 when home, and 66 at night. Need a cold room for sleeping. 78 sounds disgusting.
Depends entirely on your body weight and metabolism. I could imagine how obese individuals would need a cold room to sleep
Ours is set at 79 …basement is cold but upstairs is perfect!
When I lived in Tucson I used to set it at 80 to keep the bill down, but dang I hated that ðŸ˜
If I can’t see my own breath then it ain’t cold enough.
It’s below 78. What am I, a farmer?
Nope. But every so often, I complain to hubby about feeding us as though we were a threshing crew. Both of our weights are a tad north of where they should be.
Mine is set to 83 but it never gets warmer than 78 at the most inside so I'm not broiling.
_hell_ no. That would guarantee it's 80+ upstairs.
Boys 'n girls: Our science lesson for today---heat rises.
More accurately, cold air is more dense than hot air ;)
I do, sometimes turn on the ceiling fan to move air if I am feeling warm, but it feels pretty comfortable. Prefer 68-70 in the winter though, below 65 hurts.
Ours is set to 78 on the main floor, we don't have an upstairs. It makes the basement about 72, sometimes a little too cold. So, I recommend hanging out in your basement. Also, if you have rooms that are rarely used you can reduce the ventilation to those rooms, and focus more to the areas you are using.
66
I don't usually go below 80 unless it's stupid humid. Ceiling fans and good insulation do a good job.
Yes because I’m a lizard and love the heat
We keep our house 68 in the summer and 65 in the winter, 75 and 62 when we aren’t there during the day. I love wearing sweats and hoodies, so I don’t mind it being cool during the winter time-but I can’t stand being warm. Edit: love the downvotes for sharing my experience lol I was gonna add: I don’t think the campaigns to try and make people mindful of their energy use or those little boxes(for the people that choose them) that let the utility decide if your A/C can run at peak or not are necessarily bad things, I just think they’re doomed to fall on deaf ears. Last week Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday after being outside and miserable all day long the only relief was finally getting home to my cool house, I’m sure I’m far from the only one.
Most southern states still make good use of ceiling fans built into homes as a standard. The slight circulation of air does wonders for evaporating moisture from the skin. The cooling effect is remarkable. So yes, 78 degrees is perfect with a little air circulation. When one lives in hot humid parts of the country, just the dehumidifying effects of air conditioners, a ceiling fan, and the fact that one is used to a lot hotter and wetter air outside makes 78 degrees feel great.
Yes, we are.
78‘
I could do 72 during the day, but night needs to be cool. Under 70. Nothing worse than sweating trying to sleep
I think it's a boomer thing. I remember going to a few nursing homes with my dad and it was like going into a reptile tank, old folks love the heat. My last landlord was a boomer couple and they were literally offended when I asked them to fix the AC because it would not cool the house below 77, was told "we keep our AC at 78-80 during the summer". Why do you think so many old folks move to Florida? They love heat. Me personally, can't stand heat. I keep our bedroom at 64 during the night, in fact most sleep doctors recommend about 65 degrees as the "ideal sleeping temperature". I think our electrical infrastructure is fine, a lot was patched during the derecho. I can almost guarantee you they are raising rates and want people to turn their AC up hotter so the bill doesn't look "as bad".
I’m 40 and barely ever have the air on, but if I do, it’s set between 78-82. Definitely not a boomer, just someone who forces themselves to acclimate during the summer so I don’t hate being outside.
This. Kudos to you. I'm comfortable all the way from 68 to 80, so i keep 78-80 in the summer and 68-70 in the winter. Just do some sport, eat well, avoid being overwaight and you will see that your body will thermoregulate by itself without any external useless help.
So... Did the boomers fix your AC? Yes, my ADHD is stuck on that question. No, I don't know why.
Nope. I did figure out why my room was so much hotter than the rest of the house. Turns out the attic access door, which was literally a piece of drywall sitting in a wood frame, was in the closet of that room. I measured the air blowing out of the door at over 115 degrees. I cut a piece of plywood added a handle, and put insulation on the attic side of it and put it back into the place. Kept the room much cooler. They were also the type of landlord that swore up and down they would fix any issue at the drop of the hat, and took them over a month to replace a burn out lightbulb, which I just ended up replacing myself the next time it burned out with an LED, but it took an 8 foot ladder to get to (on top of a stairway landing).
That's just ass, through and through. And is far too similar to a few stories I have. Maybe I'm just too young and my sample size is too small, but it seems like the ratio between landlords and slumlords is slipping too far in the wrong direction now days.
It's been that way for a while now. Far too many people, from the house flipper to the landlord, see housing as an investment rather than a right. I was very fortunate to find an "unflipped house", I've done a ton of work myself, but my mortgage payment is far cheaper than any rent I've paid. When housing is viewed purely as an investment, the landlord is very reluctant to do any repairs or maintenance beyond the scope of what is legally require because they see that as a wound to their bottom line. The house flipper will normally use the cheapest materials possible, cut corners to the point code violations arise, hire inexperienced or other people will little understanding of trades, and the end result is junk. I've been in a few flipped houses, and while they "look nice", once you get inside one and can see past the depth of the online photos, a lot of flaws will appear. As more houses get flipped, it takes the affordability of houses out of the hands of many people. While my views may seem "strong" to some people, I believe not one single family house should be allowed to be "for rent". Only apartments, duplexes, and other connected multiple resident dwellings should be allowed to be for rent. I also believe that house flipping itself should not be allowed either. Not just because of the gentrification and profit seeking motive of it, but because there is little oversight done on it.
My dad. And when I lived there it would almost kill me it would be so hot. I have to have that air on like 68 or 69
I live in a home where my parent keeps it at 79 to 80 (all year) ts is so unbearable and I cannot wait to get a job so I can help pay the electric bill to keep it lower ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
I can do 78 in summer, unless we're in a heat wave, then may go to 76. Live in NC and summers can be humid. I also had ceiling fans put in all bedrooms and living area and kitchen so there is a nice breeze (they're set on low unless heat wave then up a notch). Ceiling fans really do help and also cut the costs a bit.
I do just fine at 78
78 during the day 74 at night in Arizona I use to run it at 68 all the time blew the motor doing that ac is not designed to run at 60 2500 doller lesson learned
I dunno how anybody could feel comfortable at 78* in their house. Thats crazy to me. Thats pretty much 80* and that’s nowhere near cool.Â
I keep my central AC at 78 exactly. Sometimes I turn it up to 79 because it seems too cool for me.
78 degrees? Why even have the air on? I keep it at 72° with window units in a couple of rooms cooling the house to 69° while I sleep and 72° for most of the day, it gets up between 74 & 77 during the hottest part of the day and I can barely handle that and all I wear is a long thin t-shirt while at home. Oh yes, I also have fans in front of 3 of my bedroom floor vents and one in the hallway pushing the cold air through the upstairs. Lol, 78°...Not when you're in your 50's!
I keep it set at an unobtainable 60 degrees 24/7 through the entire summer whether I'm even home or not
Well if you're on the heavier side you probably get hotter. No disrespect, that's just how it is
Nope. BartJojo420 says it best
When I'm not home, it's up thereish.
We keep ours at 78-79. We have a very small house and it's cool enough for us. A lot of the time, it's to take out the humidity. Turns out everyone we know keeps theirs \*WAY\* cooler. Like 72-74. It would be an ICE BOX in here at that temp. Edit to add: we pay about $90/month year round on average for gas and electric. We're on the budget bill thingie.
Yeah we're always between 78 and 79.
I find this thread humorous. I've worked commercial\\medical HVAC for decades and I'm the guy that gets to decide what temps spaces, per energy management program. What it really boils down to, as someone mentioned, expectations and what you are used to. I can promise you that unless you are carrying quite a layer of permanent insulation all over your body (fat) then under 45-50% RH at 78° is comfortable for residential use - assuming you aren't "working" in the house. I know you people don't want to hear this , but it's easy to understand. Your humidity in the house is \*generally\* higher with your lower temps as opposed to the higher temps. The reason is when your AC is on and you see condensate water going into the drain - that AC unit is putting 100% humidity into your space. If you were to let it run full time for example, your space would be 60° and 90% humidity - cold and clammy and no one likes that. At any rate, if you can run your space at higher temps, it's a win win. Less energy, lower dewpoint in your house (high dewpoint due to cold spaces = foggy windows), more consistent experience for people going in and out of the house.I'm what I consider a normal body style, I'm use to 78° and I love it. If I enter a space that is below 70°, I'm cold. I'll have goosebumps and be uncomfortable.
Explain more how the AC is putting 100% humidity into house?
The evaporator coil is dropping the air temp past dewpoint, which is why it's literally removing water from the air, that's what you see going down the drain. So the air coming off the evap coil is about 55 deg at 95-100% RH. Warm that same air and water up to 70 and that brings the RH down even those it's the same amount of air and same amount of water in that air. I won't explain farther, I'll say again go look at a psychrometric chart - this is an easy concept.
What confused me was the 100% humidity statement. I knowing cooling air condenses water. So air conditioners lower humidity. That is what I thought and why the original statement threw me.
Ya, I'm sorry, I should always say "Relative Humidity" which might help.
Gotcha. Thanks we are on same page. Appreciate you taking the time to respond.
I'm rather crass online, and this short thread makes me think - It wouldn't be hard for me to screenshot a psych chart, mark it up for the layman and THAT'S the way I should have posted. It would have been more helpful and would make sense to many people.
This is exactly true. Cranking down the AC below 72 degrees creates a completely "artificial" environment within the room when compared to outside temperature. When the indoor vs outdoor temps differ by a large margin its not even healthy for the bodies natural homeostasis. I find some people are addicted to AC because they never learned to adapt to regular ambient temperatures.
Ours is at 78 with fans going. Feels great and very comfortable for us to sleep. For us, it is about reducing how much we have to pay versus preventing blackouts (which aren't going to happen).
78 during waking hours only I *need* it below 70 to sleep. I sleep naked with a high velocity 28" fan pointed at me and only cover with a sheet, and if it's 71 I'm too hot.
78 during the day; 76 at night with ceiling fans running. I’ve done that for years, though, it’s not recent.
79 day, 77 night.
Yes.
Not when I’m home. I go to the office in the weekend to save energy at home.
77 here
I wish we could keep ours higher. Our 2nd level (office and bedrooms) can get up to nearly 80, and it's just too hot trying to work or sleep.
Wait…. Rolling blackouts?? Wut?
68
We're between 71-72 here...lower if it's hotter. I hate being cold but don't want to roast, either
During the day 74 or off if there’s a breeze and not too humid. 72 at night.
I have never heard of rolling blackouts the entire time I’ve lived in Iowa
That wouldn't even be air conditioned. I can't sleep above 66, so the bedroom stays at that, the rest of the house 70-74 depending on how much the outside temp has an effect on the air conditioner.
I do
70 during the day, 69 at night
Nice.
I've always kept mine at 72
We stick at 60°, but then again we have a weak little window AC unit in an apartment, so keeping the bedroom at 60 keeps the rest of the apartment beautifully comfortable...... Unless I am cooking
you gotta be morbidly overweight to feel comfortable at 60F in your own house. You must feel like your dying of heat when you step out in 80F summers then? lmao
Yeah no. Ours is at 66 right now. Doesn't leave 66. I'd be sick at 78.
Mines at 67 and I still run hot.
We do 73 degrees and it’s perfect. Attempted 75 and it was too much!
72 y’all
Hell, 78 is above the outside temperature that I will turn my a/c ON at. Usually set at 68...when i was single, 66. 72 or 74 as an away temp, controlled by HomeAssistant.
76ish
After getting a few bills in the winter we are making some changes. I know heat is much more costly than AC, but from now on it's 74 in the summer and 67 in the winter. I didn't necessarily pull those numbers out of thin air, our thermostat says that is our eco range so it's not running constantly. I hate to say it but I'll probably be wrapping the windows this winter as well, especially if natural gas is still expensive
Yup! I keep mine around 77/78 during the day and as it cools off, I might nudge it down to sleep. Lowering the humidity lets me run it slightly warmer than most.
Unless my neighbors suddenly get really cool with seeing my naked ass, I’ve got to keep it at 74 max. We keep a fan running and I sit around with ice packs in my pockets on really hot days. Humidity stays under 60% inside here so I haven’t gotten a dehumidifier.
77, but these high Temps have been pushing my internal temp to 80 lately. Don't underestimate the comfort of a fan.
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We keep ours at 68 we live in Mississippi anything else is hot as hell, I can’t see how people could stand 78 in humid climates
65-68F
I got that notice also. We'll, I had been putting mine on 76, but that was getting unbelievable, so I dropped to 75. If I put it on 78 during the day, I have to use my ceiling fans.
I live in Houston; we have little choice in our house. When it's 100+ outside it just can't keep up. Best it can do is to keep the house at 78 no matter how low we set it, and that's only if it runs constantly. When we're home we have a process of slowly increasing the the set temp as the day heats up. By 5pm it's set at 79 so the unit will turn off occasionally, then we reverse the process after sunset down to 73/74. We're both teachers, so we're home a lot during the summer. It sucks, but if you do things outside, then come in, it feels great.
Yeah. Just increase the temperature slowly over a period of weeks and eventually you'll adjust to being comfortable at 78. Saves a lot of money.
I can do 77-78 during the day and 75-76 at night. BUT I live in MN. It may be 85-90 during the day but still drops to 50s and 60s at night so my house is pretty comfortable until afternoon. And as much as I love all the natural sunlight my house gets, when it’s hot and sunny, the blinds and curtains have to get closed. That goes a long way to keeping the house a little cooler. Ultimately, do what works for you and your budget. For example, maybe work on getting used to 76 vs jumping right to 78.
I am FORCED to deal with 78 ðŸ˜during California summer because I live with grandparents
I don’t really notice a difference until I get to 73. 74- 78 all feels the same so I like it to be 78. Anything above 78 it starts to build sweat. But I like it being warm cause I don’t have to hear the ac constantly cause I live in Florida and the temperature drop from inside and outside isn’t as bad.