Climate, sinusitis, and the dreaded antimicrobial resistance

Now as the hot humid weather returns I am entering after two months the fifth stage of antibiotic treatment for pneumonia and sinusitis. I fear in my own case this condition is becoming dangerously chronic. The subject of rising microbial resistance in Southeast Asia is both scary and fascinating and should be a new chapter in my pneumonia-book-in-progress -- assuming I have the good luck to live to finish it! The bigger and more important question is whether antimicrobial resistant infection -- the superbug nightmare -- is emerging suddenly and globally in the last few months. How many of your global trevelling friends are currently suffering from a persistent respiratory problem? For my part, about 75 percent! Most to the point, are their daily habits -- diet, alcohol, family living, fitness routines -- adding acutely to the danger?

Florida v. Bangkok air conditioning

Florida test house for air conditioning studies.

Seeking some comparisons between Bangkok and American cities I came across a collection of studies of typical residential air conditioning use in southern Florida, by Danny Parker and colleagues at Florida Solar Energy Center, probably the best single source that I have found for good contemporary research material available for southern US practices and potentials.

 This particular study focussed on several houses in South Florida, and I set out to compare the A/C use there with my own condo here in Bangkok. The structural properties of the two structures are not vastly different, though the Florida houses have to handle a significant heat load from the roof which does not affect us here in Thailand because we are on the 17th floor of a 23 floor building. On the other hand we get some free cooling from the cool party walls between us and our neighbors, who keep their place cold.

I earlier made some comparison of local cooling demand (based on my own high thermostat set point recommendation) as shown following. 

Cooling degree days per month for one year

Bangkok is clearly the queen of heat and humidity, but similar to Houston later in the summer. Miami comes in at about half the daily demand in late summer. The studies by Parker et al are for a group of single family tract houses with about 1000 square foot air-conditioned area, typically four or more residents, and about twice the air-conditioning capacity (2 to 2.5 ton) as my condo here in Bangkok. The Florida homes air-conditioning power use is typically 15 to 20 kwh per day with interior temperatures of 24 C, very close to Bangkok for air conditioned space in residences here (though I beg to differ).

For comparison I have earlier described our minimal condo use of air conditioning – one 250 ft.² bedroom with night use only at 25C, at an energy price about 10 kwh per day. In the Florida houses the more extensive use and larger area of the houses pushes the energy up to about 20 kwh per day. In both cases, Florida and Bangkok hot-season energy use amounts to about half of the electric bill, with a premium cost in the hot season (Bangkok) at about about ten cents US per kilowatt hour, in the range of about $1-$2 per day. On the other hand some of our well-to-condo neighbors reportedly have hot season electric bills of up to $30 per day because they air condition their spaces (some sun-facing, see previous entries) 24/7! 

Ref: Monitored Energy Use Patterns In Low-Income Housing In A Hot And Humid Climate. Danny S. Parker, Maria D. Mazzara, and John R. Sherwin 

Florida v. Bangkok air conditioning

Florida test house for air conditioning studies.

Seeking some comparisons between Bangkok and American cities I came across a collection of studies of typical residential air conditioning use in southern Florida, by Danny Parker and colleagues at Florida Solar Energy Center, probably the best single source that I have found for good contemporary research material available for southern US practices and potentials.

 This particular study focussed on several houses in South Florida, and I set out to compare the A/C use there with my own condo here in Bangkok. The structural properties of the two structures are not vastly different, though the Florida houses have to handle a significant heat load from the roof which does not affect us here in Thailand because we are on the 17th floor of a 23 floor building. On the other hand we get some free cooling from the cool party walls between us and our neighbors, who keep their place cold.

I earlier made some comparison of local cooling demand (based on my own high thermostat set point recommendation) as shown following. 

Cooling degree days per month for one year

Bangkok is clearly the queen of heat and humidity, but similar to Houston later in the summer. Miami comes in at about half the daily demand in late summer. The studies by Parker et al are for a group of single family tract houses with about 1000 square foot air-conditioned area, typically four or more residents, and about twice the air-conditioning capacity (2 to 2.5 ton) as my condo here in Bangkok. The Florida homes air-conditioning power use is typically 15 to 20 kwh per day with interior temperatures of 24 C, very close to Bangkok for air conditioned space in residences here (though I beg to differ).

For comparison I have earlier described our minimal condo use of air conditioning – one 250 ft.² bedroom with night use only at 25C, at an energy price about 10 kwh per day. In the Florida houses the more extensive use and larger area of the houses pushes the energy up to about 20 kwh per day. In both cases, Florida and Bangkok hot-season energy use amounts to about half of the electric bill, with a premium cost in the hot season (Bangkok) at about about ten cents US per kilowatt hour, in the range of about $1-$2 per day. On the other hand some of our well-to-condo neighbors reportedly have hot season electric bills of up to $30 per day because they air condition their spaces (some sun-facing, see previous entries) 24/7! 

Ref: Monitored Energy Use Patterns In Low-Income Housing In A Hot And Humid Climate. Danny S. Parker, Maria D. Mazzara, and John R. Sherwin 

Thermal misery index: Bangkok v Phnom Penh

Having spent some time in Phnom Penh over the past month, it seemed to me that the Cambodian city was much more hot and glaring than Bangkok. So today back in BKK I checked this by compiling one of my favorite indexes for the two cities: Extreme Cooling Degree Days (CDD29). This was derived from the excellent web site degreedays.net which allows you to calculate cooling degree days based on any temperature base you like. In this case I used a base of 29C (84F) which is the maximum allowable temperature for comfortable (sweat-free) sleeping IMHO.

Cambodian expats escribe PP as insufferable in the hot season (April-May) and the above graph suggests it is a little but not much worse than Bangkok at that critical time of year.

On the other hand PP has many fewer high-rise buildings than BKK, and the shading seems to me much less there, the sun penetrating down to street level. A more accurate comparison would require a careful comparison of downtown urban microclimates, and also, I conclude, consideration of the degree that uncomfortable glare aggravates the subjective sense of thermal discomfort.

Thermal misery index: Bangkok v Phnom Penh

Having spent some time in Phnom Penh over the past month, it seemed to me that the Cambodian city was much more hot and glaring than Bangkok. So today back in BKK I checked this by compiling one of my favorite indexes for the two cities: Extreme Cooling Degree Days (CDD29). This was derived from the excellent web site degreedays.net which allows you to calculate cooling degree days based on any temperature base you like. In this case I used a base of 29C (84F) which is the maximum allowable temperature for comfortable (sweat-free) sleeping IMHO.

Cambodian expats escribe PP as insufferable in the hot season (April-May) and the above graph suggests it is a little but not much worse than Bangkok at that critical time of year.

On the other hand PP has many fewer high-rise buildings than BKK, and the shading seems to me much less there, the sun penetrating down to street level. A more accurate comparison would require a careful comparison of downtown urban microclimates, and also, I conclude, consideration of the degree that uncomfortable glare aggravates the subjective sense of thermal discomfort.

Everyone complaining about the heat

Even my long-time expat friends -- three in a row today -- describe this week's weather as being miserable. Most mention the humidity but of course the Thai say simply "hot" -- and give you a blank smile when you say "humid"!

Objectively, I must be scientific and measure the wet bulb temperature, which I do by using the wet rag technique. It hovers around 28 C, even as my condo interior surfaces and floor are 30-31 and the afternoon temperatures outside hover around 37.

A strong fan and minimal clothing make 30 C in my condo perfectly comfortable during the day, but we use the bedroom air conditioning, set to 24-25 C, for sleeping. This doubles my electrical bill from about $35 to $70 per month. A dollar a day for comfortable sleeping. A fan works for the Thai but doesn't do the job for us because of our higher body mass index and soft foreign bed that impedes heat transfer from the body and leads to the dreaded wet pillow syndrome.

Late mornings are the worst in May, a bit of a breeze makes it more tolerable in the afternoon. My luxo Japanese-style massage place, normally overbooked, is oddly empty today; I'm told that the heat is just keeping those rich customers at home

Everyone complaining about the heat

Even my long-time expat friends -- three in a row today -- describe this week's weather as being miserable. Most mention the humidity but of course the Thai say simply "hot" -- and give you a blank smile when you say "humid"!

Objectively, I must be scientific and measure the wet bulb temperature, which I do by using the wet rag technique. It hovers around 28 C, even as my condo interior surfaces and floor are 30-31 and the afternoon temperatures outside hover around 37.

A strong fan and minimal clothing make 30 C in my condo perfectly comfortable during the day, but we use the bedroom air conditioning, set to 24-25 C, for sleeping. This doubles my electrical bill from about $35 to $70 per month. A dollar a day for comfortable sleeping. A fan works for the Thai but doesn't do the job for us because of our higher body mass index and soft foreign bed that impedes heat transfer from the body and leads to the dreaded wet pillow syndrome.

Late mornings are the worst in May, a bit of a breeze makes it more tolerable in the afternoon. My luxo Japanese-style massage place, normally overbooked, is oddly empty today; I'm told that the heat is just keeping those rich customers at home

It's a bit of a breeze you'll be needing

Contrary to what you might read in standard western books on thermal comfort, people in the tropics are not really troubled by a slight breeze, by which they mean 1 to 2 meters per second. But this vastly changes their perception of temperature as you can see here. Even temperatures up to 35 deg C can be accepted with a “slight breeze”. Right axis is temperature in Celsius, left is wind velocity, meters per second. Most people find the blue zones comfortable.

MODELLING THERMAL COMFORT FOR TROPICS USING FUZZY LOGIC

Henry Feriadi, Wong Nyuk Hien
Department of Building, School of Design and Environment National University of Singapore
4 Architecture Drive, Singapore 117566

It's a bit of a breeze you'll be needing

Contrary to what you might read in standard western books on thermal comfort, people in the tropics are not really troubled by a slight breeze, by which they mean 1 to 2 meters per second. But this vastly changes their perception of temperature as you can see here. Even temperatures up to 35 deg C can be accepted with a “slight breeze”. Right axis is temperature in Celsius, left is wind velocity, meters per second. Most people find the blue zones comfortable.

MODELLING THERMAL COMFORT FOR TROPICS USING FUZZY LOGIC

Henry Feriadi, Wong Nyuk Hien
Department of Building, School of Design and Environment National University of Singapore
4 Architecture Drive, Singapore 117566

Sleep without aircon

My (Thai) wife not using air conditioning at night late this week (in the Bangkok hot season) when midweek freak rains (causing serious local flooding) cooled Bangkok very nicely and brought night breezes from the lovely north.

However, this is,  as always, with a table fan directed at the bed.

less than this, you don't need it.

Sleep without aircon

My (Thai) wife not using air conditioning at night late this week (in the Bangkok hot season) when midweek freak rains (causing serious local flooding) cooled Bangkok very nicely and brought night breezes from the lovely north.

However, this is,  as always, with a table fan directed at the bed.

less than this, you don't need it.