Take a bath in front of the whole neighborhood

That's what my wife does in her Southern Thai village, doesn't think a thing of it, carrying on several conversations at once. The Thai bathe at least twice a day, and in all the years -- more than 50 -- I've been here, I've never smelled a single case of B.O., even on crowded buses in the heat of the afternoon in Bangkok. Remarkable how at the end of a hot day, everyone's shirt seems as freshly pressed as in the morning.

It was a shock to move from Thailand in 1963 to England, where many people bathed once a week. Standing in line next to nice English ladies one day at Sainsbury market, I actually thought I might be downwind from the cheese department.

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.

Something else to worry about?

Just when we learn that doing things to "detoxify" your body is a medical myth, we now have to worry about mephitic air! 

Naaw, just kidding. This is something that Ben Franklin cooked up way back in the old days, with the result that his friend John Adams almost froze his ass one night in New Jersey on his way to sign the Declaration of Independence. Never mind, my Boston mother believed it anyway!

Read about it in Chapter 3 of the book --- If I ever get it finished! (But meanwhile get a free copy of what I hope is one of its more entertaining chapters by clicking on the cover image to the right.)

Something else to worry about?

Just when we learn that doing things to "detoxify" your body is a medical myth, we now have to worry about mephitic air! 

Naaw, just kidding. This is something that Ben Franklin cooked up way back in the old days, with the result that his friend John Adams almost froze his ass one night in New Jersey on his way to sign the Declaration of Independence. Never mind, my Boston mother believed it anyway!

Read about it in Chapter 3 of the book --- If I ever get it finished! (But meanwhile get a free copy of what I hope is one of its more entertaining chapters by clicking on the cover image to the right.)

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.

Take a bath in front of the whole neighborhood

That's what my wife does in her Southern Thai village, doesn't think a thing of it, carrying on several conversations at once. The Thai bathe at least twice a day, and in all the years -- more than 50 -- I've been here, I've never smelled a single case of B.O., even on crowded buses in the heat of the afternoon in Bangkok. Remarkable how at the end of a hot day, everyone's shirt seems as freshly pressed as in the morning.

It was an olefactory shock to move from Thailand in 1963 to England, where many people bathed 
once a week. Standing in line at Sainsbury, you thought you were in the cheese department.

Mango shower

Yesterday the gathering 95F heat broke with a pleasant morning "mango shower", first of the year, which kept skies gray and temps down all day for pleasant neighborhood and canal-side walking in deep Ekamai. These light pre-season rains are common in SE Asia and India, said to help ripen the mangos. Sure enough, the market was loaded with the fruit, though the ones on our deck tree are still green. Our US visitors were delighted with the taste.

Everyone smiles here -- even in the heat!

Today we visit our village neighbors near our Korat farm. A hot  afternoon – temp 35°C (95 F) – and we find them sleeping in hammocks underneath their house. Can they be comfortable? Well they look and act comfortable and according to my CBE Berkeley thermal comfort calculator (you can google this great tool) the average person, dressed very lightly as they are, sedentary or sleeping, with surrounding surfaces at less than 30 deg C (86 F) and with a floor fan turned to medium, should be happy with a temperature of 32 to 34° (91 F). But the saving fact is that the ground temperature, because of its high thermal mass, is only 29 C (84 F) and they are enjoying radiant cooling from underneath their hammocks, which according to the ASHRAE-based tool, put them right smack in the middle of the comfort zone -- with no aircon. We don't need to bring in any race-based factors to explain this("these people are used to it") to reach this conclusion. But we do have to permit a certain afternoon laziness; everything is quiet in the village at this time of day.