My modest Bangkok electric bill

At about ten cents US per kilowatt hour the electric bill for our condo was less than forty dollars US last month, a cool one. Our hot June bill (750 kw-hrs) was nearly double; even then our nightly use of aircon for a single shaded bedroom amounted to only about $1 extra a day -- not too bad. On the other hand, this would amount to perhaps ten percent of the income of most Thai workers -- making aircon a threshold luxury for them. 

This is also consistent with the observation that aircon amounts to roughly half the electric power use in Bangkok.

My modest Bangkok electric bill

At about ten cents US per kilowatt hour the electric bill for our condo was less than forty dollars US last month, a cool one. Our hot June bill (750 kw-hrs) was nearly double; even then our nightly use of aircon for a single shaded bedroom amounted to only about $1 extra a day -- not too bad. On the other hand, this would amount to perhaps ten percent of the income of most Thai workers -- making aircon a threshold luxury for them. 

This is also consistent with the observation that aircon amounts to roughly half the electric power use in Bangkok.

Air conditioned tents

At Mecca. Sufficient for 3 million people. Used 5 days a year.

Air conditioned tents

At Mecca. Sufficient for 3 million people. Used 5 days a year.

If the sun doesn't rise in the East, where in hell does it rise? And how do ants know this?

During the hot season in Thailand, it rises in the northeast, at an azimuth of 23 degrees above due east, same as the tilt of the earth's axis toward the sun, as you can see on my pub sketch.

And it sets in the northwest, 23 degrees above the west. So really all you need to know is the tilt of the axis toward the sun, and that will tell you the direction of sunrise and sunset.

Here is an equation for the angle:

azimuth (above east or west)=-23.4*cos(360*(m+.3)/12)

where m is the month 0 to 12 (eg 1.5=feb 15)

Now the amazing thing is that with an MIT degree I didn't know this when I came to Thailand, I thought that the sun rose due east! 

Even an ant, with no MIT degree, knows better! (More on this later). My mother, with 2 years of Boston Teachers College, who taught me astronomy with an apple and an orange, knew better!

If the sun doesn't rise in the East, where in hell does it rise? And how do ants know this?

During the hot season in Thailand, it rises in the northeast, at an azimuth of 23 degrees above due east, same as the tilt of the earth's axis toward the sun, as you can see on my pub sketch.

And it sets in the northwest, 23 degrees above the west. So really all you need to know is the tilt of the axis toward the sun, and that will tell you the direction of sunrise and sunset.

Here is an equation for the angle:

azimuth (above east or west)=-23.4*cos(360*(m+.3)/12)

where m is the month 0 to 12 (eg 1.5=feb 15)

Now the amazing thing is that with an MIT degree I didn't know this when I came to Thailand, I thought that the sun rose due east! 

Even an ant, with no MIT degree, knows better! (More on this later). My mother, with 2 years of Boston Teachers College, who taught me astronomy with an apple and an orange, knew better!

Is there really a blazing sun in the tropics?

Solar irradiation graphic by William Connolley based on HadCM3 data.

The heat was growing worse and worse. April was nearly over, but there was no hope of rain for another three weeks, five weeks it might be. Even the lovely transient dawns were spoiled by the thought of the long, blinding hours to come, when one's head would ache, and the glare would penetrate through every covering and glue up one's eyelids with restless sleep. No one, Oriental or European, could keep awake in the heat of day without a struggle.  --George Orwell, Burmese Days TNR 16

Actually, the sun in SE Asia is not especially blazing, rather 50 to 75 percent blazing. George Orwell is not really talking about the heat of the sun in his novel/memoir Burmese Days, it's mainly really.... other stuff that make it so uncomfortable. We'll be looking at all that.

But for now, take a look at this map which shows how much energy actually reaches the earth on the average over a year. Thailand -- and much of SE Asia including Orwell's Burma, is about 200 watts per square meter over the year, the same as the US south and most of the central and South America.

And why aren't we seeing a smooth red belt of blazing heat right across the map in the tropical region between The Tropic of Cancer and The Tropic of Capricon? Because over much of the area, high water vapor including clouds are blocking 25 to 50 percent of the solar radiation. This potent factor may be enough to offset global warming in these regions.