North Carolina is a difficult region to design for because its basic climate conditions are split so evenly between too hot for human comfort 42% of the time and too cold 46% of the time. It’s only Goldilocks for 12% of the year. However as a long time resident of NC I can attest to the fact that too hot is much more of a problem than too cold. Too cold in NC means low 20s which is more of an annoyance to those living in the Northeast while it’s almost guaranteed to be over 100 degree with a relative humidity level of 85% for at least a few days out of the summer. 90+ degrees and humid is a regular occurrence for many of us in the sunshine belt.

So for those of us who live in warm climates let’s talk briefly about how to stay cool before it gets too hot. Never mind those from colder climates who will make fun of us.

1. Acclimatize. Most people living in the US today are accustomed to spending almost all of their time within a narrow range of temperature between 68 and 72 degrees. Dare I say we have become a nation of weather whiners, complaining if the thermostat reads anything outside of our narrowly bound range of comfort. The human body is capable of remaining comfortable throughout a much wider range of temperatures. The key is to transition your body’s comfort level. As it gets hotter outside throughout the spring, let the temperature in your house warm up. We play A/C chicken, trying to see how long we can go without turning on our air conditioning. Usually we can get well into June. By that point we are no longer uncomfortable with temperatures in the upper 70s or low 80s.

2. Take your clothes off. I have a friend from Nebraska who is fond of saying, “If you’re cold put on a sweater, if you’re hot take off your shoes.” It seems almost intuitive that the easiest way to warm up in the winter is to put on more clothes and of course the opposite is true in the heat of the summer. It might be against your office dress code to show up in a bikini, but shedding the layers will definitely keep you cooler; especially exposing those extremities. Remember you radiate more heat from your head, arms and legs so try to keep them uncovered if you’re out of direct sunlight. Which leads to number three.

3. Stay out of direct sunlight. This is true as true for individual bodies as it is for interior spaces throughout homes and offices. If your body is going to be exposed to direct sunlight, it makes sense to wear light-colored, breathable clothing that keeps direct sun off of your skin and won’t absorb lots of heat.

Window treatments used to reduce heat lose in the winter in colder climates have their southern cousin in strategies to reflect direct sunlight from interior spaces in the summer in hotter climates. At my home we use white, 2″ wood blinds to reflect direct sunlight. If we’re home during the day we adjust the angle of the blinds so we can still see outside and have indirect light throughout our house but without receiving all the heat from direct sunlight. If we leave we close the blinds to reflect even more heat. Awnings work well too.

Proper overhang length is a great strategy for allowing winter sun in and keeping summer sun out.

Of course there’s more than one kind of overhang.

Deciduous trees offer a seasonal shade option. In the winter they have no leaves and allow in wanted sunlight and its heat. In the summer their leaves reflect the hot sunshine. Such trees are best placed on the south or southwestern side of a structure.

Just be sure to plant the tree close enough to the home to take advantage of this strategy.

It’s also worth noting that any work that can be done in the shade should be saved for the middle of the day. Work in the full sun in the early morning and early evening.

4. Stay wet. Nothing will cool you off like a evaporation! The phase change from liquid water to vapor requires a lot of energy. Wetting my hair for instances is one strategy I use to stay cool when I am working in the sun. There are mechanical strategies for doing this. Their effectiveness will depend on your climate.

5. Use the temperature swings. In many warmer climates the temperature is still much cooler as night. If your interior spaces are loading up with heat during the day, do your best to exchange this hot air for cooler air during the night. Depending on the humidity level it might make more sense to draw in cooler air from outside as oppose to trying to cool even hotter air trapped inside your home.

6. Seal and Insulate. If you are able to bring in cool air at night or if you’re using a mechanical system to chill your interior air you’ll want to keep that air from being warmed by outside air during the day. This means sealing air leaks so that mechanical systems aren’t pulling hot air from outside through air leaks in your building envelope. You don’t want to seal you structure air tight. That would be like living in a plastic bag and would invite mold and other problems. There are guidelines on how air tight your home should be but unless it was built by exceptional craftsmen it’s likely that you’re nowhere near the level of air tightness you could safely achieve. You can check this using a blower door test. The overhead attic door is usually the biggest air leak by the way. After you’ve sealed air leaks, insulate to further reduce heat gain.

7. Bring on the wind. Moving air will help not only to take advantage of temperature swings during cooler, nighttime temperatures but the movement of air over your body will help with evaporative cooling. We have ceiling fans in most rooms – especially bedrooms – and box fans for use in certain windows on certain nights. Be sure to properly care for your fan by checking it out each season and lubricating it, and your fan investment will last for years.

Here’s an old strategy for moving air without electricity. It’s called a heat chimney or cooling tower.

Those huge wrap around porches and tall plantation houses of the deep south start to make sense from a passive cooling standpoint with this strategy in mind. The modern version might look something like this diagrammatically speaking.

8. Take it easy. Southerns aren’t slow because we’re lazy, we’re just keeping cool! Rest or do light work during the middle of the day. there’s no reason to add heat to the equation by being in a hurry. It also makes sense to move more energy intensive activities outside like cooking or drying clothes.

9. Mooch coolth. If you’re trying to stay cool but you don’t want to turn down the thermostat try taking in a movie. The theater is likely to be very cool. Or visit the library, a museum or some other building that is temperature control and can give you some relief from the heat. The natural version of this is the forest. It’s going to be much cooler in the woods than it is in your front yard. Take advantage.

10. Look after each other. There is no reasons why people should die from heat stroke or exhaustion. Be sure to take care of people especially susceptible to the heat, like children and the elderly. This is the responsibility of all of us who are healthy and better able to regulate the temperature of our own bodies.

I’ll leave you with a document (pdf warning) that describes some of these strategies in more detail. Stay cool!

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Cooling/Shading/NCSolarCenterCooling13coolng-1.pdf ]]> http://henandharvest.com/?feed=rss2&p=636 0 http://henandharvest.com/?p=315 http://henandharvest.com/?p=315#comments Wed, 21 Jan 2009 16:28:17 +0000 Edson http://henandharvest.com/?p=315 No, nothing like the movie. I’m talking about actual buckets. Five gallon food-grade buckets with gamma-seal lids, to be exact. Six of them.

Maybe you’ve heard of the concept of a bug-out bag. It’s essentially the bag you grab to take with you when the hurricane is coming. Or the wildfires. Or the zombies. It’s an emergency kit. But instead of a duffel bag, ours are in buckets. The bucket itself is pretty useful in an emergency, for anything from water storage to a stool or table to a makeshift toilet. Or even a drum, if you get bored enough. I often hear that after the initial rush, emergency situations can get unspeakably boring for those affected.

The bucket is also watertight, or very nearly so, and rigid, so the contents don’t risk getting smushed. And you’ll be amazed at how much can fit in one. The gamma seal lids make it wonderfully easy to get into the buckets without using any tools or four-letter words. The last thing you need in an emergency is to be wrestling with your bug out kit to get at its contents.

Why six buckets? We’ve got one for each family member (two adults, three kids), and one “communal” bucket with more general supplies. Overkill? Maybe. But there are all kinds of scenarios that could require us to leave at different times, or take two vehicles, or otherwise split up. Having one container per person makes it easy to make sure that spare glasses, medications, clothing, diapers, or comfort items stay with the person who might need them.

What kinds of emergencies are we trying to cover? Who knows. It’s the old Boy Scout motto: Be prepared. The idea is to cover a wide range of possibilities. In an actual emergency, you may not have time or you may be too stressed to think of all the things you might need. By planning ahead, you are thinking and acting in a calm and rational state, so that if the worst happens, you only have to grab and go.

Does this sound like paranoia? Two words: Hurricane Katrina. Two more: September Eleventh. But really, bad things happen on a smaller scale all the time: Housefires, floods, chemical spills, tornadoes. Your odds are low, but don’t assume they’re zero. And with as crazy as things seem to be getting in the economy, where “biggest _____ since the Great Depression” is gradually getting replaced with “bigger _____ than the Great Depression”, predictability is kind of going out the window.

Now I should say that not everything you might want in an emergency can fit in a bucket (sleeping bag), and for some things it’s not practical to store them there (birth certificate). So I’ve also made a “Grab List” to be kept with the buckets. The Grab List is just sort of a brainstorming tool that you can scan during an actual emergency, to jog your memory. On it are anything from the practical (cooler, boots, water filter) to the sentimental (wedding photos, baby pictures) to the more frivolous (books, MP3 player, favorite toy). The list should be ordered from most important / most likely to be missed down to the trivial, so that if you only have a few minutes, you can just stop reading before the end of the list. And when making the list, remember that your future self may not be thinking clearly when reading it, so put things like “cell phone with charger” or “wedding album (top of bookshelf).”

The contents of the kids’ buckets are much different than the adults’. They’ll need less stuff to begin with, and less of their stuff is likely to be critical, so you can always throw in some extra goodies to get them through what is bound to be a stressful time. (Don’t neglect the adults in this regard either, but remember the kids are just kids.) If you have kids, imagine the difference it might make to their mental state – and yours – if the scary emergency is suddenly a cross between a slumber party and a holiday.

By the same token, imagine the difference it might make for you in an emergency, to be calmly grabbing a few buckets rather than scampering around frantically trying to get your brain to figure out ten things at once.

In deciding what goes in the adults’ buckets vs. the communal bucket, it often comes down to practicality. If it’s cheap and / or easy to build in redundancy, go for it. Remember, we’re trying to cover, at least to some extent, the possibility of having to split up, because you just never know. In some cases, I had the same item in both the adult buckets and the communal bucket because it was trivial to do so. That way you’re not thinking, “So who gets the bucket with the toilet paper?”

Oh, and one thing not included is First Aid items. I have two pre-assembled First Aid kits stored with the buckets. I also included a very basic printed First Aid Booklet with each. On my Grab List is “Where There Is No Doctor”, which can be purchased or downloaded for free here. or purchased new & used here.

So on to the actual lists. These are examples, and you can always adjust to suit your needs or the types of emergencies you feel susceptible to.

Kid’s Bucket (Example):

Medications
Spare glasses
Children’s Tylenol
Children’s multivitamin
Bowl, Plate, Cup
Silverware
Activity books
Crayons
Pen & Paper
Poncho
Towel / cloth
T-shirt
Sweatshirt / sweater
Jeans
Underwear (x2) (or diapers / pullups)
Socks (x2)
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Scarf
Hat
Mittens
Sports drink (for hydration)
Baby formula & bottles
Snacks (non-perishable)
Toys / Games

Adult’s Bucket (Example):

Atlas & state map
Addresses, phone numbers, & directions to places you might need or want to go
Compass
Bowl & Plate
Silverware
Thermal coffee mug
Multi-spice shaker
Bug spray
Pepper spray / mace
Can opener
Cards
Dice
Cash, including coins
All-purpose folding knife
Knife sharpener
Duct tape
Electrical tape
All-purpose glue
Super glue
Emergency blanket (mylar)
General purpose soap (like “camp soap”)
Hand sanitizer
Cough drops
Dental floss
Deodorant
Toilet paper
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Lip balm
Headlamp (or substitute flashlight, but I like the headlamps)
Medications
Vitamins
Nail clippers
Spare glasses
Pens & Paper
Scissors
Screwdriver
Towel / cloth
T-shirt
Sweatshirt / sweater
Jeans
Underwear (x2)
Socks (x2)
Poncho
Hat, Scarf, Gloves
Work Gloves
Water purification drops
Waterproof match case w/matches
Lighter
Magnesium fire starter
Candle
Whistle
“Girl stuff” (*)
Condoms (**)
A distracting paperback
Snacks (non-perishable)
Sports drink (for hydration)
Cash, including coins

(*) Menstrual pads can be used as emergency bandages.

(**) Besides their intended use, condoms have other uses in an emergency. If they are not lubricated or otherwise treated, they can hold water. You can also use them to waterproof something (like a bandage). Or there’s always balloon animals.

Yes, it all fits. Tip: Put the clothes in first. You probably won’t need them right away, and that way you can smash ‘em down as much as you want without fear of crushing anything else. And pick compact snacks, or keep them in a separate bag for easier rotation.

You’ll notice the clothing choices are kind of specific. Jeans are more durable than, say, sweats, and a sweater can go over a t-shirt when it’s chilly, and be removed when it’s warm. You’ll also notice the snacks are not at all specific. Don’t worry about nutrition. Worry about calories and comfort. Remember this is for short-term emergencies, not long-term.

Communal Bucket (Example):

AA batteries
AAA batteries
Emergency blanket (mylar)
Emergency radio (crank or similar)
Filtered water bottle
50-foot cord
Folding shovel
General purpose lotion (Curel)
Hand sanitizer
Cough drops
Anti-Diarrhea medicine
Decongestant
Anti-inflamatory / pain reliever(s) of choice
Laxative
Mouthwash
Camp shower
Lighters
Matches
Candles
Mirror
Pens & Paper
Folding mini-scissors
Duct tape
Sewing kit
Scissors
Hammer
Pliers (needlenose)
Pliers (slipjoint)
Screwdriver (with multiple tips, or else multiple screwdrivers)
Wrench (adjustable)
Zip ties
Cable saw
Trash bags (small)
Trash bags (large)
Clock (manual-wind)
Cash, including coins

I primarily used two books in putting this all together (The Crisis Preparedness Handbook, and When Technology Fails), though I did glance at a few other lists and add in my own ideas. Remember, this is not a definitive list: Feel free to add, omit, adjust, and rearrange as you see fit. If you have any suggestions for things that are missing, feel free to say so in the comments.

Compiling all this stuff can be spread out over time, and as budget allows. That’s the advantage of advance planning. Now that ours are just about done, I have to say that I worry a little less about Bad Things. And that by itself is probably worth the money spent.