Sorry, are you saying it is a bad thing for congress to attempt to stop people breaking the law?

nope that's Congresses job to make laws, but greed comes into play with Congress also, if they were getting their "cut of the take" they would not bother to make a new law, the only reason they made this law was because they were not getting any more money to spend, like the bridge in Alaska that went to  no where. The waste in Congress is stupid and the truth is the more they have to spend is never enough.

A well built house can largely remove the need for air conditioning. If they discourage air conditioning in new homes while simultaneously encouraging good design, it's a good idea.

But if they just tax air con, you're right - it's not going to do any good. There's more to climate control than throwing power at it and it'd be best if government encouraged people to explore the alternatives than to just make the electric cold switch more expensive.

Here we agree, in my development the new houses are coming with 3KW solar panels so the lighten the load on the public utilities and make more use of the sun which is in abundance here in California.

Hey cacto? I wanted to thank you for the lovely card BTW it means a lot to me.

I dont think they can design a house down on the gulf coast that would eliminate the need.  But in most parts, you are probably correct.  However there is a problem and a reason they dont.  Called Balloon Frames, the design does well to cool the house - and also enables a fire to spread out of control in no time at all.

WTF is a ballon frame? do you mean a modular circular home?

The circulation of cool air reduces the risk of SIDS.  Homes with infants or elderly people need the ability to affordably heat or cool the house depending on the season.  Ridiculous.

Dr Guy - check this out. It's a practical way of addressing energy usage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Energy_Rating

This doesn't actually go into the design principles involved, but rest assured it doesn't involve balloons. Boosting the rating of a house is largely a matter of using proper alignment (ie north facing for Aus homes - might be south facing for yours?), good insulation, appropriate window/door materials and maximising the right kinds of airflow.

Homes built on these principles are quite good in my experience. You rarely need any cooling beyond a couple of fans, even on 40+ days, as the temperature inside tends to hover at a comfortable level without refrigeration. The obese will probably need cooling due to their reduced personal energy efficiency, but most other folk (you can't say ordinary for non-fat people anymore) will probably never need it.

Or if it's a really hot area, build underground like in Coober Pedie. There's really no good reason to build aboveground in a desert environment. We have the know-how to bring the light underground, so it doesn't even have to be dark down there. But it's automatically a more consistent, comfortable temperature depending on how far down you go.

EDIT: No worries, Modman.

That ain't no shit.

I for one did not know that tex, thank you for the new information.

the gulf coast of America has 90% humidity with temps in 100's you NEED air conditioners to live through that.

Sounds like monsoonal weather. You don't necessarily need air conditioning. You just need to live differently. You get up early and do outside things just after dawn, you sleep during the middle of the day, you stay up late. Millions of equatorial people dealt with it it for thousands of years without too much trouble.

The modern reliance on air conditioning is just a result of trying to live in heat the same way they would in more comfortable weather.

On an interesting note, there seems to be a correlation between heat/closeness to the equator and the incidence of MS. The warmer the weather, the lower the rates of MS in the population. So there's possibly an advantage there to not relying too much on air conditioning.