It’s freaking hot, and AC just runs nonstop, probably going to have insane electricity costs.
What are some of the ways you’re dealing with it?
Me, I’m going to divide up my room with curtains and such, and so I can cool a smaller area of the room, allowing the AC to not have to work as hard to cool it, and hopefully have a reduction in electricity price. Getting a second AC unit just for the bed space, so that I can reduce the electricity consumption for sleeping.
For outside I found umbrella helps when it’s sunny. It’s the difference between sweating like a pig and not sweating as much. Helps when you must walk more than 500m outside without shade on a sunny day. Light clothing like those UnoQlo Airism shirt helps massively, as they don’t weight you down and lets air through.
I’m wondering if I should build a backpack AC that runs off batteries…
This summer seems to have gotten at least as hot as August and it’s only June.
Running up to Yangmingshan used to help, but the buses that go there do not run often (Red 5 will not pick you up at the terminal station, it will be “charter bus” basically).
My electricity bill that just arrived last week was NT$1523 for two months. That’s with working at home and spending 80–90% of my time at home and using AC often (not always — I prefer to leave it off while sleeping when I can tolerate it). Maybe the next one will be slightly higher, up to about NT$2500 for two months I guess, but it’s still very reasonable.
I have a job that creates income and allows me to pay for stuff like this, so I don’t need to bother with convoluted workarounds like putting a tent over my bed so it can have its own AC, or loitering around on Yangmingshan or in places where somebody else is paying for the AC.
I can’t really be bothered carrying an umbrella around with me for the sun. I think it’s more hassle than it’s worth, and it would make me feel like some kind of ugly, low-quality geisha. I find umbrellas kind of annoying in general though, and it has to be raining heavily or very likely to before I’ll consider taking one.
No, please don’t do this, and please don’t devote any further mental energy to the idea. Those guys with cooling fan hats are irritating enough. If you go everywhere carrying your own personal AC unit, everyone will look at you like you’re a lunatic and it won’t be conducive to making friends.
I’m being charged a flat 5nt per kwh, and last billing period was over almost 600kwh, meaning my bill was already over 3000 every 2 months.
I need to cut it down because I expect the next two months to be even higher. Perhaps you have inverter AC units or something that is far more efficient but those units are also much more expensive compared to whatever rented house tends to come with (and the landlord has very little incentive to buy efficient appliance, the cost is passed onto you anyways).
The smaller AC unit is also helpful for spring and autumn where you don’t quite need as much cooling capacity but you also don’t just want to have no AC either.
Mine looks to be stated as NT$2.3396 per kWh on average, if I’m reading the bill correctly. I apparently used 714 kWh during the previous cycle, and there’s some calculation where the total is based on five different rates between NT$1.68 and NT$3.70 per kWh. It’s probably the first time I’m looking at the bill so closely though, because it’s cheap enough that I’m not too bothered by it.
Yes, I know it can be expensive in apartments with shared meters (same with my first rental place in Taipei).
Yeah, I think so. Got one of them replaced last summer as the previous one broke despite also being quite new, but I haven’t looked into it too much. Just press the button and very cheap cold air comes out.
Shared meter sucks and Taipower makes no provision for this. If shared with enough you can end up paying the highest price for even if you don’t use much at all. They should make it so that I can connect my own utility and Taipower comes and reads the meter up here, instead of having landlords actually profit off it (some landlord charge over 10 per kwh).
But it does come with internet and such so I don’t have to pay for that.
Business rate is actually cheaper by the way, at least if you use less than 1000 kwh per month.
I fill up my bathtub with ‘cool’ water and periodically dunk myself throughout the day (refilling water as necessary). You could do cold showers as well but I find the dunk really gets the job done.
Might as well set up your work space in the bathtub. The problem is even dunking yourself in cool water for too much just makes a huge mess, and given the heat sinking property of the building, it’s really hard to cool. It could still be over 38 inside at night just from all the sun the building soaked up. That and few units in Taiwan have bathtubs. I seen older units with small tubs but when renovated they’re removed.
Blowing hot air at you with a fan only gives a headache.
I had an underground room at one of my previous places, and the basement would always stay cool in the summer. The whole place did not have air conditioning and summers would get up to 40C. I’d spend all day in the basement and sleep there too. I think basement was around mid 20C.
Years and years ago as a student in Taiwan, I had no ac at home and I used to take at least 3 showers every day (some days up to 5). It helps but the relief is so temporary!
My form of adaption has been to use the AC more… really helps with sleep. I used to use fans more. But i cant be bothered to fart around with them anymore. They give me a cold sometimes too.
Those little hand fans are a good strategy outside. If you go into the metro or a restaurant, somewhere with AC the fan can really help cool you down at a faster rate. But its not much use outside.
