| Santa Fe homes have some of the nation's most | | | | more air changes per hour within a home, |
| advanced cooling systems, thanks to the | | | | which dramatically reduces air age. |
| region's hot, dry summers. Central air | | | | |
| conditioning is common here, but homeowners | | | | Common evaporative cooling methods include |
| and builders who want to reduce electricity | | | | direct evaporative cooling, indirect |
| costs and environmental impact have turned to | | | | evaporative cooling, and two stage |
| other cooling methods to get the most bang | | | | evaporative cooling. Direct evaporative |
| for their buck. One of the most popular and | | | | cooling is the same as described above, with |
| efficient home cooling systems in the Santa | | | | an air intake sucking moistened air inside, |
| Fe region is evaporative cooling, a | | | | pushing it through the building, and later |
| combination of ancient techniques and the | | | | venting it outside the building. Indirect |
| latest in air flow engineering. Homes in | | | | systems work by the same process, except |
| Santa Fe use a variety of different types of | | | | without air passing freely through the |
| evaporative cooling methods to keep their | | | | building. They contain the cooled air as it |
| home comfortable all summer, and reduce air | | | | passed through the building in some type of |
| dryness in the winter heating seasons. | | | | heat exchanger, thus making the building |
| | | | cooler without increasing the humidity. |
| Evaporative coolers employ the simple | | | | Two-stage evaporative cooling pre-cools the |
| principle of air humidity to reduce overall | | | | air in a heat exchanger before sending it |
| home temperature. They are typically | | | | through the wet cooling pads. This results in |
| comprised of a metal or plastic box on the | | | | less humidity throughout the building, |
| outside of the house, with vented sides for | | | | because cooler air doesn't hold as much |
| air intake, a centrifugal fan or "blower," an | | | | moisture as untreated warm air. |
| electric motor with pulleys, and a water pump | | | | |
| to wet the evaporative cooling pads. In | | | | Another advantage of evaporative coolers is |
| cooling homes, they simply draw air through | | | | their cheaper installation cost - they |
| the vents, which pass through the damp pads | | | | usually cost one quarter to an eighth as much |
| and out into the rest of the home. Because | | | | as much as air conditioners to install, and |
| they draw air from outside the building, | | | | require much less energy to operate. Many |
| evaporative coolers must be accompanied by | | | | Santa Fe real estate buyers and sellers have |
| vents to allow air to move from inside to | | | | saved a lot of money by learning the basics |
| outside. The venting system allows for 15 or | | | | of evaporative cooling. |