Boomhauer

How many of you would simply pull up sticks and leave the UAE if Air Con was a rarity? Just assume that everything else stays the same as now. Could you rough it out like members of the armed forces, Asian labourers or like Western advisers and specialists who work in 3rd world locales where utilties and luxuries are not guaranteed?

So on a list of things taken for granted, would say Air Con ranks #1?

Anyone know how much money and electricity Dubai and Abu Dhabi annualy expend on Air Con?

Work Widow

Wouldn't even consider living in the ME without it. (Unless they paid more money, so I could afford the little guys to fan me!) It would be barbaric, I would be barbaric without it.....it keeps me sane!

OleJanx

You would see the return of Punkah-wallahs.

gottheTshirt

I lived a year in sudan, with family, without AC and if you work in Pakistan you will get power sharing with power on for one hour and off for one hour throughout the hot season. I am not sure which is worse. You get used to it. But the GCC without AC just would not work. Drink ranks No 1. Electricity is No2 and AC is No 3

Oyibopeppeh

Back in the West Africa days, AC was a luxury rather than a necessity...and of course it would only work when there was powah anyway. When NEPA took light, we'd just go and hang round somewhere or someone's place who had a good genny and didn't mind using it.

Over here...nooooo

seven seas

Air Conditioning? I've still got the windows rolled down in the Wrangler. Couldn't do more than 20 minutes though...

And I need 5 showers a day.

Norm_uk

It wouldn't be a huge issue if the accommodation was constructed to handle higher temperatures (no large glass structures, proper natural air flow, perhaps a ceiling fan) but I'd probably have to take my tie off and wear sandals...

N.

britexpat76

Even if I didn't have a teaboy I would up sticks!!

Boomhauer

I just can't see architexture and choice materials replacing AC as a meaningfull alternative because the wind in AD isn't consistently strong enough to adequately ventilate each and every apartment , and consider that any multi story building deflects and or blocks the path of wind from other buildings that are downwind. Now if we are talking villas, then it could be manageable but this still depends on the inhabitants aclimitising.


Traditional Arab houses utilized a tower with perforated or open top to maximise cooling and ventilation but how can that design be scaled up to accomadate the urban teeming masses.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windcatcher

kittycat1

i'd be on the next air conned plane out of here.

Why do they not have the air con things here like in Egypt- the ones that spray cold bursts of water into the air- I liked them- very refreshing !

Millhouse

I'd just open the fridge door.

shiva

They do but after about a week they are basically just aerosolised bacteria with a bit of water.

Millhouse

Indeed. I'm still waiting for the day at Madinat Jumeriah when legionnaires breaks out.

Ethos83

The inherent flaw in your question is that you can't isolate a/c from the rest of modern day UAE. Dubai and Abu Dhabi share with all other modern desert cities in that a/c is the factor that allowed these places to transform from dusty outback villages into major cities.

With no a/c in the UAE far fewer people would elect to live there other than the locals and a tiny expat community supporting the oil industry. The demand for services and tourism would be almost nonexistent which means the Dubai economy would be far smaller and less diversified. You'd have low key localised trade as existed in the past but not much more than that. The forms of the cities would also be different - no skyscrapers or mega malls or lavish villas. Most people would live in courtyard houses.

Because of the oil there would still be an expat presence. The families would all go home for four months in the summer while the men would soldier on albeit at a very slow pace, aided by ceiling fans and long naps in the middle of the day. In short, an isolated, provincial hardship posting.

Boomhauer

Well I know that AC plays a crucial role, that was my whole point , but even without AC people can "soldier on" as you put it . So I was wondering just how many BE members could soldier on and just how much AC is taken for granted.

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So if the UAE had a patron saint, it would have to be Willis Havilland Carrier. Atleast the locals should erect a statue to honor the chap and make him a prophet.