» I know the rest of the country has been subjected to heat wave after heat wave, but I'm jealous. And I wonder why anyone with air conditioning complains about the heat anymore. Author and agricultural scientist Stan Cox has lived without air conditioning for several years and he doesn't complain - he says he enjoys the thermal variety. "In response to record-breaking summers, we're relying more on air-conditioning, which produces greenhouse emissions that make the summers hotter. It's a cycle that makes you wonder: How long can it go on?" - Stan Cox
rebecca's pocket
.: August 2010 --> Beating the heat without air conditioning
Beating the heat without air conditioning
[ 08.06.10 ]
It's a compelling vision, and as someone who weathered quite a few summers in New York without AC, I can relate to many of Stan Cox's suggestions.
One problem in implementing an AC-less lifestyle in Texas, where I live now, is that architecture has evolved in tandem with AC. If you live and work in buildings built after 1970 – and most people in Texas does – you probably can't open windows; your house is angled badly into the sun, with lots of glass to produce a greenhouse effect; shade trees are missing (because unplanned for), etc. Even in older houses, the windows have typically been painted shut by generations of AC-users. And we don't have cellars ...