There's a theory that the economic rise of the "sunbelt" -- places like Texas and Florida -- in the last few decades is partly due to air conditioning. Fifty or sixty years ago, before air conditioning was widespread, places like Houston and Miami were almost unlivable for much of the year. The effect was that they couldn't sustain the infrastructure for a modern economy and were pretty much backwaters, at least relative to New York and Chicago.
Bostonian_Queer_in_Dallas
· 11 months ago
Totally true. Come to Dallas in August. When it can stay over 105 for weeks on end and drop only to 95 at night. Houston is worse because its humidity is also in the nineties most of the time. These cities would never have grown without AC. We use very little heat in winter although in North Texas it can be on for several days in January and February. AC here is hardly a luxury. Being a backwater, well that has not changed much, at least culturally.
cassie
· 11 months ago
At least the rail system is improving (even though neither of us is riding it these days) and Dallas county did vote for Obama in the General election.So there is hope that the Democratic South will rise again.
Bostonian_Queer_in_Dallas
· 11 months ago
Yes things here could be a lot worse.
Brad
· 11 months ago
High-speed internet connected computers obviously deliver incredible values. The technology continues to develop and improve, even as the cost of ownership plummets towards free.
It competes against habitual consumption of print media, audio and video tapes and discs, TV and radio, mail, meeting halls, school buildings, libraries, cars and planes, while integrating and emulating traditional art media production tools for creative self expression.
I went with a counter top convection oven this holiday, after having thrown out my microwave oven a decade ago. The internet informed me of both the danger of microwave radiation, and of the more modern solution.
C.S.Strowbridge
· 11 months ago
Two years ago I nearly got heat stroke while working in my home office without air conditioning. I definitely had heat exhaustion, and was suffering enough that that I didn't realize it was happening till I stood up and nearly passed out. So I would consider A/C a necessity, just in case another heat wave like that hits.
I work on the internet, so my computer and internet connection is a necessity. As are my TV and Blu-ray player (I review DVDs / Blu-ray for a living). But that's a special case.
On the other hand, I telecommute to work, so I don't even own a car.
Repack Rider
· 11 months ago
I lived without a motor vehicle for 25 years, but my six bicycles are a necessity.
Fireblazes(CheetohsandCatfood)
· 11 months ago
Really wouldn't a cave do as well as a big energy hog house? How about a nice covered wagon? Perhaps we could give up everything and move to the paradise that is apparently France and Paris. Live on the sunny warm streets and drink French wine. Chris just because you live a spartan life does not mean the rest of us should.
Dandaman
· 11 months ago
Amen Fireblazes. Pardon me for not enjoying 100+ degree days here in the city of Philadelphia.
Would I live without AC? Maybe, though I might rethink the 3rd floor. But I wouldn't find life nearly as pleasant.
sa2968
· 11 months ago
Yes, A/C is a necessity. I live on a tropical Caribbean island where, during the summer months, you literally sweat standing still. Now, try wearing a suit and tie and you will see how necessary A/C is. Just because something makes life more comfortable doesn't mean it's a luxury.
timncguy
· 11 months ago
the weird part is why society (or peer pressure, or business standards) would require anyone to wear a suit & tie in weather like that. It just doesn't make any sense.
sa2968
· 11 months ago
Because it is appropriate, professional, and expected that attorneys will wear a suit and tie to court.
eebanks
· 11 months ago
I agree with timncguy. I lived on a Caribbean island for 12 years and realize that we ex-pats bring our conventions with us and expect everyone to abide by them. You may call it appropriate and professional but that is just how you have been educated.
sa2968
· 11 months ago
I don't have a choice. It is REQUIRED by my EMPLOYER that I wear a suit and tie to work, so I am not expecting anyone to abide by MY conventions.
eebanks
· 11 months ago
Sorry if I made it sound personal. It wasn't. The fact that these "requirements" have found their way into island cultures, seems to me, a result of foreign influence. The old islanders had no need of air conditioning because of the slower way of life and a knowledge of how to use their surroundings to best advantage, whereas people from more "advanced" societies had the technical knowledge to change the atmosphere to accommodate their comforts. It's just history and the changes that take place with the movement of people.
maier_m
· 11 months ago
Sorry to pile on, but Chris, I'm a bit suprised that you'd take the attitude that a/c is a luxury. While I'm sure that it is most of the time where you live, try googling: france heatwave death The first thing I came up with was a USAToday article on France's 2003 heat wave death toll of 14802.
Older_Wiser
· 11 months ago
Most modern houses are not built for air flow, no porches, etc. and no trees on too many lots. No one opens windows anymore (we do), although we survived our A/C conking out last August by using fans (although it was dicey a few times). Of course, back in the olden days, we porch sat (covered porches that were part of the house, not these open decks they use now). Heat was far more important, even if it was a cast iron stove in the kitchen or an oil circulator in the living room. Bedrooms were generally colder, but your door was left open at night if you wanted to catch maybe a little heat.
I grew up without A/C in the south, but it was a slower time, people knew better than to run in 100 degree weather (as I have seen fitness nuts do), life was generally slower, because in 100 degree heat in the south, you just don't survive putting out so much energy in that kind of heat (only mad dogs and Englishmen...). We hung the laundry out on clotheslines, of course. But I had my first dryer in 1966, bought 2nd hand at the gas company where I worked; as a working mom, it was impossible to keep up with the laundry of 2 kids without one--I had no choice but to work since I was divorced and had to support my kids on my own. The A/C was a unit in the living room window of our duplex, though, not central. Of course, my kids grew up without microwaves (I cooked from scratch, a practice I maintain today), we had ONE TV with 3 channels, there were no computers, no cell phones, no electronic devices and we listened to music on the radio (couldn't afford a stereo). Didn't own a car until I was 27, rode the bus to work and my aunt would come over and take me to the grocery store once a week in her car.
Yes, my kids and I would be described as "deprived" these days, but I remember happy days, just like others do.
My son says today's kids who have electronically supported bedrooms they seldom venture out of are the deprived kids...he can't imagine any of THEM having a paper route at age 12, either, or turning their hands at doing much of anything to support their acquired expensive tastes. Spoiled rotten.
shell
· 11 months ago
"Of course, my kids grew up without microwaves (I cooked from scratch, a practice I maintain today), we had ONE TV with 3 channels, there were no computers, no cell phones, no electronic devices and we listened to music on the radio (couldn't afford a stereo)."
Ah, I remember those days! My children have a hard time believing me when I say I actually lived before the days of PCs, a kazillion TV channels, cell phones (and even before phones you could go to a phone store and get -- the phone company had to come out and install them.) And even before "modern" radio. I remember when transistor radios came out. A miracle! haha
cassie
· 11 months ago
I could make it without the microwave and even the clothes dryer if I had to. But this is Texas and AC is a must in the summer. And yes, I have lived w/o AC through the second hottest summer on record! It was truly awful. That particular summer I didn't have working AC in my car either. If given a choice I would have asked for the AC in the house. While the air might have been hot in the car at least it wasn't as bad when the car was in motion, LOL!!!
shell
· 11 months ago
This article is (mostly) just silly. Each person has his/her "needs" and "luxuries." For example, Chris thinks he is SO frugal. But let's talk food. I don't give a rat's ass about different foods and think HE is wasting a lot of money. I don't eat meat -- just Chris's meat bill would cover my non-meat grocery bills for a couple of years. Does this mean I am more frugal than Chris? No -- I just realize different people have different preferences/needs/etc.
Another example: Chris is so proud he doesn't own a clothes dryer. Wow! So frugal, Chris! But Chris just has himself and another adult in his family. I had 3 children (with diapers) and worked full time. Do you think I had enough clothes/diapers for them to wear without using the washing machine and dryer every other day? No way. Of course, if I were as rich as Chris (or as non-frugal as Chris), I could have afforded 4 times the amount of clothes/diapers and could have afforded the luxury of NOT having a clothes dryer. See, Chris? Everything is not as it seems.
As far as the air conditioner goes -- again, it depends on where you live. You live in Wisconsin? Is that the same as living in Texas? In one place is air conditioning a luxury and in the other a necessity? Look at the San Francisco Bay Area. It is easy to not have an air conditioner in the city of San Francisco. But a few miles away, in San Jose? You would die without one. Over 100 degrees is not unusual. Try the reverse -- with a heater. Is having one a luxury? No! Everyone would say. But it's a hell of a lot easier to live without one in San Diego than in Madison, Wisconsin.
It's all relative.
cosanostradamus
· 11 months ago
. A/C is not a necessity in the home, here in Hawaii. Most older homes are pretty much open to the tropical breezes, with jalousied windows covering much of the sides of the buildings. They usually have enough green cover to shade them from the sun.
Newer homes tend to have more insulation and fewer windows, not jalousies, and little or no mature green cover. They don't take advantage of the trade winds, and tend to have been built in former agricultural areas, often where fewer Hawaiians lived. They are still cheek-by-jowel, like most neighborhoods here, but sitting on flat land in the open sun, they don't get the full advantage of the trade winds, our natural air conditioning, or the tropical greenery. Even though the temperatures here remain mostly in the 60's and 70's nights, and 70-80's days, we are getting more and more days in the 90's, and less and less trade winds. Global warming? El Nino? La Nina? Dunno. It do get hot, tho, brah.
The A/C freaks here are spending $400-$800/mo. on electricity. We have the highest utility rates in the U.S., and solar doesn't help energy-hogs much. But most people in older homes in shady neighborhoods manage to get along without air conditioning. I've only ever used a fan, myself, though I was quite the frosty one in NY & NJ summers.
Better urban/ suburban/ exurban planning would help. There are some places where it just doesn't make sense to live: Too hot, too dry, too wet, too cold. The rising cost of energy will produce ghost cities in these areas. Many urban high-rises are already obsolete before they're even completed. The home of the very near future will simply have to provide some or all of its' own energy. Windows that open would be good, too, in the warmer areas; and cross-ventilation, and greenery.
Advances in solar technology would be helpful, if government and private funding were accelerated: Solar paint; thin, cheap easy-to-install, mass-produceable photovoltaic cells on rolled sheets; higher-yielding, more efficient solar hot water panels could all cut non-renewables to a fraction of their current usage, if govt & Wall St back their development full on.
One of our local mechanics just invented a new greener replacement for freon. He fought the Feds for years to get it approved, and just won. He's going on to bigger and better things from his garage workshop. You never know, he might be the next Thomas Edison. Where there's a focus on doing things right, there's hope. .
Older_Wiser
· 11 months ago
Oh, coincidentally (maybe not?) AMC showed "Soylent Green" last night...the year was 2018 or so, I believe? Only the corporate rich had real food, of course...and people slept where they could find a few inches of space. Only the corporatists and bureaucrats had jobs. And a 21 yr old woman had lived at the corporate apt for a long time, passed along with the furniture.
Charleton Heston as Thorn the cop getting proof of what Soylent Green was made of, before he totally became a rightwing hack. "Soylent Green is made from people!"
bob_h
· 11 months ago
I never have needed an air-conditioner in stiflingly hot Hartford, CT Summers because my house is surrounded by massive shade trees.
Indigo
· 11 months ago
That's outrageous! Some people even imagine that indoor flush toilets are a necessity! Such self-indulgence!
Older_Wiser
· 11 months ago
I thought this was quite telling, too:
Overall, some 45% of adults with family incomes of $100,000 and above rate at least 10 of these 14 items as necessities, while just 15% of adults with incomes below $30,000 do the same. In short, the more money you have, the more things you need.
Well, I did without most of them in my earlier life (some of them even now), one year having to wash clothes and linens in the bathtub, while pregnant, with no car or laundromat close by. While it might be inconvenient for someone my age now to do without, it wouldn't be the blow that younger people might suffer. Been there, done that, you know. But people would adjust if those things were unavailable--they might not like it, but they would adjust; people are resilient.
Joel
· 11 months ago
In another one of your posts not too long ago, someone asked if it was easy to be condesending in Paris. It's beginning to look like it is.
Chimpeach
· 11 months ago
Cheese. Luxury or necessity? You decide.
Polly_Tics
· 11 months ago
Depends on the cheese and your mood.
There have been times when a good ole Grilled (American) Cheese samie is about the best thing I could ever imagine...
timncguy
· 11 months ago
i think you just made Chris throw up a little bit in his mouth.....
HarpoSnarx
· 11 months ago
My fave cheese has that kool cellophane wrap around each slice - chugged with some Reunite it's, how do you say, bon!
PS, leave my frackin' AC ALONE!
Polly_Tics
· 11 months ago
When you ask what we all consider a luxury versus a necessity, it truly depends on the person, their needs, health, location and what they are used to in their everyday life. What I might consider a necessity would be vastly different for another, so this question is a bit odd as there does seem to be a judgmental tone in Chris's post...but I'll play.
NECESSITY'S: Money, Home, Food & Water, Phone, Decent Clothing, our little ole Car, Family & Friends, my Cats, Electricity, Washing Machine & Dryer, my Computer and High Speed Connection, Heat, Air Conditioning, my Cats, Wine, Coffee and my Dish Washer.
LUXURIES: More Money, a Neater Home, Cell Phone, Better Clothing and More SHOES (size 8.5 - 9 if anyone's asking), Better Food & Beverages, New Car, Family & Friends, Another Cat & Dog, Newer Air Conditioner, a New Computer with Better Doo Wahs, Cable TV, Brandy, Better Wine & Coffee and a New Dish Washer.
Gary SF
· 11 months ago
AC - it depends upon where you live, how old you are, etc. We constantly read about all the deaths in Europe, especially France, when there is a heat wave. Maybe if they had AC, they wouldn't drop like flies. Clothes dryer - while there is no better 'smell' than that of a line-dried tee-shirt, there is nothing worse than a line-dried towel as it somehow turns to sandpaper. My must have: Happiness. Everything else I can do without.
kenga
· 11 months ago
We constantly read about all the deaths in Europe, especially France, when there is a heat wave. Maybe if they had AC, they wouldn't drop like flies.
AC doesn't do you any good if there's limited or unreliable electricity, as is the case during brownouts and rolling blackouts - which is what they had during that heat wave.
I have to say I'd forgotten about the urban heat effect - I was in rural/coastal Mexico. I don't know how I would have done in a major city. Poorly, is my guess. I'm more comfortable at 100 deg below body temp than 20 above it.
Peter Regan
· 11 months ago
I dumped my car last year. It is inconvenient at times, but no more gas pump woes, car insurance payments, or repair bills. just bike tune up and bus card expenses.
Kes
· 11 months ago
And the increase in those who consider it a "necessity" probably correlates with the movement of population into the Southern states. I lived in Mississippi for four years. Yes, air conditioning in your car is a necessity there, particularly if you have children; it is simply too dangerous to drive anywhere during July and August without it.
lilybart
· 11 months ago
I just hope the new economic reality makes people TURN THE AIRCO DOWN!!
I freeze in the summer. I bring two sweaters to movies. In stores, I don't want to undress to try on clothes, it's so damn cold!!
Americans have to FREEZE in the summer or they don't feel rich.
Polly_Tics
· 11 months ago
lilybart, I am not one for vulgarities, but your post does make me want to go astray. That said, not everyone has your same body thermostat, so perhaps you could open up your thought process to include others in that vast expanse of a mind of yours, eh?
lilybart
· 11 months ago
Very heavy people are often overheated and sweaty. hhmmmmmm
Polly_Tics
· 11 months ago
Your ridiculous comment of "Americans have to FREEZE in the summer or they don't feel rich." is absurd if not totally intolerant of anyone of a different age, race, location or health condition from you.
To claim that only YOUR chill factor is most important is simply silly, if not worse.
lilybart
· 11 months ago
Also, studies show that air conditioning contributes to our historic fatness. In the "olden" days, the heat meant you ate much less and lighter food. Now, freezing inside with blasting airco, we want fatty comfort food all the time.
Polly_Tics
· 11 months ago
Once again, your absolute response as to what air conditioning means to "all" is vastly misguided. Let us all hope and pray that you will never become the Secretary of Energy or Health and Human Services..
lilybart
· 11 months ago
What is your problem? When it is hot, appetites are not as strong. We used to eat less. Maybe you haven't noticed that people are MUCH heavier than they used to be. Many factors contribute, but eating heavy meals in summer because it is cold INSIDE is one factor. Nature used to regulate our eating habits, but we have thwarted mother nature, to our detriment.
Polly_Tics
· 11 months ago
"My" problem? The issue is what is "the" problem.
To make such ultimate decrees as to why or who needs "air conditioning" is just plain foolishness (and that is being quite polite).
Please understand that the vast populations of this world are not in the same body nor same mind bend as you, thus you should understand that such decrees are hardly anything but false allusions.
lilybart
· 11 months ago
I didn't DECREE anything! I just pointed out that AC has been a factor in society over-eating.
I didn't say, SO throw away the AC!!! And earlier I suggested that the AC could be turned down in most places because it is excessive.
You are assuming things that are not in the words.
Polly_Tics
· 11 months ago
No, YOUR words are the ones at issue right now. It seems that you only value your own comfort and to heck with anyone else, no matter who they may be.
It's just plain silly, so please stop these defensive retorts and just listen or understand that you are trying to make decrees as to what is acceptable in this world of OURS.
lilybart
· 11 months ago
sigh, the post you are responding too was only about AC contributing to overeating, it had nothing to do with my comfort, just a fact about nature and appetite.
And if I think we over-cool places, so what? YOU will still be as cold as you want I'm sure.
Polly_Tics
· 11 months ago
Two points:
1. YOUR post was about how you see that EVERYONE who overeats wants to be cold and this seems to disturb you. Ahemm, perhaps it has to do with MORE than just what you seem to want to attribute such things.
2. QUIT FOLLOWING ME! It is CREEPY and I ask you, is that how you want to be remembered???
timncguy
· 11 months ago
Chris, Oh my....
Let me go out on a limb here and guess that the "unnamed" food fron your holiday dinner post last week was PATE.
Just how many geese do you get to TORTURE while still claimimg to live a more fiscally responsible and eco-friendly life than other people?
Gary SF
· 11 months ago
Not all pâté is based upon forced feeding - it is the pâté de foie gras.
FYI, the production and sale of foie gras will be illegal in California in 2012. Foie gras is no only used in pâté - it is served many different ways.
timncguy
· 11 months ago
I know. I just doubt that you would ever catch the French eating pate that wasn't foie gras anymore than they would lower themselves to eating Hershey's chocolate.
What's that? The people of California think they need 3 more years to wean themselves off the torture of geese?
Polly_Tics
· 11 months ago
You know, I'm not so sure about any of that. What you are saying smacks of attitude about the French and not about what they may actually be doing. Yes, I know that Chris's post today was obnoxious, but that attitude is not indicative of all of the people in that land.
Yes, I do live in California and it seems that there may well be some laws coming about regulating that food and for me, it is a shame.
But none of this means I want nor need my American cheese any less...
Gary SF
· 11 months ago
Uh, where you live they have already banned foie gras? Oh, I didn't think so. So the good people where you live, including you, think that they should be able to torture geese forever? See how idiotic your statement is? Why be so snarky?
At least we did something about it here.
Polly_Tics
· 11 months ago
I hate to admit to it these days, but I truly adore foie gras.
OK, beat me now :::ducking:::
lilybart
· 11 months ago
I dream of buying an Airstream trailer and being a nomad, traveling from National Park to National Park. Few things, just wifi and nature. (this is no joke, yesterday I spent an hour on the Airstream site. Hubby insists we stay in NYC and hang on like rats on a sinking ship.)
Thom
· 11 months ago
I've lived both with and without air conditioning, and I firmly believe it is a necessity for basic quality of life in environments like mine in coastal South Carolina. Not in that one cannot survive without it, but in that I would leave this place if it didn't exist. Even somewhere like Columbia or Atlanta would be better than here.
It's the humidity, stupid.
Polly_Tics
· 11 months ago
For some of us, it's also the heat, friend.
Galore
· 11 months ago
LOL! I love the auto-placed A/C ad:
"Cool Down & Relax"
And no, in Dallas, A/C isn't a luxury, it is a necessity in the summer. Just like a heater in Chicago in the winter. Also, since electricity deregulation (=exorbitant price increases) in TX, the days of arctic chill in businesses during the summer are gone (at least in my experience). It's the money!!!
DP
· 11 months ago
In Texas in August, yes, air conditioning is a necessity.
DP
kenga
· 11 months ago
I dunno. As a New Englander, I survived just fine in June, July, and August without AC, in Mexico. Yeah, it was hot, and it took some getting used to. And doing much of anything between 12 and 3pm was generally unpleasant(or life-threatening if you weren't staying hydrated). But it's do-able. Much like keeping the house at 50 in Dec, Jan, Feb in New England. It's not convenient, but layering works just fine indoors, too.
I should add - it requires adapting, which takes time and isn't comfortable. When I got back to MA from Mexico in late August, I needed a sweatshirt after sundown, as 70 felt downright chilly. 9 months before that I was shoveling snow in shorts and a t-shirt.
TSM
· 11 months ago
A/C in many parts of the nation is a necessity for seniors and families with children.
There's no way you can survive a summer in Yuma, AZ without A/C when the summer temperatures are 120 degrees during the day and 100 degrees at night.
Polly_Tics
· 11 months ago
Well good for you, but not everyone has the same body thermostat nor heat tolerance, so perhaps it is not a good thing to make such denunciations for all.
lilybart
· 11 months ago
kenga DIDN'T MAKE DENUNCIATIONS FOR ALL. You must be projecting your own fear of overheating onto his comments!!
He only relayed how HE coped with less power usage, for AC and Heat. He didn't chide others for not layering with the house at 50degrees.
Polly_Tics
· 11 months ago
I don't normally like to talk "about" someone who is not part of the conversation, but since you insist. I was addressing his/her points that suggest we should all "adapt" (his word, not mine) to not using AC or to using less.
Now, if you have an issue with what I say to YOU, than let's have at it, but please don't take issue with what I am saying to another unless they, themselves want to respond.
Your issue is obviously with ME, so let's make it thus and forget about others please.
By the way, I now have 3 words for you: QUIT FOLLOWING ME!
The last thing I need is some stalker follwing me around...
ZennButtKicker (tlhwraith)
· 11 months ago
In the end, what is a necessity will and should vary from person to person, and it's REALLY condescending to pass judgement on others on a topic like this.
Take A/C for instance. I don't use one in my house in NJ hardly ever, a byproduct of years of FL weather making NJ seem like the arctic. However, my next door neighbor who has respiratory problems and advanced age would literally die if he didn't run his A/C during the dog days of summer. So, two people that live in the same environment have completely different perceptions of the same tool.
Another one is computers and cell phones. I hear many people say that they are "luxuries" but for people like me who's career it is to sometimes write code for cellphones, neither tool is a vanity or luxury item, it's how I make a living!
In the end, all the inventions of man are just tools and as such are subject to how the individual user chooses to wield them. A wrench can be used to tighten a screw or it can be a wicked murder weapon in a who-dunit...it's all in the application.
A/C is a necessity in DC! especially if you want me to think! ditto in Austin, tho the univ. administration should change the temperature settings.
We thought it a luxury, too, when we lived in the northeast, but even there I've had heat stress requiring medical intervention from living on an upper floor w/o AC. (And I'm usu. pretty fit/healthy.)
And, uh, microwaves save energy compared to cooking on an electric stove BIG time.
Origuy
· 11 months ago
I read somewhere that until air conditioning was available, foreign governments considered Washington a tropical post, like Hanoi or Jakarta, and paid their embassy staff a premium.
David Liao
· 11 months ago
The wiring in my dorm here in New Jersey is too old, so the University bans air conditioning. The building is an oven during the summer.
I just avoid clothing.
Phil
· 11 months ago
I live in S. Florida - away from the coast. The answer is YES, A/C is an absolute necessity from May until late October. Central heat I usually do without, but not A/C. Interestingly, it costs far more to heat a home here than to cool it, due to the way our HVAC systems are designed here.
mgardener
· 11 months ago
My husband and I are trying to downsize and have asked ourselves, what do we Really need? All this stuff does not make me happy and can be quite irritating at times, trying to go through and rearrange and clean. Yuck!!!! We have one air conditioner that we have not even put in in the last several years. I try and use natural ingredients to clean, so I have less stuff since they can be for various other things.
I don't know why I even bought all the stuff, maybe to take my mind off how horrible that last 8 years have been?
magellan_x
· 11 months ago
This is so silly. What really is a need? Food, water, air and shelter? But what kind of food or shelter is based upon how much money you have. Even money isn't a need. It helps make life easier to have money, but it isn't a need based on the basics of life. You can kill your food, find your water and make your own shelter. Great if you are the unibomber, but not for most. And for him, a typewriter was a need, but I assume for most typewriters aren't.
And for those who say that the South West needs A/C, but places like Chicago and Madison can do without, I ask you to spend a day here in July. Sure, the 90+ temp isn't Arizona or Nevada hot, but when you add 75% or higher humidity, it makes you wish you were in the 115 degree Nevada(especially if you are in a A/C controlled casino). And when it's that humid, you can't cool your body cause your body won't sweat. So actually, it might just be a need.
MercuryX23
· 11 months ago
Please come and spend a few weeks in August here in Phoenix where it is over 110+ for weeks on end and your a/c can just about get you back down to a comfortable 90. It isn't just casinos down here. It's the surface of the sun. But yeah, I know that Chicago's worse...always got to be first in something...
magellan_x
· 11 months ago
Um, did I say one was hotter than the other? Just said that it's as much as need here as there. If it makes you that crazy, Phoenix can be the worst. Have a drink and relax, it's new years eve!
tbhull
· 11 months ago
AC is a necessity in Texas.
charityslave
· 11 months ago
As I have said many times to my wife and kids "More is not better. It's just more." Living simply and modestly is something that I strive for, though I am often unsuccessful. But as I get older, I am stripping myself of vanity possessions. That said, I live in south Louisiana- I don't see myself spurning air conditioning anytime soon.
MercuryX23
· 11 months ago
I love that there is a googlead at the bottom of this comment page for an A/C unit.
Chris, you may not think an A/C is a necessity. Good for you. Really. I live in Phoenix and have children that I have to provide environment moderation for or they will not live in a meaningful way or perhaps die. This is not a luxury. I know that people in other parts of the world also deal with extreme heat without environment moderation and, as far as I can tell, they have a standard of living which we see on our unnecessary TVs and deplore or send checks to or send our army to to steal their resources because they are too beat down by the heat to respond (unless they live in Chicago, of course...everything is worse by a factor of ten in Chicago).
Why do we build houses or do anything to stay out of the rain? Is it a necessity? Can't we just live in caves and trees? Why modify the environment at all? Why wear clothes in winter? Seriously, if a little a/c is so unnecessary, let's get rid of it all, because obviously everything (even fire, I guess) is just a luxury, right?
magellan_x
· 11 months ago
Get over yourself with the Chicago thing, didn't say it was worse, just as much as a need here. Apparently Chicago isn't the worse when it comes to a-holes.
thinkingbear
· 11 months ago
So you are saying you don't live in Chicago then?
judybrowni
· 11 months ago
I've been to Phoenix in the summer, and could have died myself just moving in between the car and buildings with meat-locker airconditioning (thank God!)
Stopped off to see an ancient Indian cliff dwelling between Phoenix and Sedona, and the ranger explained that this was only a winter dwelling, the Native Americans had the sense to leave in the summer for the mountains.
Jimmy
· 11 months ago
I think it depends on the situation. I live in Missouri where summers are 95+ degrees for days on end coupled with high humidity, and it's not unusual in the summer to have a heat index at 100+. I've lived here for nearly 35 years and only had A/C for the last two. Let me tell you, lying in bed at night when the temp is still in the 80s, drenched in sweat with only a fan to circulate the hot air is a real bitch. That being said, the only reason we added A/C is because my 67-year-old mother moved in and the hot summers were taking it out of her. Considering the number of elderly who get sick and/or die during some of these hot summers I think A/C is a necessity in some situations.
devlzadvocate
· 11 months ago
A/C can be a necessity for health related conditions, to improve air quality in urban areas, certain structures with no opening windows, sleeping improvement, etc. It is also a luxury when used for other than those situations. We live in a world in which we have to make choices regarding how to best use technology. Smart decisions are needed to distinguish when we need something as opposed to when we can include luxury.
missmarple
· 11 months ago
So. California summers have changed and we're having more hot, humid days than in the past. ( I've been here since 1957) We'll definitely shop for an A/C this year for the worst days. People like me with COPD just don't do well with hot/humid weather and for me fans just aren't helping any more.
ChePasa
· 11 months ago
Air conditioning in the car and the van, absolutely. I have to drive a lot, often through the Mojave Desert, in summer. Believe me, air conditioning makes it bearable.
But no air conditioning at home, even though summer temps can be well over 100 degrees; haven't had a/c at home for many , many years. Swamp cooler and fans do fine most of the time.
dcredhead
· 11 months ago
Not all of us have the luxury of living as an American expat in Paris.
In certain parts of America that broil in the summer (think 100 degrees +), people DIE without air conditioning -- especially the elderly. I recall broiling summers where seniors died in Chicago, DC, New Orleans, St. Louis (I could go on). LIHEAP is a program here that provides not just heating assistance, but cooling as well..
AC is not a luxury in parts of America. Now, Beaujealais and truffles and cheeses you post so much on this blog? Those are luxuries.
lou
· 11 months ago
I would chime in with Maia about air-conditioning in France. A whole lot of elderly people died during the heat wave there a few years ago. Elderly people have died during heatwaves in Chicago and other northern cities where a/c isn't usual.
I have asthma so technically I'm supposed to run A/C all summer. But I'm more abstemious. However, I couldn't live without it completely.
Something that's good to have is a programmable control unit that can, say, drop your thermostat to 60 during the day and night and increase it to 85 during the day in the summer.
Doc
· 11 months ago
I always enjoy hearing people who live in northern climates wax moralistic about people who consider air conditioning a necessity. Paris is at a similar latitude to Ottawa, Canada. Let's spend a few summers in a place like Atlanta, Phoenix, New Orleans, or Houston before we get too self-satisfied on our ability to live without AC, how about?
Schtu
· 11 months ago
Bravo Doc, I lived in Europe and laughed at their "heat waves." I am reminded of when BMW first started to import cars to the US. They kept overheating. The German Engineers insisted the cooling system was adequately designed. Finally in frustration, the US Dealers flew over the Engineers, threw them in a BMW in August....in west Texas and sent them out for a drive. They followed fifteen minutes behind, in a Buick to pick them up from the side of the road....
Arachnae
· 11 months ago
When I was in college, we had to call in some guys from England to fix our observatory's Ealing telescope. They like to died from the 'heat' - it was in the low eighties.
eebanks
· 11 months ago
Chris, you certainly opened up a can of worms with this one. It's too bad that the infrastructure we have built around us and our generally poor health leave us gasping for breath. I always look forward to your posts about life in France and how you, Joelle and kitties enjoy this opportunity and way of life.
MNPundit
· 11 months ago
I live in a northern climate and I consider air conditioning a necessity depending on latitude. In Des Moines in the summer I can usually get by without flipping the window unit but it is not fun, and the nights are not usually much better. Even in Fargo where I grew up, it is not surprising to see 90+ days for a week and maybe 3 over the course of the summer. My extended family is from Texas. Texas, God' testbed version of Hell in the United States. Fire ants, killer bees, republicans, evangelicals and capable of days of 100% humidity and 100+ actual temps near the ocean (Brownsville area), or dry barren wilderness in the interior (Laredo/San-Antonio areas). My folks want to retire to San Antonio by 2020, but I have warned them that aside from major major events (like someone is dying) I am going to communicate with them via hologram. I have sworn an undying oath never to live below the latitude of the southern Iowa border: if I did I would probably kill myself out of misery in the heat. Maybe you should know what you are talking about before you go spouting off.
Remember the Paris heatwave when dozens died? Those are the conditions Texas and large parts of the south experience every year for several days or weeks. It's pathetic.
But then, all the commenters have pointed this out by now.
onceler
· 11 months ago
this is a joke right? of course, especially for the elderly, A/C is a necessity. if you live somewhere that gets into the 90s and above in the summer - you need A/C, unless you are one of very, very few people who can tolerate and function in that heat. children and the elderly need it especially.
doesn't France often have waves of casualties in the summer months due to over-heating, dehydration and the like? and aren't most of those who die elderly? yeah, thought so.
Paul
· 11 months ago
Air conditioning changed history in the American South. It allowed for modern manufacturing facilities to be built in warm, humid climates where workers previously would have collapsed from heat exhaustion. Mortality rates in the South plummeted after air conditioning use became widespread. Economic activity skyrocketed. It is no coincidence that the migration boom *into* the South began in the 1960s, when air conditioning was playing an important role in the development of the modern suburb, with its ranch style houses with low ceilings. Yes, in many places, air conditioning is a necessity, not only for personal comfort, but for the benefits that comfort conveys to society at large.
Rich W
· 11 months ago
My wife and I have lived without A/C for years in Brooklyn... And now that we've bought a house in the NJ suburbs we've removed the 5 (FIVE!!) window units that the previous owners had left there. We have a dryer but only use it when our air drying space is full (and then only if the load absolutely needs to be run). We also manage without a car as there's a Whole Foods a mile or so away and the town runs a jitney that takes me to the train in the morning to get into Manhattan. When our son is older (he's 10 months now) we'll probably get a car but until then we're doing just fine. Not all Americans have a carbon footprint the size of Montana. :)
Forty2
· 11 months ago
Hm, yeah, Chris, you kinda stepped in it with this post.
Anyway, I've had AC of some sort for years, central or window-units, until I moved to the current place at the end of August. Old building, no central heat/AC, the windows are huge and the outlet closest to the one in the front room is 220v -- 220v AC units are really, really expensive, so I went without for the first time in years. September in NE Massachusetts, hey, how bad could it be?
It was fucking miserable.
I lived, but it was unpleasant to say the least; I slept very poorly even with fans and as I'm a serious homebody I spent as little time there as possible, chilling at the office, the mall, theater, etc. (and of course spending money). I even slept on a couch at work one night, it was so bad (I work within walking distance). So I'm now looking for a 220v window unit, seems like a good time of year to buy one.
larz69
· 11 months ago
I don't own a car and walk or take public transportation everywhere. I don't own a dishwasher and rarley use my microwave, but in the summer where it is usually over 90 F for 3 monthsof the year with 75% or higher humidity you bet that air conditioning is a necessity. Maybe not every day but it is necessary for most of the US for some period during the year. I worked for the Chicago Housing Authority during the heatwave in the mid 90's when several hundred Chicagoans died from the heat. I climbed stairs in the highrise senior buildings to do wellness checks and can attest to the need for air conditioning.
AngelaChanning
· 11 months ago
Okay, I switched my light bulbs, insulated my house, purchased new windows, turned down my hot water heater, rarely use the dryer, set the thermostat to 66 in the winter and 78 in the summer. My average utility bill is about $140 a month -- all electric (I do not use gas or oil heat). I realize I am no Ed Begley Jr, but when it is hot and humid in Baltimore, I want my damn air conditioning. (And I usually only run it at night.) I am not apologetic at all. Thank you for listening.
Jack J.
· 11 months ago
You need to spend more time living in the States getting to know (or rediscover) what it takes to live here, especially if your poor, elderly or an inner city resident.
You are out iof touch.
judybrowni
· 11 months ago
No car, or airconditioning, for over 20 years. Although it's getting hotter here in summer, I still depend on a fan.
Alsogetting colder in winter (crazy global warming weather even in Southern California) turned off the gas heater for apartment years ago, because it's in the living room and I'd have to heat whole apartment to warm up bedroom at night. Replaced it with space heater, I move from room to room.
Bought a fleece sorta onsie for adults (think slanket or snuggie, only more so) which is saving on the space heater, and wear my sheepskin lined clogs. Thinking of making one of those simple solar heaters (black pennies, under plexiglass, look it up) to warm things up with all the sun we get here.
judybrowni
· 11 months ago
Also: no microwave, think they make the food taste funny, and a holistic doctor warned me against.
Gas stove, but can't keep the pilot light lit on the oven, so I save even more.
Have switched most of my lightbulbs, just waiting for the others to burn out.
judybrowni
· 11 months ago
Dryer and washer in the apartment complex, but no place to hang laundry anyway.
I've read the apartment and city living is more green, in any case. No lawn, I probably get some heat from the downstairs apartment, etc.
alice
· 11 months ago
I live in Texas (Austin). In August, A.C. is a necessity. More people die from heat related causes than die from other weather related causes.
I use a small window A.C. unit . That is considered minimalistic around here. I don't heat in the winter. We all spend our "footprint" in our own unique ways. I walk and grow vegetables.
Asterix
· 11 months ago
We have air conditioning in our house, but installed it not for the cooling in the summer (really needed only about 3 days during summer, typically), but for the benefit in heating. The price differential between AC and a heat pump was very small--and we save a lot by using the heat pump to warm our house.
Many cities are worse than the surrounding countryside from a summer standpoint in that the extensive paving and numerous structures create a "heat island". Our home site is shaded by many trees and visitors from town marvel at how we're easily 10 degrees cooler during the summertime.
Before AC, New York used to empty out during the summer months and people fled to escape the heat. Not a bad idea, actually. The 7-day-a-week, 52-week-a-year mentality that ignores the weather is just plain irrational.
Charles
· 11 months ago
The world is not Paris, nor even France. Live in the humid heat of St. Louis for a week sans A/C and then tell me it's a needless luxury.
djny10003
· 11 months ago
We're in NYC, which is much hotter than years ago; it gets up to 100 F every summer. My wife and I argue: I can live without AC, but she gets crazy from the heat. We have fans, but it's over 90 at night, we use AC.
Generally, if you stay in the shade, drink lots of water, and wear as little as possible, you'll be all right.
Bigduke
· 11 months ago
Do you use a heater in the winter? According to your logic, that is not a necessity either. This post is condescending. Chris, you are consistently the embodiment of the elitist liberal.
dcredhead
· 11 months ago
Especially since we constantly pictures of Brie, Foie Gras and got a blog entry about the "new beaujealais." Give me a break.
atl2sea
· 11 months ago
Hell yes A/C is a necessity! Try living in the sticky, humid south when it is 90 degrees with 90% humidity! Think school children can learn in un-air conditioned classrooms when the sweat stings their eyes and blurs their vision? Try driving 15 minutes to work in July down south without A/C and see what shape you arrive in: drenched and cranky! Try changing planes in Atlanta during August sans an air conditioned airport without arriving at the gate not looking like a sweaty, nervous would be terrorist.
Someone needs to expand their horizons!
Plisko
· 11 months ago
I live in Phoenix AZ. From the end of April to the beginning of September it is over 100 degrees. In 100 degrees a fan feels like a hair dryer.
WadeMD
· 11 months ago
Living in a condo in Tampa with windows on only one side, yeah, AC is a necessity. I think it would be quite impossible to live here without it. As a matter of fact, last week it was up to 85 F with sticky humidity here. Yes, I used the A/C, in December.
WadeMD
· 11 months ago
Oh, but in the 7 years I've lived here, I haven't even used the heat once. So my argument to this post, is that a heater isn't necessary.
AngelaChanning
· 11 months ago
I think Chris hit a nerve with the ye ol' Americablog readers. LOL.
mmedefarge
· 11 months ago
It is interesting how the changes in the way we live have made us dependent on air conditioning as a necessity. During heat waves in Chicago and France in recent years many people were sickened and died from the heat, particularly the elderly, Apartments are rarely built with cross-ventilation (too expensive, esp for low income housing). Climate change is a factor, too--there seem to be longer stretches of unrelenting heat than I remember from my childhood a half century ago. And with our precarious electrical power infrastructure, we could be subject at any time to power outages such as in NYC in 2003. There is an interesting book on this topic called "Heat Wave" by ?Trachtenberg--it is on my list to read someday when I have time to read again.
PS Chris, I love all of your posts and adore your descriptions, pictures and recipes from France. Bonne Annee!
Dan
· 11 months ago
I just lost a lot of respect for you. :) What sane person prefers a fan over AC?! Obviously someone who doesn't really live somewhere hot. Spend a summer in Memphis without an air conditioner and we'll see how long you make it. I do agree that it's not really a "necessity" - people did live without it. But the idea that there's no real difference in a fan and AC is just ignorant and one of those condescending things that people in cold places say.
shell
· 11 months ago
"I do agree that it's not really a "necessity" - people did live without it."
Yeah, and they also lived without indoor toilets, penicillin, and many other "luxuries." The life expectancy was also 40 years!
Richard Grabman
· 11 months ago
People here in Mexico manage to live in the desert, or in the jungle, without air conditioning. Itf it's too hot inside, you hang your hammock outside. Foreigners from the wealthy countries who move here are always shocked the first time they get an electric bill... and discover that they pay for the "privilege" of keeping their windows closed and the temperature regulated to their comfort zone... electrical pricing is "green": after the first 175 Kwh (enough to keep the refrigerator on 24/7, the lights on 12 hours a day and ONE energy efficient room AC running 8 hours a night) the rate jumps about 35% per KwH.
But then, unlike the United States, houses are built for the local climate. In the U.S. you'll find exactly the same buildings in Minnesota, Arizona and Florida... and may not be suited to any of them, thus requiring more energy for less.
shell
· 11 months ago
You make a good point about building houses for the climate. But another point is many (most?) Americans can't hang a hammock. How many people live in apartments? They can't. (Hammocks in Manhattan? LOL) And, as some said earlier, even those who could, would need a large tree(s), which many properties don't have.
I have found one bad thing about Americans' way of thinking -- they never consider that everyone isn't just like them. You have trees in your yard? Everyone does! You live in a place where no air conditioning isn't really bad? Everyone lives in such a place!
Richard makes some excellent points here!
SPG
· 11 months ago
I'll second what Richard says about building houses for the climate. Landscape makes a big difference too. Ever notice how old farmhouses have evergreens to the north and big leafy trees to the south? The evergreens block some of the cold winter winds and the leaves block the hot sun in summer and then let the sun warm the house in winter when the leaves fall off. Obviously this isn't practical in a dense urban environment, but the principles can be applied in the suburbs and many other places. Basic design choices can have a huge impact on livability and energy consumption with minimal investment at the outset. Take a close look at the New Orleans "shotgun" house for some great ways to keep a house cool before the advent of AC.
SPG
· 11 months ago
I once had to drive to Las Vegas from San Diego in the middle of summer. The only car available was kinda old, black, and had no AC. No big deal, we'll leave early in the morning! Yep, we did. We hit traffic and wound up in the middle of the dessert at noon when the temp was 125 on "the world's largest thermometer®". As we start climbing up the hills in our black car it starts to overheat and you know what you're supposed to do then, right? Yep, turn on the heater! Fun! Nothing to do with the rants for/against the necessity of AC, cars, or any of that, but kinda funny in retrospect driving through the dessert in a black car in 125 degree heat with the heater running full blast.
Michael
· 11 months ago
In my location, a/c is less a luxury and more a matter of making my house livable.
I'm in south Louisiana (Baton Rouge.) Now, during the season, roughly March through November, my thermostat is set to 77 degrees...my house is also rather old (90 plus years), and has 10 foot ceilings, which helps.
But it wasn't real comfortable during the week after Hurricane Gustav, i.e., no power to run it. The small fan I ran off the emergency power pack (I've since bought a bigger fan and generator) was no substitute...
That said, I lived a number of years in Wisconsin without a/c, and without complaint. Liked the radiators, though.
Kelly
· 11 months ago
Living in Louisville, where the long summers are hot and very humid, means that AC is a necessity, especially if you want to keep your sanity. I have absolutely zero guilt keeping my AC on from May to October and tI hank God everyday that I live in an age where such things make life easier and more enjoyable. The good old days weren't really so great so why should I want to live that way?
Bruce
· 11 months ago
I live in Hawaii and while I do have an AC in my home office, I am self employed, I rarely use it more than 1 month or so out the year. I just use fans and let the wind do its thing.
The Dark Avenger
· 11 months ago
Here in the San Joaquin Valley of CA, we have a dry, high heat in the 90-100 range for days on end in the summer time. Lots of folks use evaporative coolers, which use water to cool the house. My family used to have a freon-based air conditioner that used water to cool the freon in the coils of the AC, the problem was when you lived in the country and the water had been shut off to fix something in the system, then the AC wouldn't work. This type of AC still had problems with scale on the radiator-like exchange unit if the water had lots of minerals in it, perhaps that's why the design isn't being used these days :)
I hang my laundry to dry when the weather cooperates, I can do 3 loads in the summer time and be sure that they'll all be dry by sundown, a couple of hours is all that's needed for anything that comes out of the washer.
SusieQ
· 11 months ago
Remind me again, Chris, how many TENS OF THOUSANDS of people died in that European heat wave a few years ago.
I grew up in North Texas where it is beastly hot, lots of weeks of 100+ temps, but it is extremely dry heat. I was often cold in college because the rooms were usually a bit TOO cold but that was mostly because we all wore shorts -- OUT OF NECCESITY. I didn't have AC in my first (used) car, but only because I couldn't afford it. Consequently I had a permanent heat rash and sweat stains.
But when I moved to New York 30 years ago I had never experienced such painful heat that takes your breath away because it is often close to 100% humidity here. You walk out the door, and the sweat can literally pour off of you within seconds. I had a couple of apartments without AC (again, because I couldn't afford it) and I suffered. Unable to sleep at night, I would often take very cold showers, and watch the heat rise off my skin, then return to bed butt nekkid without drying off and pray that I would fall asleep before the water evaporated.
Chris, by now you've probably figured out that a lot of us think your post was a wee bit condescending. I usually like your posts about economics because I find them very helpful; I also love seeing pictures of the cats because I'm also a cat lover (we have four feline children) but count me as one who doesn't really find posts about Spanish vacations a necessity (I've had one vacation in the last nine years, so I guess I'm jealous) and I would never think that goose liver pate was in any way important in my life. Don't you know what they do to get those nice fat livers?
Compared to AC, cellphones are a luxury.
TXfemmom
· 11 months ago
You may go on and on about how air conditioning is not a neccesity, but I live in Southeastern Texas and I can tell you that many elderly, children, and those with chronic diseases live only due to air conditioning. I have a health condition where I would have to move, or die, without air conditioning.
Additionally, without air conditioning to remove the high humidity levels we experience, homes and businesses would become killers with mold and mold spores, as well as other things. I don't think that anything which improves the lives and quality of life, as well as life itself, as air-conditioning does for those of us residing is something which is frivilous.
Patients on certain medications, with heart disorders, and especially renal patients need that air-conditioning to live, and being frivilous is not what it presents.
Arizona Senora
· 11 months ago
I'm a n Arizona native, and LOVE my a/c and use it during long hot weather.
In the "off season" w/ not many cold days, don't use my furnace/heating at all. Hope that offsets my electric/carbon footprint.
Feliz ano Nuevo y'all
judybrowni
· 10 months ago
Here we go again, remind me: WHY are you writing AGAIN hinting you think A/C is a luxury, simply because you don't use it?
I don't use air-conditioning, but I think you're being condescending (at best), a snob, a snot (?) or what -- failing to read the previous posts?
The apartment building I'm living has wiring too old to support A/C and I live six blocks from the ocean, which means that in summer (and fall) it may be 20 degrees cooler here than in the rest of Los Angeles.
In the valley, I've experienced 115 degrees and grew faint after walking three blocks (thank god for airconditioned restaurants!) Learned why no one else in the office would dream of walking anywhere in the (then spring) or summer there.
Also: after a spring weekend in New Orleans (like being in a pizza oven with a humdifier) where I had to stop after several blocks to bop into an airconditioned restaurant, or get something to drink, in order to go on, and a long summer weekend in Phoenix where temperatures rose to 120 degrees and I was happy to fall into a wheelchair by the time I got to the airport, I see the necessity for air conditioning in some climates. Literally, necessary for life.
I also lived in New York City for ten years without airconditioning, but after the first couple, like the rest of the city who could afford to do so, I left every summer for the country, or another country.
landscapers utah
· 5 months ago
i think air conditions is a necessity in a car cause its already installed unlike jeepneys, but in our home, its just a like or dislike of the residents to have aircondition in their houses.
All Comments
It competes against habitual consumption of print media, audio and video tapes and discs, TV and radio, mail, meeting halls, school buildings, libraries, cars and planes, while integrating and emulating traditional art media production tools for creative self expression.
I went with a counter top convection oven this holiday, after having thrown out my microwave oven a decade ago. The internet informed me of both the danger of microwave radiation, and of the more modern solution.
I work on the internet, so my computer and internet connection is a necessity. As are my TV and Blu-ray player (I review DVDs / Blu-ray for a living). But that's a special case.
On the other hand, I telecommute to work, so I don't even own a car.
Chris just because you live a spartan life does not mean the rest of us should.
Would I live without AC? Maybe, though I might rethink the 3rd floor. But I wouldn't find life nearly as pleasant.
france heatwave death
The first thing I came up with was a USAToday article on France's 2003 heat wave death toll of 14802.
I grew up without A/C in the south, but it was a slower time, people knew better than to run in 100 degree weather (as I have seen fitness nuts do), life was generally slower, because in 100 degree heat in the south, you just don't survive putting out so much energy in that kind of heat (only mad dogs and Englishmen...). We hung the laundry out on clotheslines, of course. But I had my first dryer in 1966, bought 2nd hand at the gas company where I worked; as a working mom, it was impossible to keep up with the laundry of 2 kids without one--I had no choice but to work since I was divorced and had to support my kids on my own. The A/C was a unit in the living room window of our duplex, though, not central. Of course, my kids grew up without microwaves (I cooked from scratch, a practice I maintain today), we had ONE TV with 3 channels, there were no computers, no cell phones, no electronic devices and we listened to music on the radio (couldn't afford a stereo). Didn't own a car until I was 27, rode the bus to work and my aunt would come over and take me to the grocery store once a week in her car.
Yes, my kids and I would be described as "deprived" these days, but I remember happy days, just like others do.
My son says today's kids who have electronically supported bedrooms they seldom venture out of are the deprived kids...he can't imagine any of THEM having a paper route at age 12, either, or turning their hands at doing much of anything to support their acquired expensive tastes. Spoiled rotten.
Ah, I remember those days! My children have a hard time believing me when I say I actually lived before the days of PCs, a kazillion TV channels, cell phones (and even before phones you could go to a phone store and get -- the phone company had to come out and install them.) And even before "modern" radio. I remember when transistor radios came out. A miracle! haha
Another example: Chris is so proud he doesn't own a clothes dryer. Wow! So frugal, Chris! But Chris just has himself and another adult in his family. I had 3 children (with diapers) and worked full time. Do you think I had enough clothes/diapers for them to wear without using the washing machine and dryer every other day? No way. Of course, if I were as rich as Chris (or as non-frugal as Chris), I could have afforded 4 times the amount of clothes/diapers and could have afforded the luxury of NOT having a clothes dryer. See, Chris? Everything is not as it seems.
As far as the air conditioner goes -- again, it depends on where you live. You live in Wisconsin? Is that the same as living in Texas? In one place is air conditioning a luxury and in the other a necessity? Look at the San Francisco Bay Area. It is easy to not have an air conditioner in the city of San Francisco. But a few miles away, in San Jose? You would die without one. Over 100 degrees is not unusual. Try the reverse -- with a heater. Is having one a luxury? No! Everyone would say. But it's a hell of a lot easier to live without one in San Diego than in Madison, Wisconsin.
It's all relative.
A/C is not a necessity in the home, here in Hawaii. Most older homes are pretty much open to the tropical breezes, with jalousied windows covering much of the sides of the buildings. They usually have enough green cover to shade them from the sun.
Newer homes tend to have more insulation and fewer windows, not jalousies, and little or no mature green cover. They don't take advantage of the trade winds, and tend to have been built in former agricultural areas, often where fewer Hawaiians lived. They are still cheek-by-jowel, like most neighborhoods here, but sitting on flat land in the open sun, they don't get the full advantage of the trade winds, our natural air conditioning, or the tropical greenery. Even though the temperatures here remain mostly in the 60's and 70's nights, and 70-80's days, we are getting more and more days in the 90's, and less and less trade winds. Global warming? El Nino? La Nina? Dunno. It do get hot, tho, brah.
The A/C freaks here are spending $400-$800/mo. on electricity. We have the highest utility rates in the U.S., and solar doesn't help energy-hogs much. But most people in older homes in shady neighborhoods manage to get along without air conditioning. I've only ever used a fan, myself, though I was quite the frosty one in NY & NJ summers.
Better urban/ suburban/ exurban planning would help. There are some places where it just doesn't make sense to live: Too hot, too dry, too wet, too cold. The rising cost of energy will produce ghost cities in these areas. Many urban high-rises are already obsolete before they're even completed. The home of the very near future will simply have to provide some or all of its' own energy. Windows that open would be good, too, in the warmer areas; and cross-ventilation, and greenery.
Advances in solar technology would be helpful, if government and private funding were accelerated: Solar paint; thin, cheap easy-to-install, mass-produceable photovoltaic cells on rolled sheets; higher-yielding, more efficient solar hot water panels could all cut non-renewables to a fraction of their current usage, if govt & Wall St back their development full on.
One of our local mechanics just invented a new greener replacement for freon. He fought the Feds for years to get it approved, and just won. He's going on to bigger and better things from his garage workshop. You never know, he might be the next Thomas Edison. Where there's a focus on doing things right, there's hope.
.
Charleton Heston as Thorn the cop getting proof of what Soylent Green was made of, before he totally became a rightwing hack. "Soylent Green is made from people!"
Overall, some 45% of adults with family incomes of $100,000 and above rate at least 10 of these 14 items as necessities, while just 15% of adults with incomes below $30,000 do the same. In short, the more money you have, the more things you need.
Well, I did without most of them in my earlier life (some of them even now), one year having to wash clothes and linens in the bathtub, while pregnant, with no car or laundromat close by. While it might be inconvenient for someone my age now to do without, it wouldn't be the blow that younger people might suffer. Been there, done that, you know. But people would adjust if those things were unavailable--they might not like it, but they would adjust; people are resilient.
There have been times when a good ole Grilled (American) Cheese samie is about the best thing I could ever imagine...
PS, leave my frackin' AC ALONE!
NECESSITY'S:
Money, Home, Food & Water, Phone, Decent Clothing, our little ole Car, Family & Friends, my Cats, Electricity, Washing Machine & Dryer, my Computer and High Speed Connection, Heat, Air Conditioning, my Cats, Wine, Coffee and my Dish Washer.
LUXURIES:
More Money, a Neater Home, Cell Phone, Better Clothing and More SHOES (size 8.5 - 9 if anyone's asking), Better Food & Beverages, New Car, Family & Friends, Another Cat & Dog, Newer Air Conditioner, a New Computer with Better Doo Wahs, Cable TV, Brandy, Better Wine & Coffee and a New Dish Washer.
AC doesn't do you any good if there's limited or unreliable electricity, as is the case during brownouts and rolling blackouts - which is what they had during that heat wave.
I have to say I'd forgotten about the urban heat effect - I was in rural/coastal Mexico. I don't know how I would have done in a major city. Poorly, is my guess. I'm more comfortable at 100 deg below body temp than 20 above it.
I freeze in the summer. I bring two sweaters to movies. In stores, I don't want to undress to try on clothes, it's so damn cold!!
Americans have to FREEZE in the summer or they don't feel rich.
I am not one for vulgarities, but your post does make me want to go astray. That said, not everyone has your same body thermostat, so perhaps you could open up your thought process to include others in that vast expanse of a mind of yours, eh?
To claim that only YOUR chill factor is most important is simply silly, if not worse.
To make such ultimate decrees as to why or who needs "air conditioning" is just plain foolishness (and that is being quite polite).
Please understand that the vast populations of this world are not in the same body nor same mind bend as you, thus you should understand that such decrees are hardly anything but false allusions.
I didn't say, SO throw away the AC!!! And earlier I suggested that the AC could be turned down in most places because it is excessive.
You are assuming things that are not in the words.
It's just plain silly, so please stop these defensive retorts and just listen or understand that you are trying to make decrees as to what is acceptable in this world of OURS.
And if I think we over-cool places, so what? YOU will still be as cold as you want I'm sure.
1. YOUR post was about how you see that EVERYONE who overeats wants to be cold and this seems to disturb you. Ahemm, perhaps it has to do with MORE than just what you seem to want to attribute such things.
2. QUIT FOLLOWING ME! It is CREEPY and I ask you, is that how you want to be remembered???
Let me go out on a limb here and guess that the "unnamed" food fron your holiday dinner post last week was PATE.
Just how many geese do you get to TORTURE while still claimimg to live a more fiscally responsible and eco-friendly life than other people?
FYI, the production and sale of foie gras will be illegal in California in 2012. Foie gras is no only used in pâté - it is served many different ways.
What's that? The people of California think they need 3 more years to wean themselves off the torture of geese?
Yes, I do live in California and it seems that there may well be some laws coming about regulating that food and for me, it is a shame.
But none of this means I want nor need my American cheese any less...
At least we did something about it here.
OK, beat me now :::ducking:::
It's the humidity, stupid.
"Cool Down & Relax"
And no, in Dallas, A/C isn't a luxury, it is a necessity in the summer. Just like a heater in Chicago in the winter.
Also, since electricity deregulation (=exorbitant price increases) in TX, the days of arctic chill in businesses during the summer are gone (at least in my experience). It's the money!!!
DP
But it's do-able. Much like keeping the house at 50 in Dec, Jan, Feb in New England.
It's not convenient, but layering works just fine indoors, too.
I should add - it requires adapting, which takes time and isn't comfortable.
When I got back to MA from Mexico in late August, I needed a sweatshirt after sundown, as 70 felt downright chilly. 9 months before that I was shoveling snow in shorts and a t-shirt.
There's no way you can survive a summer in Yuma, AZ without A/C when the summer temperatures are 120 degrees during the day and 100 degrees at night.
He only relayed how HE coped with less power usage, for AC and Heat. He didn't chide others for not layering with the house at 50degrees.
Now, if you have an issue with what I say to YOU, than let's have at it, but please don't take issue with what I am saying to another unless they, themselves want to respond.
Your issue is obviously with ME, so let's make it thus and forget about others please.
By the way, I now have 3 words for you:
QUIT FOLLOWING ME!
The last thing I need is some stalker follwing me around...
Take A/C for instance. I don't use one in my house in NJ hardly ever, a byproduct of years of FL weather making NJ seem like the arctic. However, my next door neighbor who has respiratory problems and advanced age would literally die if he didn't run his A/C during the dog days of summer. So, two people that live in the same environment have completely different perceptions of the same tool.
Another one is computers and cell phones. I hear many people say that they are "luxuries" but for people like me who's career it is to sometimes write code for cellphones, neither tool is a vanity or luxury item, it's how I make a living!
In the end, all the inventions of man are just tools and as such are subject to how the individual user chooses to wield them. A wrench can be used to tighten a screw or it can be a wicked murder weapon in a who-dunit...it's all in the application.
http://www.globalaging.org/health/world/holocau...
We thought it a luxury, too, when we lived in the northeast, but even there I've had heat stress requiring medical intervention from living on an upper floor w/o AC. (And I'm usu. pretty fit/healthy.)
And, uh, microwaves save energy compared to cooking on an electric stove BIG time.
I just avoid clothing.
All this stuff does not make me happy and can be quite irritating at times, trying to go through and rearrange and clean. Yuck!!!!
We have one air conditioner that we have not even put in in the last several years. I try and use natural ingredients to clean, so I have less stuff since they can be for various other things.
I don't know why I even bought all the stuff, maybe to take my mind off how horrible that last 8 years have been?
And for those who say that the South West needs A/C, but places like Chicago and Madison can do without, I ask you to spend a day here in July. Sure, the 90+ temp isn't Arizona or Nevada hot, but when you add 75% or higher humidity, it makes you wish you were in the 115 degree Nevada(especially if you are in a A/C controlled casino). And when it's that humid, you can't cool your body cause your body won't sweat. So actually, it might just be a need.
Chris, you may not think an A/C is a necessity. Good for you. Really. I live in Phoenix and have children that I have to provide environment moderation for or they will not live in a meaningful way or perhaps die. This is not a luxury. I know that people in other parts of the world also deal with extreme heat without environment moderation and, as far as I can tell, they have a standard of living which we see on our unnecessary TVs and deplore or send checks to or send our army to to steal their resources because they are too beat down by the heat to respond (unless they live in Chicago, of course...everything is worse by a factor of ten in Chicago).
Why do we build houses or do anything to stay out of the rain? Is it a necessity? Can't we just live in caves and trees? Why modify the environment at all? Why wear clothes in winter? Seriously, if a little a/c is so unnecessary, let's get rid of it all, because obviously everything (even fire, I guess) is just a luxury, right?
Stopped off to see an ancient Indian cliff dwelling between Phoenix and Sedona, and the ranger explained that this was only a winter dwelling, the Native Americans had the sense to leave in the summer for the mountains.
We'll definitely shop for an A/C this year for the worst days. People like me with COPD just don't do well with hot/humid weather and for me fans just aren't helping any more.
But no air conditioning at home, even though summer temps can be well over 100 degrees; haven't had a/c at home for many , many years. Swamp cooler and fans do fine most of the time.
In certain parts of America that broil in the summer (think 100 degrees +), people DIE without air conditioning -- especially the elderly. I recall broiling summers where seniors died in Chicago, DC, New Orleans, St. Louis (I could go on). LIHEAP is a program here that provides not just heating assistance, but cooling as well..
AC is not a luxury in parts of America. Now, Beaujealais and truffles and cheeses you post so much on this blog? Those are luxuries.
I have asthma so technically I'm supposed to run A/C all summer. But I'm more abstemious. However, I couldn't live without it completely.
Something that's good to have is a programmable control unit that can, say, drop your thermostat to 60 during the day and night and increase it to 85 during the day in the summer.
Remember the Paris heatwave when dozens died? Those are the conditions Texas and large parts of the south experience every year for several days or weeks. It's pathetic.
But then, all the commenters have pointed this out by now.
doesn't France often have waves of casualties in the summer months due to over-heating, dehydration and the like? and aren't most of those who die elderly? yeah, thought so.
Anyway, I've had AC of some sort for years, central or window-units, until I moved to the current place at the end of August. Old building, no central heat/AC, the windows are huge and the outlet closest to the one in the front room is 220v -- 220v AC units are really, really expensive, so I went without for the first time in years. September in NE Massachusetts, hey, how bad could it be?
It was fucking miserable.
I lived, but it was unpleasant to say the least; I slept very poorly even with fans and as I'm a serious homebody I spent as little time there as possible, chilling at the office, the mall, theater, etc. (and of course spending money). I even slept on a couch at work one night, it was so bad (I work within walking distance). So I'm now looking for a 220v window unit, seems like a good time of year to buy one.
You are out iof touch.
Alsogetting colder in winter (crazy global warming weather even in Southern California) turned off the gas heater for apartment years ago, because it's in the living room and I'd have to heat whole apartment to warm up bedroom at night. Replaced it with space heater, I move from room to room.
Bought a fleece sorta onsie for adults (think slanket or snuggie, only more so) which is saving on the space heater, and wear my sheepskin lined clogs. Thinking of making one of those simple solar heaters (black pennies, under plexiglass, look it up) to warm things up with all the sun we get here.
Gas stove, but can't keep the pilot light lit on the oven, so I save even more.
Have switched most of my lightbulbs, just waiting for the others to burn out.
I've read the apartment and city living is more green, in any case. No lawn, I probably get some heat from the downstairs apartment, etc.
I use a small window A.C. unit . That is considered minimalistic around here. I don't heat in the winter. We all spend our "footprint" in our own unique ways. I walk and grow vegetables.
Many cities are worse than the surrounding countryside from a summer standpoint in that the extensive paving and numerous structures create a "heat island". Our home site is shaded by many trees and visitors from town marvel at how we're easily 10 degrees cooler during the summertime.
Before AC, New York used to empty out during the summer months and people fled to escape the heat. Not a bad idea, actually. The 7-day-a-week, 52-week-a-year mentality that ignores the weather is just plain irrational.
Generally, if you stay in the shade, drink lots of water, and wear as little as possible, you'll be all right.
Someone needs to expand their horizons!
PS Chris, I love all of your posts and adore your descriptions, pictures and recipes from France. Bonne Annee!
What sane person prefers a fan over AC?! Obviously someone who doesn't really live somewhere hot. Spend a summer in Memphis without an air conditioner and we'll see how long you make it.
I do agree that it's not really a "necessity" - people did live without it. But the idea that there's no real difference in a fan and AC is just ignorant and one of those condescending things that people in cold places say.
Yeah, and they also lived without indoor toilets, penicillin, and many other "luxuries." The life expectancy was also 40 years!
But then, unlike the United States, houses are built for the local climate. In the U.S. you'll find exactly the same buildings in Minnesota, Arizona and Florida... and may not be suited to any of them, thus requiring more energy for less.
I have found one bad thing about Americans' way of thinking -- they never consider that everyone isn't just like them. You have trees in your yard? Everyone does! You live in a place where no air conditioning isn't really bad? Everyone lives in such a place!
Richard makes some excellent points here!
Basic design choices can have a huge impact on livability and energy consumption with minimal investment at the outset. Take a close look at the New Orleans "shotgun" house for some great ways to keep a house cool before the advent of AC.
Nothing to do with the rants for/against the necessity of AC, cars, or any of that, but kinda funny in retrospect driving through the dessert in a black car in 125 degree heat with the heater running full blast.
I'm in south Louisiana (Baton Rouge.) Now, during the season, roughly March through November, my thermostat is set to 77 degrees...my house is also rather old (90 plus years), and has 10 foot ceilings, which helps.
But it wasn't real comfortable during the week after Hurricane Gustav, i.e., no power to run it. The small fan I ran off the emergency power pack (I've since bought a bigger fan and generator) was no substitute...
That said, I lived a number of years in Wisconsin without a/c, and without complaint. Liked the radiators, though.
I hang my laundry to dry when the weather cooperates, I can do 3 loads in the summer time and be sure that they'll all be dry by sundown, a couple of hours is all that's needed for anything that comes out of the washer.
I grew up in North Texas where it is beastly hot, lots of weeks of 100+ temps, but it is extremely dry heat. I was often cold in college because the rooms were usually a bit TOO cold but that was mostly because we all wore shorts -- OUT OF NECCESITY. I didn't have AC in my first (used) car, but only because I couldn't afford it. Consequently I had a permanent heat rash and sweat stains.
But when I moved to New York 30 years ago I had never experienced such painful heat that takes your breath away because it is often close to 100% humidity here. You walk out the door, and the sweat can literally pour off of you within seconds. I had a couple of apartments without AC (again, because I couldn't afford it) and I suffered. Unable to sleep at night, I would often take very cold showers, and watch the heat rise off my skin, then return to bed butt nekkid without drying off and pray that I would fall asleep before the water evaporated.
Chris, by now you've probably figured out that a lot of us think your post was a wee bit condescending. I usually like your posts about economics because I find them very helpful; I also love seeing pictures of the cats because I'm also a cat lover (we have four feline children) but count me as one who doesn't really find posts about Spanish vacations a necessity (I've had one vacation in the last nine years, so I guess I'm jealous) and I would never think that goose liver pate was in any way important in my life. Don't you know what they do to get those nice fat livers?
Compared to AC, cellphones are a luxury.
Additionally, without air conditioning to remove the high humidity levels we experience, homes and businesses would become killers with mold and mold spores, as well as other things. I don't think that anything which improves the lives and quality of life, as well as life itself, as air-conditioning does for those of us residing is something which is frivilous.
Patients on certain medications, with heart disorders, and especially renal patients need that air-conditioning to live, and being frivilous is not what it presents.
In the "off season" w/ not many cold days, don't use my furnace/heating at all. Hope that offsets my electric/carbon footprint.
Feliz ano Nuevo y'all
I don't use air-conditioning, but I think you're being condescending (at best), a snob, a snot (?) or what -- failing to read the previous posts?
The apartment building I'm living has wiring too old to support A/C and I live six blocks from the ocean, which means that in summer (and fall) it may be 20 degrees cooler here than in the rest of Los Angeles.
In the valley, I've experienced 115 degrees and grew faint after walking three blocks (thank god for airconditioned restaurants!) Learned why no one else in the office would dream of walking anywhere in the (then spring) or summer there.
Also: after a spring weekend in New Orleans (like being in a pizza oven with a humdifier) where I had to stop after several blocks to bop into an airconditioned restaurant, or get something to drink, in order to go on, and a long summer weekend in Phoenix where temperatures rose to 120 degrees and I was happy to fall into a wheelchair by the time I got to the airport, I see the necessity for air conditioning in some climates. Literally, necessary for life.
I also lived in New York City for ten years without airconditioning, but after the first couple, like the rest of the city who could afford to do so, I left every summer for the country, or another country.