For the young and healthy staying cool is most commonly a matter of comfort. But AC, staying cool in general, can be a real survival issue for everyone some of the time, and serious business for some people all the time. For the elderly and those with heart and lung conditions inability to stay cool enough is serious business.

Temperatures in the 80s in Western Europe, where AC systems are uncommon, people are not acclimated to heat, and the public was not educated about the potential risk, had the old and infirm dropping like flies.

The US doesn't often do any better. This blunted only because we have a lot more AC systems and scattered old folks kicking off in an overheated houses seldom even makes the news. Unless we see a real 'heatwave' event and the morgues get backed up with bodies. In which case there may be some community effort to mitigate the effects.

I remember hearing about Europe now that you mention it... the heat wave there killed TONS of elderly.

I work from my non-airconditioned sailboat until the temperature gets to about 80, then if the day is going to get hotter I adjourn to an airconditioned space. If I am required to wear a coat and tie or suit, then by the mid-70s I am on the move.

My ability to concentrate remains high when I am comfortable and is impaired when I am not.

The low today in Phoenix is 90*. The low. The high was 111*. So yes I use a/c in my house between 81-88* depending on if we are home or not.

A car sitting in the sun during the day can reach temperatures over 150*. Driving 60 mph in 111* with all windows down will drop the temperature by about...what...15 degrees but the wind is super heated anyway as the asphalt at ground level is over 120*. Then I'd also have to worry about sunburning my skin b/c my tinted windows also provide sun protection.

So, I take slight offense at being told that, "If you think you can't live without A/C then I don't quite understand what you are doing on a survival forum."

My 5 month old daughter certainly appreciates it as does my boy and DW.

I have zero problem, zero problem going for 4 hour cycling workouts or running 10 miles in this kind of weather but I'll use my a/c when I can thank you very much.

And BTW, the advent of a/c has radically changed the way in which homes are built today. Before a/c houses and community buildings were built with different window and room set ups that pushed hot air out, such as taller windows with vents at the top for hot air to escape.

Well said.

I turned on my office AC at 7pm tonight so I could concentrate better.

Yesterday it was cool and by 4pm I had the windows open... not so much today

Ah,well I'd rather run it a couple hours than all day anyhow.

This is what we do when we need the A/C. Most days, we just open the windows. Occasionally, we need to turn it on in the late afternoon until early evening until the temp gets down below the 78-80 we keep the A/C set on.

My neighbor, OTOH, keeps his going 24/7 and has since the spring sometime, no matter what the outside temp is.

Although our house is only 10 years old, it is "old fashioned" in that we have windows on all sides, so we get great cross-ventilation, and lots of trees help provide nature's own A/C.

Also, having lived and worked in WDC and surrounding area for a long time, let me support Dagny's position. DC was built on a swamp, and the heat and humidity in the city can be, and often is, brutal.

Why am I here if I like AC? Well.......

I was about 7-8 years old when REA brought electricity to our farm. I was 21 when I got married, moved into a 10x50 trailer sitting in an open field with no shade. But, I could finally turn on a faucet for water to take a bath in a bathtub. I was 39 before we moved into a home with central AC.

Finally after almost 40 years I didn't have to turn over the pillow at night to try to find a cooler spot.

Retired, now, it's harder and harder to cope with extremes in heat, cold, and humidity. Since I paid my "dues" for 40 years, I do enjoy the comfort of AC and other "modern" conveniences, such as the faucet at the kitchen sink.

That said, I'm also realistic. This level of comfort can disappear for any number of reasons. We gone through ice storms and hurricanes that took out the power. Who knows what next week or next year may bring. I want to be able to cope with whatever it is the best I can. To that end, I do try to stay prepared for the worst, while hoping those preparations aren't needed in my remaining lifetime.

In fact it's more important, today, to be prepared than it was even 20 years ago. We don't have the physical abilities to cope that aging have gradually taken from us.

Lee

Allergies are another big reason people turn air conditioning on. That's the close #2 motivation for me -- especially in the spring.

This has turned into a very interesting discussion. A/C has tremendously influenced building design -- homes and commercial buildings -- and that would have severe repercussions were power ever to go out for several days, let alone weeks or months or years.

A/C has influenced where a lot of people are willing to live in this country. My DC neighborhood, with its brick rowhouses, brick sidewalks and asphalt is 10 or more degrees warmer on a hot evening than the National Mall -- where there is usually at least a breeze at night and the two-mile expanse of grass does not retain heat like brick and asphalt do. On hot days, like this past weekend, fellow dog peops and I drive our pups down to the mall after 7:00p to walk them.

In California and Oregon where I grew up, there might have been a week or so every summer when I wished we'd had A/C. But we just ran a lot of window fans and dealt with it, no big deal because those supremely hot days were rare and humidity would not be something I monitored until moving east.

In DC, especially in the most densely populated sections where there is zero space between homes or office buildings, it would be for many residents not just extremely uncomfortable but downright dangerous. Friends who are from the Gulf Coast think I'm a weenie and don't really know oppressive humidity. Having been to Tampa in July, I agree with them -- whoa -- that has to be experienced to believe. But what we have is bad enough. Actually, this summer is the coolest since I've lived here or any of my neighbors can remember. Still, the a/c runs.

Another ramification of A/C is that before its advent, Congress used to be in session a lot less in the summer.

That was surely an unanticipated and profound consequence....

;-)

Me too.

I wonder if widespread A/C isn't part of the reason for nationwide obesity.

Anybody else remember lying in bed in the summer sweating, unable to sleep ? And having no appetite due to the heat?

That's bws48's quote not mine btw