The fact that 50% of people still believe things like a TV, Microwave, and central A/C are "necessities" means we have a very long way to go. I guess I can be happy it dropped from 60%.
I would give up Internet before I gave up A/C. I've only seen one home in Tucson well enough insulated to give up A/C, and it was built, brick by brick by the owners, and only had two very small windows.
Maybe construction techniques appropriate to local conditions are more of a necessity than AC? There are plenty of places where people have survived in similar conditions for hundreds if not thousands of years prior to AC.
Of the many ways that people handled heat before AC [1], most involved thicker walls and living underground. Air Conditioning has allowed the use of modern building materials (drywall & studs, rather than poured concrete or bricks), and therefore greatly accelerated the growth of home ownership.
As with everything, there are pros and cons--cheap electricity has simply led to the use of AC rather than natural cooling.
I'm really confused how people got along before A/C. If the A/C is broken or otherwise off, your windows are down and fans are running everywhere, and you are completely naked, it still feels like you are sitting inside a very hot wet oven.
I can hardly do anything but think of ways to get away from the heat (cold shower, going into the shade outside, going someplace with A/C) and falling asleep usually takes about four more hours than it should as I wallow around like a pig. Every 6-month 100-degree summer reminds me why I need to move out of the South.
I asked my dad the same thing and here was his trick to fall asleep at night:
He had a ceiling fan but no AC. So he would wrap himself in a blanket until he was soaked with sweat. Then he took the blanket off and laid on his sheet and let the fan blow on him thereby evaporating the sweat. This would cool him down and allow him to sleep.
There is a difference between "home air conditioning", i.e. central air, and independent A/C units. I live in Boston and would be insane to go the summer without A/C, but a few portable units strategically placed work fine.
Even still, there are countries far hotter than the United States which do not generally (or never) have A/C and they seem to survive just fine. Perhaps the definition of "necessity" is the argument here, but in a strict-leaning sense, A/C is hardly a necessity. None of the things on that list are, really.
Comments
The fact that 50% of people still believe things like a TV, Microwave, and central A/C are "necessities" means we have a very long way to go. I guess I can be happy it dropped from 60%.
Please live in Tucson in July. :)
I would give up Internet before I gave up A/C. I've only seen one home in Tucson well enough insulated to give up A/C, and it was built, brick by brick by the owners, and only had two very small windows.
Maybe construction techniques appropriate to local conditions are more of a necessity than AC? There are plenty of places where people have survived in similar conditions for hundreds if not thousands of years prior to AC.
Of the many ways that people handled heat before AC [1], most involved thicker walls and living underground. Air Conditioning has allowed the use of modern building materials (drywall & studs, rather than poured concrete or bricks), and therefore greatly accelerated the growth of home ownership.
As with everything, there are pros and cons--cheap electricity has simply led to the use of AC rather than natural cooling.
[1]http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/7424
Have you ever lived in the south? A/C is very much a necessity.
Yet people did it. My parents grew up in St. Louis without air conditioning. It gets uncomfortable but is not unlivable.
People live in the tropics without it. It is not a necessity.
I'm really confused how people got along before A/C. If the A/C is broken or otherwise off, your windows are down and fans are running everywhere, and you are completely naked, it still feels like you are sitting inside a very hot wet oven.
I can hardly do anything but think of ways to get away from the heat (cold shower, going into the shade outside, going someplace with A/C) and falling asleep usually takes about four more hours than it should as I wallow around like a pig. Every 6-month 100-degree summer reminds me why I need to move out of the South.
I asked my dad the same thing and here was his trick to fall asleep at night:
He had a ceiling fan but no AC. So he would wrap himself in a blanket until he was soaked with sweat. Then he took the blanket off and laid on his sheet and let the fan blow on him thereby evaporating the sweat. This would cool him down and allow him to sleep.
> Yet people did it. My parents grew up in St. Louis without air conditioning.
In the past, people were allowed to sweat (and smell of sweat.)
There is a difference between "home air conditioning", i.e. central air, and independent A/C units. I live in Boston and would be insane to go the summer without A/C, but a few portable units strategically placed work fine.
Even still, there are countries far hotter than the United States which do not generally (or never) have A/C and they seem to survive just fine. Perhaps the definition of "necessity" is the argument here, but in a strict-leaning sense, A/C is hardly a necessity. None of the things on that list are, really.