As of this moment, the local weather is rather elevated in temperature, just on the brink of the official start of summer at the solstice. Thus it would seem a good day to turn on the air conditioning for the first time this year. However, I haven't done that just yet, although it may depend at some point on how much the cats whine, if they concern themselves about such things. So from that, of course, one can muse about an old environmental concern, the impact of A/C on climate change, carbon footprints and such.....
INPO (or even INP sense of importance):
(1) One place to read about getting a suitable unit for one's home is this link from the "Cut Your Footprint" site, which notes:
".....many homes in America will have several units, using up valuable energy and contributing to global warming caused by their high levels of carbon emissions.....
....most people will buy [an A/C unit] that is considerably too big for their room causing excessive carbon emissions."
(2) From Beachside Air Conditioning, a California business, a tidbit from this page:
"Americans spend $11 billion keeping their homes cool every year, and the average American air conditioning unit releases almost 2 tons of carbon dioxide every year."
(3) The Global Warming page (note its address in the following URL) has this page, which has this somewhat disquieting passage:
"We can never expect to eliminate the use of air conditioners in homes, because the idea is unrealistic, and honestly, air conditioners do save lives. We live in modern societies where we must be permitted modern conveniences, and air conditioners are one of those human luxuries that we will most certainly not give up."
(4) In sort of the same spirit as (3), Molly Priesmeyer has this blog post from the Live Green Twin Cities site:
"I have simple pleasures I can't easily forgo, and a cool place to sleep sweat-induced nightmare-free is one of them."
BTW, Priesmeyer links back to another post about tips to reduce use. Her comments on commercial use are also eye-poppers, which you can understand intuitively if you work in an office setting, as I do.
Self does fall into that category as well, as do many of us, regarding creature comfort benefits of A/C. I'll use my A/C (at home and in the car), but as minimally as I think that I can stand. Of course, if I think about it, I wonder what effect that me not turning on the A/C or keeping the temperature somewhat high has on my upstairs neighbors. In principle, their floor is warmer than would be otherwise, which may affect their bill, if not mine.
In fact, at an afternoon concert that I attended last weekend, it was also quite warm, and the A/C was kept on to keep the audience and performers reasonably cool. However, the lights were turned off because of the noise they were making, but also because there was enough ambient light to read the sung texts by. At intermission, I half-jokingly asked one of the concert organizers if it might be possible to turn off the A/C for the second half of the concert, for reasons of sound, but also because I thought the building was cooled down enough that we could deal with 45 minutes w/o a running A/C. She replied that they'd thought of it beforehand, but that the computer program that controls the A/C couldn't be overridden. Sometimes technology is a bear.
So with that, time for the usual SNLC protocol, namely your loser stories of the week, which may or may not involve A/C or related issues. Just as an FYI, this is an "absentee landlord" posting, so I won't be replying to comments right away. If any of the regulars stop by, feel free to keep the chit-chat going and mojo comments until I get back. This assumes, of course, that all the comments made in my absence are fit to read :) . As noted, technology can be a bear, if various ways.