Heart and Mind

Air Conditioning Habits, Then and Now

Damn, we use a lot more air conditioning these days than we used to, don't we? What's more interesting is how our attitudes have changed about it. It's more of a necessity than it's ever been. I can't necessarily speak for everyone, but I know that's how it kind of is for me, and I know I'm not alone. Let's tackle this subject in two sections: air conditioning in the car and air conditioning in the home.

Starting with the car, let me first say that I probably use my car AC more than just about anyone. I almost use it year-round. I probably use it from sometime in March through sometime in November, give or take. Really. I'm not all that keen on open car windows, because it's loud, it interferes with the radio, and it blows wind all over the place. Convertible? No thanks, not for me!

So, whenever I feel slightly stuffy or warm because maybe the car has been sitting in the sun for a while—even if it's March—I'll put the AC on. It's fair to say that there are parts of the year where I use the AC and heat on the same days, just at different points. And then, of course, I run it almost constantly from May through September. Having the AC on is like having the engine running—something that's always happening while the vehicle's in use.

Now this is totally not how it used to be. For starters, when I was growing up, air conditioning in your car was something of...well...I wouldn't call it a "luxury," but it was a bonus of sorts. Some cars had it, but many didn't. And even when a car did have it, I think people were more hesitant to use it. I know I was. It ate up more gas, so it was a cost factor. But the prevailing AC attitude was one where it almost felt like using it was bad, like eating high fat foods or something. It was something to be practiced in moderation. I remember it had to be "really hot" to justify using your AC. If you could possibly just open the windows fully and only be a little uncomfortable and sweat a little bit, then there was no need to put on the AC. It had to be one of those horribly hot spells—like the kind that only come once or twice a summer—to justify using the AC.

F*ck that.

I'll put my AC on and be comfortable to avoid sweating AT ALL.

What's really funny is that while I think it's completely unacceptable to be uncomfortable in transit for even routine tasks like going to work or the store, back in the day, we used to live with the fact that we had no AC in the car even when we were doing something like one of those July weddings, where everyone was all dressed up and men had bulky, long-sleeved suits on and the women had their hair and make-up done. But somehow, it was OK. That would be unacceptable now. If your car doesn't have AC today—which I'm sure it does—you'd probably borrow your Dad's car when you had to go to weddings.

Now let's talk about air conditioning in the house.

Well, like with the cars, it's obviously becoming more and more common in the household. New construction almost always has central AC. Those who don't have it usually have at least a couple of window units or something similar.

I actually don't have central AC for several reasons that are unrelated to the crux of the discussion here, but we do have a split unit ("ductless") system that cools off the kitchen, the living room, and the basic quarters where we hang out during the day, and then we also have some window units that we use at night for sleeping. The ductless is only a couple of years old, but the window units have been something we got on board with years ago, when we reached that point where we said, "Screw sweating our asses off at night! I don't care that AC saps extra energy costs—I work for a living and demand to be comfortable when I sleep."

But, again, it was never like that when I was growing up, and here's where it gets interesting.

The whole time I lived at home with my parents—ages zero through seventeen—we never had any air conditioning. None! Not in the main part of the house, not in my parent's bedroom, and—obviously—not in my bedroom. So sweating our asses off was just a fact of life and we somehow dealt with it.

I slept all summer long with a fan pointed at me, and that simply had to do. Most of the time it was OK, but I do recall there being those ridiculous spells once or twice a summer where I'd be sprawled out on my mattress, one pair of Fruit of the Looms being the only garment preventing me from being completely naked, and not moving an inch so as not to expend an ounce of energy, and STILL sweating my ass off intolerably. It felt almost deadly on those nights, where panic would start to set in and I'd think, "What am I going to do? I am soooooooo hot. I am never going to fall asleep because i am so uncomfortable."

That sucked. A couple of years back, while we were already long into the AC-in-the-bedroom phase of our lives, we had a blackout (during and because of one of those hot spells) and I got a reminder of how unbearably hot it used to be pre-AC. It's was horrible.

While I remember those crazy hot spell nights, what's really interesting to me is that I remember that I was OK sans air conditioning on pretty much the other, regular nights of the summer. Because those nights are pretty damn hot, too! Pretty much the bulk of July and August is good AC weather. For example, on a night like tonight where it's warm but not sweltering, I will entertain not using the AC, but I will regret that decision. I will sleep worse without AC tonight, even though I don't "need" it that badly. There's something about the stickiness of humid summer air. Dry air, cool air....air that has been "conditioned" like the name says...is far more appealing to me than normal air. I don't know how I used to deal and think it was normal. (But, then again, isn't that the mantra that accompanies all technological and cultural changes when looking back?)

One final point here. Air conditioners are made better these days and they're far more economical to use than they were back in the day, but they still cost extra on your electric bill. As a result, old school mentalities do sometimes play into the picture and people still compromise at times by keeping the AC lower or off altogether to save money, even though they'd be more comfortable cranking it up. It's the same old routine of "I'd love to use the AC right now, but I'm only a little uncomfortable so I can deal with this." While that threshold is, in general, way lower than it used to be, it still exists. My parents, as people older than I am, probably have an even older school mentality than mine, and I think I probably am quicker to give into AC than they might be. I, myself, have gotten better at reaching for the switch. I've actively tried to break my old school habit of thinking that it's OK to feel a little shitty, reasoning that this is not 1978 with some inefficient AC system that's going to triple my energy bill. Most importantly, I don't want to perpetrate the old school myth that AC is the same brilliant luxury it was 25 years ago where you need to be practically dying to justify the cost of being a little more comfortable.

After all, the oldest school people are, naturally, the elderly, and sometimes those old-timers make that "dying of the heat" expression a literal one. Last summer during one of the ridiculously hot heat spells, as is typical when they hit, people really did die from the heat. I think it was two elderly people in a trailer. The temperature was in the 100s outside and the inside of their place became like an oven and they died from heat stroke. You know what it said in the newspaper? It said there was an air conditioner in the window, but it was not turned on because they didn't want to use it because of the extra cost it incurred. What were they waiting for? I mean, if you own an air conditioner, but won't turn it on in weather that is so hot that it literally kills you, why even bother having it?

posted by Steve @ 10:48 PM