So I have a roommate for the summer and we both decided that we didn’t need the air conditioner installed. We live in an old house so there is no central air, but there is a window unit that sits in the kitchen window. When our maintenance man came by to give us some missing screens and I told him that we didn’t want the AC unit installed, he thought we were out of our minds. Still I persisted, and we didn’t get it put in though he said that he could come back if we change our minds. Well, that was a month ago and since then it has gotten rather hot. And humid. I tend not to leave the windows open very wide during the day: it’s a safe neighborhood, but I’m afraid that my dog might discover just how easy it is to push the screens out. So when we get home, it is generally rather warm. I think that we could solve the problem by have a fan help circulate the air (there are lots of windows), but lately I’ve been thinking, are we just nuts?

I like the idea of saving money and conserving energy by not using the AC unit. I imagine that the air conditioner would need to be fairly high to cool the entire apartment, making a noticeable difference in our utility bill. But at the same time it seems a bit silly for us to sit around in the heat when we have a perfectly good AC unit in our storage closet. Since I grew up without an air conditioner, and have lived in very few places that have had one, I’m used to it. However, sometimes I wonder if I’m just stuck in an outdated mindset. How do you determine the line between conservation and craziness? Some things seems obvious, like riding your bike during a massive thunderstorm when you have a working car, or eating rotting food just on principle of not wasting resources. But I think other situations, like ours, are a bit more subtle. Perhaps I will get a fan and see if it helps, and then re-evaluate the situation from there. Any suggestions?