[razerbeans]

I've had a very similar experience (both in terms of coming from the southeast and the "you don't need air conditioning here" lines). I don't know why people still say that AC isn't needed. Year over year, it seems to get worse. Add in the smoke from the fires that seems to settle in every other year, it just doesn't make sense _not_ to have AC.

A couple of summers ago, when the heat was so bad in the Seattle area, I called a local HVAC installation and repair company to talk about getting AC installed at my home (built sometime in the 80's). There was a wait list of _hundreds_ ahead of me and unit shortages. It was a nightmare. Luckily, folks seemed to reconsider installation over the winter and I was able to work our way up to the top of the line to get things installed during the winter. Best decision I've made.

[fnordpiglet]

Yeah I think the 9 months of winter tends to make people forget precisely how miserable summer can be without at least a little bit of AC. With the climate heat pumps are effectively ideal here and electricity is relatively cheap and renewable. There’s literally no reason other than stubbornness at this point.

[razerbeans]

Part of me wonders if it's similar to the "never carry an umbrella" dynamic? Maybe it's just a "well, this is just how it is, carry on"?

Anyway, it's probably different in our minds because in the southeast, the heat + the humidity can literally kill you. Not having AC isn't just an inconvenience there; it's an emergency.

[fnordpiglet]

Yeah absolutely. I spent so many nights with the bedsheets plastered to my body I can’t sleep if it’s even warm, I start flashing back to the trauma of my youth.

[ZeroGravitas]

Perhaps an explanation is that the climate has changed? Some kind of warming of the globe?