Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Ben on July 12, 2010, 11:20:13 AM
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I think this guy is an idiot. I'm guessing he's never done any manual labor for a living either. Also I'm sure people in certain parts of DC and other high crime areas would just love to go to sleep at night with all their windows wide open ("grills" or no).
Many of the enviros at my work think just like this guy and complain whenever I have the air conditioning in my office on. Yet because they're always cold, the area of the office where they sit is always between 80-85 degrees all year, which means the heater is cranking most of the year. Perhaps not a one to one ratio on energy use, but if I'm being told to take off my jacket and turn off the A/C, why can't someone who's cold put theirs on?
I'm all for things like architectural modifications to reduce energy use, but why do these people always have to come off so finger-waggy? It's very annoying.
Anyways, they'll have to take my air conditioning from my warm, dead hands.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/09/AR2010070902341.html
In the heat wave, the case against air conditioning
By Stan Cox
Sunday, July 11, 2010; B03
Washington didn't grind to a sweaty halt last week under triple-digit temperatures. People didn't even slow down. Instead, the three-day, 100-plus-degree, record-shattering heat wave prompted Washingtonians to crank up their favorite humidity-reducing, electricity-bill-busting, fluorocarbon-filled appliance: the air conditioner.
(Photos: People cool down during heat wave)
This isn't smart. In a country that's among the world's highest greenhouse-gas emitters, air conditioning is one of the worst power-guzzlers. The energy required to air-condition American homes and retail spaces has doubled since the early 1990s. Turning buildings into refrigerators burns fossil fuels, which emits greenhouse gases, which raises global temperatures, which creates a need for -- you guessed it -- more air-conditioning.
A.C.'s obvious public-health benefits during severe heat waves do not justify its lavish use in everyday life for months on end. Less than half a century ago, America thrived with only the spottiest use of air conditioning. It could again. While central air will always be needed in facilities such as hospitals, archives and cooling centers for those who are vulnerable to heat, what would an otherwise A.C.-free Washington look like?
At work
In a world without air conditioning, a warmer, more flexible, more relaxed workplace helps make summer a time to slow down again. Three-digit temperatures prompt siestas. Code-orange days mean offices are closed. Shorter summer business hours and month-long closings -- common in pre-air-conditioned America -- return.
(Eye on Earth: A glimpse of how humans might be impacting the natural environment)
Business suits are out, for both sexes. And with the right to open a window, office employees no longer have to carry sweaters or space heaters to work in the summer. After a long absence, ceiling fans, window fans and desk fans (and, for that matter, paperweights) take back the American office.
Best of all, Washington's biggest business -- government -- is transformed. In 1978, 50 years after air conditioning was installed in Congress, New York Times columnist Russell Baker noted that, pre-A.C., Congress was forced to adjourn to avoid Washington's torturous summers, and "the nation enjoyed a respite from the promulgation of more laws, the depredations of lobbyists, the hatching of new schemes for Federal expansion and, of course, the cost of maintaining a government running at full blast."
Post-A.C., Congress again adjourns for the summer, giving "tea partiers" the smaller government they seek. During unseasonably warm spring and fall days, hearings are held under canopies on the Capitol lawn. What better way to foster open government and prompt politicians to focus on climate change?
At home
Homeowners from Ward 8 to the Palisades pry open double-hung windows that were painted shut decades ago. In the air-conditioned age, fear of crime was often cited by people reluctant to open their homes to night breezes. In Washington, as in most of the world's warm cities, window grilles (not "bars," please) are now standard.
In renovation and new construction alike, high ceilings, better cross-ventilation, whole-house fans, screened porches, basements and white "cool roofs" to reflect solar rays become de rigueur. Home utility bills plummet.
Families unplug as many heat-generating appliances as possible. Forget clothes dryers --post-A.C. neighborhoods are crisscrossed with clotheslines. The hot stove is abandoned for the grill, and dinner is eaten on the porch.
Around town
Saying goodbye to A.C. means saying hello to the world. With more people spending more time outdoors -- particularly in the late afternoon and evening, when temperatures fall more quickly outside than they do inside -- neighborhoods see a boom in spontaneous summertime socializing.
Rather than cowering alone in chilly home-entertainment rooms, neighbors get to know one another. Because there are more people outside, streets in high-crime areas become safer. As a result of all this, a strange thing happens: Deaths from heat decline. Elderly people no longer die alone inside sweltering apartments, too afraid to venture outside for help and too isolated to be noticed. Instead, people look out for one another during heat waves, checking in on their most vulnerable neighbors.
Children -- and others -- take to bikes and scooters, because of the cooling effect of air movement. Calls for more summer school and even year-round school cease. Our kids don't need more time inside, everyone agrees; they need the shady playgrounds and water sprinklers that spring up in every neighborhood.
"Green roofs" of grass, ivy and even food crops sprout on the flat tops of government and commercial buildings around the city, including the White House. These layers of soil and vegetation (on top of a crucially leak-proof surface) insulate interiors from the pounding sun, while water from the plants' leaves provides evaporative cooling. More trees than ever appear in both private and public spaces.
And the Mall is reborn as the National Grove.
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He's an idiot...
Except for this:
Best of all, Washington's biggest business -- government -- is transformed. In 1978, 50 years after air conditioning was installed in Congress, New York Times columnist Russell Baker noted that, pre-A.C., Congress was forced to adjourn to avoid Washington's torturous summers, and "the nation enjoyed a respite from the promulgation of more laws, the depredations of lobbyists, the hatching of new schemes for Federal expansion and, of course, the cost of maintaining a government running at full blast."
Post-A.C., Congress again adjourns for the summer, giving "tea partiers" the smaller government they seek. During unseasonably warm spring and fall days, hearings are held under canopies on the Capitol lawn.
I actually told my coworkers last week I am all in favor of banning air conditioning in ALL government buildings.
I suppose even a blind squirrel can find some acorns.
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Oooo, here's a great one:
Forget clothes dryers --post-A.C. neighborhoods are crisscrossed with clotheslines. The hot stove is abandoned for the grill, and dinner is eaten on the porch.
A SERIOUS number of HoAs would have to change their policies first. I have no problem with hanging clothes. HoAs do, though.
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We don't use it in homes, and there are times in the summer when we could make use of it. That said, I don't understand using AC to actually make it cold in the workplace. Was sat in a meeting the other day, near 30c outside, and the AC was set to 15c.
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The author obviously hasn't lived in Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas or California.
Try keeping a computer alive for more than a month in a 90-100 degree living environment.
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Try keeping a computer alive for more than a month in a 90-100 degree living environment.
Yeah, when people complain that it's too cold in the classroom or my office, I point out that I'm on the same A/C line as the server room. That usually ends the discussion.
DD
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Several years ago, a woman at one of our department meetings stated that she felt that the A/C was set too low, as she was always cold.
The rest of the crew - almost all guys - felt the A/C was fine.
She continued to complain . . . until I said "Dora, you can always wear a sweater if you're chilly. How much of my clothing are you comfortable with my removing if I feel too hot in here?"
Much laughter . . . but she never complained in public about the A/C again. =D
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I can't figure out people who think they need a space heater for an A/C office, like they aren't smart enough to keep a sweater or jacket in the office. I'd probably reprimand then fire folks who do that, same for folks who think they have to turn the heat up or turn the AC down.
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Electric resistance heaters use way more juice than heat pumps in cooling, ime.
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In a world without air conditioning, a warmer, more flexible, more relaxed workplace helps make summer a time to slow down again. Three-digit temperatures prompt siestas. Code-orange days mean offices are closed. Shorter summer business hours and month-long closings -- common in pre-air-conditioned America -- return.
The real reason for eliminating AC - the author doesn't want to work during the summer :lol:
Business suits are out, for both sexes.
And is scared of suits. Heh.
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Why, there'd be sweat running in the streets.
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In a world without air conditioning, a warmer, more flexible, more relaxed workplace helps make summer a time to slow down again. Three-digit temperatures prompt siestas. Code-orange days mean offices are closed. Shorter summer business hours and month-long closings -- common in pre-air-conditioned America -- return.
Except some of us do "important" enough work that we don't WANT a couple hour siestas or WEEKS of businesses being closed. Any company stupid enough to follow his guidelines might be able maybe stay in business. Doubtful, but possible. But gods would it suck to work for such a company. More likely, they'd be out of business or bought out by a less stupid company.
Think this guy would stick with a job that randomly furloughed him without pay based on the weather? Or did he think someone besides the government would pay him to sit at home?
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Try to take away my A/C, and I'll kill you. End of discussion.
In a world without air conditioning, a warmer, more flexible, more relaxed workplace helps make summer a time to slow down again.
That's stupid, as Revdisk notes. I get paid only if I work. And has this fool ever unloaded a tractor trailer without A/C in the warehouse? I have. It's frickin' miserable.
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I'm all for environmentalism, but this guy's a bit loony.
Has he ever been in an attic room with low ceilings in the summer? I live in the attic and it easily get +20 - 30 degrees hotter than outside air temperature. I've already had to vacate the attic more than twice this year because it was too hot with my AC on high! Pretty annoying not being able to use your own room.
What about high rise office building? I'm in the Chrysler Building, per our lease where not allowed to open the windows. (I don't know why, risk of dropping things?) I'd hate to find out how hot this building can get without air conditioning. At least he didn't advocate no AC on the subway, I could only imagine the funk that would produce.
Code-orange days mean offices are closed.
Yea, my boss is going to give me the day off because its "too hot" ;/
Shorter summer business hours and month-long closings
Just what we need in these tough economic times, people producing less, and earning less money! Fantabulis idea!
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Has he ever been in an attic room with low ceilings in the summer? I live in the attic and it easily get +20 - 30 degrees hotter than outside air temperature. I've already had to vacate the attic more than twice this year because it was too hot with my AC on high! Pretty annoying not being able to use your own room.
Well, in the 'good old days' the attic was there deliberately to provide insulation/moderation to the floors underneath it, protecting them from the sun. You also likely have insignificant amounts of insulation up there.
There are numerous cases where a 10 year loan on the basis of cooling/heating costs would pay for some serious remodeling to save energy.
What about high rise office building? I'm in the Chrysler Building, per our lease where not allowed to open the windows. (I don't know why, risk of dropping things?) I'd hate to find out how hot this building can get without air conditioning. At least he didn't advocate no AC on the subway, I could only imagine the funk that would produce.
Any building that gets big enough will require active cooling; even in Siberia during the winter. Still, there are things you can do to get creative and reduce the amount needed. If nothing else, a number of fancy tricks and using a quarter of the energy for dozens of skyscrapers might actually drop the outside temperature a bit. Heck, 'greenspacing' where you get rid of sqaure miles of concrete and put grass and other plants back can drop ambient.
I'll note that I don't endorse what this guy mentions; my work would suck in the summer without AC, though my house doesn't have it. Better options include actually having energy audits and such done - eliminate wasteful cooling to 60-65 unless there's an actual need. Cool to 75-80, heat to 65-70. Work to make buildings that tend to keep in that range themselves. Thermal mass and such.
Hmm... Any of you guys heard of absorption chillers? I remember reading about a building that built a solar powered version - the more sun they got, the more chilled water it produced. Combined with a BIG water tank, it could provide AC all day long.
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I work in a building with insufficient AC. It's bearable during spring/fall. Now though? It's probably 40 degrees Celsius, atleast. I'm expecting to drop down from heatstroke any day now. Put this idiot in there and he'd be dead within the first hour...
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In high humidity, I have breathing difficulty without AC. But I guess I could just move into a "cooling center" with the other defectives. My house doesn't have central air, but my office is in the kitchen nook, where we have a good window unit, and there's another in the bedroom.
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Try to take away my A/C, and I'll kill you. End of discussion.
That's stupid, as Revdisk notes. I get paid only if I work. And has this fool ever unloaded a tractor trailer without A/C in the warehouse? I have. It's frickin' miserable.
Our Aux. warehouse is just a hair North of Atlanta. The operations areas (dock, pick areas, basically everywhere but the offices) has no climate control.
Near Atlanta Georgia. Middle of summer. No AC. Unloading an import container.
No thanks.
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I've vaguely recall hearing of people suffering heart attacks or some sort of sudden affliction when stepping from an AC environment into serious heat. Ever heard anything like that?
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I work in a building that has no AC, just fans. Days have been popping up to high-90s lately, and 80-95% humidity.
When I leave this job, it will be for one I've had before, working outside on a hot tarmac in 115o, 80% humidity weather on wings that bake at a nice 130-135o. As long as I have enough water, I'm fine.
But if you take away my AC, I will overlap fields of fire with Avenger29.
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Helped a friend prep his parent's farm for sale this past week.
It was VERY hot in Pennsyvlvania.
If the thermometers were to be believed, it topped out at 102 on the front porch and in the barn, when we opened the doors?
127.
And that was on the barn floor.
Up in the loft it was probably a lot hotter than that.
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I work in a downtown office building with windows that don't open. I can't imagine how many windows would have to be replaced. Also, I'm not sure I want to inhale vehicle exhaust all day long.
Unreal. Sometimes other people's versions of utopia is pretty funny.
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Another consideration is modern home design.
Older homes were built without A/C in mind. They typically had good cross ventilation with the windows, adequate numbers of windows, and many had attic fans vaults and similar systems to draw hot air out of the living spaces and either into the vaults/lofts or out of the house entirely. In short, they were made to have natural cooling. Not as good, but it made it bearable.
Modern homes, on the other hand, are not built with such considerations. They are built with A/C cooling in mind so typically have crappy cross ventilation and no means to evacuate hot air from the home. In short, without A/C they typically become much hotter then a comparable older home would have.
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Unreal. Sometimes other people's versions of utopia is pretty funny.
The liberal "utopias" are found in movies such as Avatar, in the communes of the 1960's, and in the railings against Big (Oil, Pharmaceuticals, or insert industry here). The utopias seem to be comprised of small agrarian communities where individuals grow their own food, and live "simple" lives that don't rely on polluting technologies or large corporations.
The irony of this is that such societies exist all over the planet in Third World countries. The lack of Big Agriculture leaves the societies vulnerable to famine, the lack of Big Pharmaceuticals to death by what we would consider minor disease, and the lack of Big Business to brutal poverty.
If the author wants to stand in oppressive heat poking a sharp stick at what he hopes will be dinner, good for him, as long as he leaves me out of his plans.
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If the author wants to stand in oppressive heat poking a sharp stick at what he hopes will be dinner, good for him, as long as he leaves me out of his plans.
+1. I'm just fine with letting them live their lives however it floats their boat. When they want to interfer with mine is when I get really, really pissed.
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When I worked in Phoenix, I had to wear a sweatshirt in the office to keep warm. Just sitting at a desk, my body temperature doesn't stay up.
Every couple hours I would actually step outside into the 110 degree parking lot for a few minutes to warm up.
FWIW .... =|
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Welcome to the world of sustainable development and Maurice Strong. Reduction in the use of A/C is only the beginning. We use too much refrigeration and it has to be cut back or so says Maurice.
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When I worked in Phoenix, I had to wear a sweatshirt in the office to keep warm. Just sitting at a desk, my body temperature doesn't stay up.
Every couple hours I would actually step outside into the 110 degree parking lot for a few minutes to warm up.
FWIW .... =|
I've been doing that lately. The folks in the SOC like to keep the air at 65. I was enjoying the 100deg days lately, it meant I could step out and warm up.
Chris
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Bears repeating from Monkeyleg:
The liberal "utopias" are found in movies such as Avatar, in the communes of the 1960's, and in the railings against Big (Oil, Pharmaceuticals, or insert industry here). The utopias seem to be comprised of small agrarian communities where individuals grow their own food, and live "simple" lives that don't rely on polluting technologies or large corporations.
The irony of this is that such societies exist all over the planet in Third World countries. The lack of Big Agriculture leaves the societies vulnerable to famine, the lack of Big Pharmaceuticals to death by what we would consider minor disease, and the lack of Big Business to brutal poverty.
If the author wants to stand in oppressive heat poking a sharp stick at what he hopes will be dinner, good for him, as long as he leaves me out of his plans.
Well said.
Terry, 230RN
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I run a glass furnace in Texas. 50 feet away from the furnace the air temp stays between 110 - 130 degrees 24/7 from may through October. Closer varies between 130 degrees to "you fall over and die". Air conditioning in the control room is nice. Cold January nights are nicer. When your ears and fingers are frozen you'd be surprised at how nice 150 degree temperatures feel (in 90 to 120 second intervals).
Did anyone else here know that you can dry a sopping wet leather glove in 15 seconds by putting it on the end of a shovel handle and holding it over 2000 degree glass? Don't hold it there any longer than 15 seconds or put it any closer than a foot to the glass or it will catch fire.
P.S Vent your beef stew cans before setting them next to the furnace to warm up. Otherwise they explode.
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I've vaguely recall hearing of people suffering heart attacks or some sort of sudden affliction when stepping from an AC environment into serious heat. Ever heard anything like that?
A friend of mine experiences chest pain when he moves between AC/no AC on hot days, particularly if he does so repeatedly. He has significant airway remodeling from severe asthma.
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A friend of mine experiences chest pain when he moves between AC/no AC on hot days, particularly if he does so repeatedly. He has significant airway remodeling from severe asthma.
Another who suffers when moving from moderate temps to heat or increased humidity. Seems the lack of a complete cardiac kit (scarring from heart attack makes 58% of the muscle non-functional) along with increased size/sponginess from CHF reduces the ability to pump extra blood on demand, which the body wants to do when suddenly exposed to higher heat/humidity levels. Has something to do with using the blood as a cooling mechanism and the failure of evolution to give humans giant radiators like the elephants have. Amazingly (no, not really) I do not suffer the same cardiac or breathing problems going from either hot or moderate to very cold. I fact, things get better in both departments.
So, it's not a question of personal preference that keeps my AC running. The power company says I qualify for listing as a "priority" for restoring power due to my condition. Mess with my AC and you are threatening my life and the law says I can shoot you if you do that.
stay safe.
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The author obviously hasn't lived in Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas or California.
Try keeping a computer alive for more than a month in a 90-100 degree living environment.
Yup. Grew up in Northern Nevada. Without A/C, it's fraking unbearable during the summer, when its so hot outside it feels like you're stepping into a furnace. Having computers going makes it worse.
I remember almost getting heat exhaustion when I was about 16 from mowing a medium sized lawn at 11:00 in the morning. I really should have gotten up earlier; it was 111 degrees by that time.
Then there was the time I DID get heat exhaustion, playing little league baseball when I was around 12. Not fun.
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I was out in the record heat on a flat white roof just last week. Not much longer than necessary though, I'll tell you that. Some local news van lady came by and took a vid of the bank sign across the street that said 107*. Yes, I was installing the plastic chimneys for two furnaces. I think installing furnaces on a really hot day just makes it seem that much mo' hotter. :P
left my damn razor knife on the roof. I had to put two ladders back up to get it. :facepalm:
Contemplated leaving it there but I'm too cheap to do that. :lol:
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The liberal "utopias" are found in movies such as Avatar, in the communes of the 1960's, and in the railings against Big (Oil, Pharmaceuticals, or insert industry here). The utopias seem to be comprised of small agrarian communities where individuals grow their own food, and live "simple" lives that don't rely on polluting technologies or large corporations.
The irony of this is that such societies exist all over the planet in Third World countries. The lack of Big Agriculture leaves the societies vulnerable to famine, the lack of Big Pharmaceuticals to death by what we would consider minor disease, and the lack of Big Business to brutal poverty.
If the author wants to stand in oppressive heat poking a sharp stick at what he hopes will be dinner, good for him, as long as he leaves me out of his plans.
The problem is I think most of those Utopians want to stay in their wasteful, high living standard lives while telling the rest of us to go without A/C. Do as they say, not as they do.
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The problem is I think most of those Utopians want to stay in their wasteful, high living standard lives while telling the rest of us to go without A/C. Do as they say, not as they do.
I've noticed that about utopians. They think they deserve it since they came up with all the great ideas that will "correct" society. ;/
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I've noticed that about utopians. They think they deserve it since they came up with all the great ideas that will "correct" society. ;/
Are we talking about Al Gore again ? :lol: He can't hear us right now, he's talking to his lawyers about another matter. :police:
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If we were to shut our AC off (which runs at 69deg 24/7 from about April to Sept) I would end up dead.
My menopausal wife would kill me. Keeping the house at 69 means I'm freezing and she is tolerably hot.
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Keeping the house at 69 means I'm freezing and she is tolerably hot.
Kevin/ I like to set the thermostat to 69. Huh. Huh huh huh. /Kevin
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Heck, 'greenspacing' where you get rid of sqaure miles of concrete and put grass and other plants back can drop ambient.
Grass is a lousy choice; lots of water for zero return. Dead grass and/or bare dirt aren't much better than concrete for heat reduction, and less useful since you can't even skateboard on them. Community gardens, OTOH, with either a small user fee to cover watering and tilling (bulk tilling with a tractor is far more practical when you're dealing with several <500 sq ft plots) or soliciting sponsorship for that, provide a good stress reliever for a lot of folks, good food cheap, and the other greenspace benefits.
I remember almost getting heat exhaustion when I was about 16 from mowing a medium sized lawn at 11:00 in the morning. I really should have gotten up earlier; it was 111 degrees by that time.
I just finished mowing mine. 83F/70%. Still gotta weedeat..after another bottle of water.
Did anyone else here know that you can dry a sopping wet leather glove in 15 seconds by putting it on the end of a shovel handle and holding it over 2000 degree glass?
Sissy. When I was doing forge work in a coal forge, I'd wear a left welding gauntlet, and fill it up from the slack tub during every heat. Most times, the palm and insides of the fingers were dry by the fourth or fifth strike on a 2 ft bar that I'd only heated 3-4 inches of. Generally, I could go about three sessions per glove before I managed to burn through the leather.
As for hanging out laundry, when the humidity's over about 60% it can take a while to get things dry. For a family, that means a lot of clothesline space - more than most yards allow without completely giving over the yard. What are apartment dwellers going to do? It also means the clothes are out there for anyone who wants to swipe them. I wouldn't worry too much about my boxers, but my security uniforms and other stuff are potential targets for thieves. Not really thrilled about the prospect of hanging my daughter's underthings out there for any pervert who happens by, either.
And, of course, line-drying doesn't work when it's raining, and can be a real problem for people with local pollen allergies.
Keeping the house at 69 means I'm freezing and she is tolerably hot.
Dude, if you've got to keep her chilled to make her just tolerably hot, maybe you should just put a bag over her head or something. :P
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And, of course, line-drying doesn't work when it's raining, and can be a real problem for people with local pollen allergies.
Yeah. Also, you wouldn't have been able to line dry anything for about a month here earlier this spring. The pollen was especially heavy for a couple of weeks and just plain bad for a couple others. Almost looked like something out of the "dustbowl" era OK.
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If the author wants to stand in oppressive heat poking a sharp stick at what he hopes will be dinner, good for him, as long as he leaves me out of his plans.
I had some wittty snarky reply in mind, but hell, Monkeyleg whacked the nail on the head quite effectively.
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Grass is a lousy choice; lots of water for zero return. Dead grass and/or bare dirt aren't much better than concrete for heat reduction, and less useful since you can't even skateboard on them. Community gardens, OTOH, with either a small user fee to cover watering and tilling (bulk tilling with a tractor is far more practical when you're dealing with several <500 sq ft plots) or soliciting sponsorship for that, provide a good stress reliever for a lot of folks, good food cheap, and the other greenspace benefits.
Depends on the grass you choose, and I did mention 'other plants'. Various varieties of grass can be pretty universal; besides dandylions, other plants are not so much.
I'd actually prefer 'other plants' as long as they're lower maintenance. Even with grass I'd keep most of it longer and use slow-growing drought resistant varieties.
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So does this bozo use any AC? I don't want to read his article. I can't risk my IQ slipping any lower.
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I can't risk my IQ slipping any lower.
yea, you don't want to miss out on that Chinese job.
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Word.
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I have lived in Arizona for 30 years and have never had AC, either at home or at work, except for the short while I worked for the .gov of A. Being in AC causes me real problems with my lungs and joints. Like Tallpine, I used to go outside to warm up.
I would vote for cutting back on AC, but we would have to undo the passive heat generators called cities along with it and that would put more people out in the country. [barf]
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When I was a kid in Phoenix back in the sixties, all we had on the house was a swamp cooler. But our little JFL subdivision was basically out in the country as there were lettuce/onion fields all around back then.
My mom got one of those add-on a/c for the car (1959 Belair :) ) that took up half the front seat. :lol:
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I would vote for cutting back on AC, but we would have to undo the passive heat generators called cities along with it and that would put more people out in the country. [barf]
'passive' heat generators? They're very much active heat generators. Still, a lot of stuff like parking lots and blacktop also make them passive heat collectors.
Thus my suggestions earlier - arrange things so you reflect a lot of the heat back up, encourage air flow over just plain 'cold'.
Also, some of the sickness I think comes from sheer temperature difference. I'm a northern boy, I'll fully admit it. Florida is shorts weather year round. I appreciate some AC.
Still, there's a lot of buildings down there that are so AC'd that they're COLDER than the AC'd buildings up here, so much so that I get goose bumps. When the weather is over a hundred outside, you don't need to cool it down into the 50's. The 80's is perfectly good, especially when you factor in the dehumidification effect.
Don't get rid of AC, but AC less, spend a bit for things like light colored roofs to reduce heat load. Maybe even solar powered AC. Payback time in Florida should be 4-9 years. Probably even less if you set the system up so the hot water tubes can also be used for heat. Heck, they hsould work great up here - don't need much cooling, but with minimal extra tubing, I should be able to use the solar energy for floor heating and leave my furnace off for a couple more months.