I was brought up in Baltimore pre-A/C. We had a whole house fan; a device that I incorporated into my present house back in 1986. It really works well by blowing all the hot air out of the attic while drawing in the cool air. My house also has a wrap-around porch roof (south facing) that shields the lower floor from the sun. The upper floor roof has a 2 ft. overhang that reduces the summer sun coming into the upper floor windows. Yes, we also have a real screen door on each door. Between the Southern Colonial style (anti-solar engineering?), the house's geo-orientation and the whole house fan; we maintain a lot of non-A/C days. We do, however, have 4 tons of heat pump capacity (zone heating/cooling) available for the extreme heat.

To top it off, we live in Harford's Highpoint area where the radiant cooling in the evening is spectacular (at least in the summer). I swear we live in a micro-climate; the local temp differential recorded by the car's outside thermometer was an 8 degree drop in the last two miles to my house. Go figure....

FR: We grew up (in NJ) with a whole-house fan. Never did have AC. And a whole-house fan was the first thing we bought when we moved to Baltimore and our candles melted. Do miss it in the new place, but pollen allergies have since forced us to seal the place up and switch on the AC.

Heat sucks. I'm from northeast Ohio, where the average number of 90 degree days is about 7 or 8 and anything over 80 is "hot".

I live in an East Baltimore rowhouse with two window units -- one downstairs and one upstairs (in the back bedroom). I have a black rubber roof. I have an exhaust fan in a back window and open the windows in the (front) bedroom, to try to bring some breeze through the house. I also have two pretty good ceiling fans in the two upstairs bedrooms. Because of the layout of the house, I cannot close off the upstairs from the downstairs to capture air-conditioned air upstairs.

I resisted putting the AC on until last (Thursday) night. Sleeping was a challenge with the indoor temperature at 92 degrees. Call me a martyr, a tightwad, or just perverse.... I believe that Americans over-use air conditioning. Frugal use of resources requires some sacrifice. Full disclosure: I do work in an air-conditioned office and have air conditioning in my car. I finally put the AC on last night ... but have turned it off today. Right now (12:23 PM), it's 92 in my back yard and 87 here at my desk. Feels good, frankly.

I am able to avoid the heat best at work. They keep the AC cold (almost too cold) there. My truck's AC is broken, but I enjoy rolling down the windows...except for Thursday evening when I worked up a sweat driving home! My house is old so we use window units. Some rooms are comfortable others are hot. We keep the air conditioning as high as my pregnant wife can take it because I do not want to pay BGE the arm and a leg they are going to require at the end of the month!! All in all I am very thankful for the ability to keep a cool less humid environment.

My house, car, and work all have AC, I also have a pool so for the most part it doesn't bother me, except for my running. I'm a serious runner (run every day), and this weather can make me training a pain in the but, forcing me to run at the crack of dawn (although even then it's still rough out), or inside on a treamill, instead of the middle of the day or in the afternoon when I usually go.

I'm asthmatic, so the high heat and the accompanying decrease in air quality keep me indoors -- meaning I can't go out for walks, which are pretty much the only exercise I get.

So while I'm not out IN the heat, it still has an adverse impact on my health, and raises my BGE bill to boot!

You never know a good thing until it's gone-- and an a/c is one of those things. Usually I don't turn on my a/c until it is over 90 degrees outside.

Unfortunately, a few days ago, someone stole the entire unit out of my backyard and I'm finding out I'm not the first in my area (Union Square/Franklin Square) to have it stolen. As a matter of fact, one whose unit was stolen weeks prior, found someone trying to steal it again, not long after.

Anyway, I have one good fan that's in my bedroom window, that provides pretty good relief, especially at night time. I may increase my heat threshold from 90 to 95.

Hiya,

Lets not forget dehumidifiers. Mine is a lifesaver as its not the heat that drives me nuts when sleeping but the humidity.

I run a "Single AC " in the bedroom in a large corner rowhouse.

My desk and computer are in this room.

88 during the day and 80 degrees at night.

Cats do get to be a problem as I like to close the doors and they want to come and go.

Fran in Baltimore

I grew up in a dry climate, so the humidity really bothers me, more than the temperature alone. And I have had to run the AC this spring even on nights when it was cool outside due to sinus issues.

That said, I think we rely too much on the AC. If we used it less, or set it for higher temps, we would acclimate to the heat better. You can't acclimate to hot weather, if every building or vehicle you are in is at 70 degrees. As much as I dislike the hot humid weather, I was surprised last August to find that it wasn't bothering me as badly. And that is the ONLY positive thing you will hear me say about last summer's weather.

I am daily grateful for our modern conveniences that make it possible to live comfortably.

My tolerance is lower than Fran's though... 80 during the day, and 74 at night.

We installed central AC (two zones) 5 years ago as part of a major house project. Before that we relied on two window units in our sons' bedrooms and ceiling fans in every bedroom. There is a huge difference in sleeping comfort with the AC bringing the humidity down to comfortable levels.

When we went to California in August some years ago it was a reminder that August weather in some places can be quite comfortable--I had forgotten!