I come from a part of the country that was well behind the rest of it technologically, and am an older person besides. i well remember what it was like without air conditioning.
Well, I’ll admit the banks had AC, but that was about it.
It’s liveable, but a long way from being present. Outside, it’s not bad at all. You get used to it. Inside, it’s tough. I remember how women in offices had a bottle of cologne in their desk drawer with which to wipe their faces and necks. Men had these shoes on which only the toe and heel were leather. The rest of the shoe was woven straw of some kind. Mens’ dress shirts were unbelievably thin, and were sort of silky. And electric fans were ubiquitous, of course. Women wore dresses so light they HAD to wear slips underneath them. And, of course there were the hand-held cardboard fans in church with the funeral home’s name on them.
People sat outside in the evening until their houses cooled off enough to sleep in. This part of the country is classified “subtropical humid” and the “humid” part sure is true…until about mid-July. After that, the heat really isn’t unpleasant because the air is so dry. But it was social too. People walked around in the evening and talked to the people sitting in their yards.
It’s liveable without AC. But I don’t think it’s very efficient. When people are too hot, they don’t function very well, spend too much time fanning themselves, going outside to get some relief, etc. Probably costs the economy more than the cost of AC.
