Life Without Air-Conditioning? Not Cool

Shorter work hours and no business suits! Dinners on the porch and afternoons in parks! Less street crime, more green roofs! Life without AC in DC wouldn't be all bad...

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.

At home:

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.

... but a productive workday and a good night's sleep is way too important for me to long for the halcyon, hot days of yesteryear. Read the full story at the Washington Post.