Oh, I know how you feel. Our last apt. in Hollwyood was pushing 80 and we didn’t have AC either. But it was a courtyard apt. so we just sat out there in the lush jungle. Last year was our first year here and it was hot. I mean, it would be 103 in my backyard and friends in Hollywood were complaining about 91 degrees. The previous owners left two window ACs. I said, ‘I’m going to get rid of them. You can do wonders with cross breezes.” Before I could decided if I really wanted them or not, the installers from Mission Millworks stole the window AC from the window they were working on and we had to suffer. You can not do wonderful things with cross breezes when there’s a wall in the way.

But all is happy: last month, my husband bought another window AC and while it’s not as energy efficient as I would like it to be, it does keep me cool which makes me happy. When I’m happy everyone else gets to be happy and that erases almost 98% of my guilt.

A/C is cheaper than divorce!

I can understand feeling bad about the energy an AAC uses. But feeling bad will not make it better. You need the AC to not be miserable and being miserable or feeling guilty serves no purpose. Just make up for it by using less energy so were else. Like we will use the AC maybe 6 times a year, but we have been using a solar clothing dryer- (a close line) for like 10 years now, so I am sure that more then makes up for the few

I got AC for my un-air-conditioned loft a few summers ago when I noticed two of the cats panting. As cats aren’t normally supposed to do that, I figured I should get AC, at least for them if not for myself. I, too, sweated and grumbled my way through several hot summers without AC before that, but I didn’t want to torture the poor cats. I felt guilty too, so I just tried to reduce my energy consumption in other ways and kept the AC usage to a minimum.

I’m okay with people feeling bad about using the AC. Just like my neighbors who water their driveway at noon every other day, I see all the ACs in my neighbors’ windows and think “oh the waste.”

My building is also so old that we often suffer mini-black outs on hot days because everyone is cranking the AC to 65 degrees in August. It’s insane. So, because of them, my fridge lets all my cold drinks settle to room temperature over and over as the power flickers on and off throughout the week.

But am i a bit jealous when lying naked under my ceiling fan? Yes, yes I am.

I’m blow away that you found a portable AC unit that you’re happy with. We bought the largest, most powerful portable AC unit we could find during last year’s heat wave and ended up taking it back after a week because it sucked so badly. Now we’re afraid to install a window unit because they’re basically the same thing, and our estimate for central AC was almost $6k.

@Spencer- we ended up with a 10,000 BTU model made by Sharp. There are two things to keep in mind:

-To call it portable is a misnomer. It is essentially anchored to the window and takes up floor space.

- We’re using it co cool a small area, we’ve just decided to designate our bedroom as the AC room. It would not work for a larger area.

Basically it’s not perfect but it’s better than nothing.