AC only better

[Dark Jaguar]

http://gizmodo.com/5568162/researchers-d...oning-tech

This is neat. This is apparently a 90% energy efficient air conditioner. This sort of thing won't much affect people further north where AC is apparently an unneeded extravagance, but down here it should really significantly lower energy consumption during the summer... spring... fall... the occasional unseasonably hot winter day... pretty much year-round. Good for the environment, good for bank accounts, it'll be a VERY slow uptake due to how expensive replacing them will likely be. Most people have the same air conditioner originally installed in their house during construction. It may be a good choice for a government incentive to upgrade (with some recycling program so they can recoup some of the losses, though local power companies will see the greatest benefits).

[Dark Jaguar]

It's important to add that actually the tech isn't new, it's their attempt at actually manufacturing it.

[Weltall]

This is great news.

Though, I wonder why people choose to live in these sub-tropical sun-baked hellholes in the first place.

[A Black Falcon]

I've never lived somewhere with air conditioning (and I mean even a window-box one, much less central air, which private homes almost never have around here. Only big stores have central air.)... but sure, that's good news obviously. AC uses huge amounts of power, anything that can reduce that would be fantastic.

[Dark Jaguar]

As much as I would have liked to be born further north, I didn't have as much choice in the matter. Circumstance dictates a lot of these things. It's not so easy to just move.

[Geno]

Yeah, I was born in Alabama and I'm kind of stuck here for right now.

[Weltall]

As much as I would have liked to be born further north, I didn't have as much choice in the matter. Circumstance dictates a lot of these things. It's not so easy to just move.

Over the course of my life, I've spent an average of 2.7 years at any given fixed address.

It's easier than you think.

[Dark Jaguar]

Then it begs the question as to why so very many people find themselves unable to move beyond the town they're born in. I don't think an answer of "they're just lazy" is very accurate. There's the issues of resources, skill sets, and just trying to make your life stable enough that you can move beyond register biscuit and actually do something other than exist. Those things don't mesh well with uprooting yourself every few years.

Also, no one ever tells you that the most important thing is "connections".

Besides, SOMEONE has to live here. Otherwise it'd be empty.

[Weltall]

I don't think an answer of "they're just lazy" is very accurate.

Good thing I didn't offer any such answer.

I have a stable life, I just get restless staying in one place and around the same people for too long.

[Dark Jaguar]

That's great. Not everyone is in such a position. Some people live basically week by week. Others have long term commitments they can't break (careers, families, mortgages). More still have all their connections in one place, and leaving will be basically wandering into the woods without anything to go on.

[Darunia]

north where AC is apparently an unneeded extravagance,

It was 85 today in Massachusetts, muggy and sunny. Don't tell me my AC is an unneeded extravagance.

[Weltall]

I wish it only got as high as 85 here.

[Dark Jaguar]

No you don't. I mean 85's not that bad, but let me put it this way. With cold, you just need to bundle up. With heat, you got nothing.

[A Black Falcon]

What do you mean? I mean, that's one reason why cold weather is better...

[Dark Jaguar]

...I was responding to Weltall there. My entire statement was saying I like cold weather better than hot. I thought that was clear.

[Weltall]

That's what I was saying, too.