During the summer of 2015—the hottest summer in recorded history—I went without air conditioning.
I don’t say this to brag: the decision was made mostly out of laziness. At the time, I was living in an apartment with big, beautiful casement windows. Big, beautiful casement windows that required a special air conditioner—one that, at least according to my Google research into the cost—was apparently hand-chiseled from Italian marble and installed by unicorns.
I hemmed and hawed. I spent weeks scouring Craigslist for a used (cheaper) model, finding it hard to justify the cost of a new one when I wasn’t sure how long I'd live in that apartment. I put off the purchase. And every day that I put it off, it got hotter. And every day, I dealt with it—until, out of nowhere, the weather cooled and fall was in full swing. I had survived! I had prevailed! I had done what no one else had done (well, except for about a third of U.S. households).
So how did I do it? Glad you I asked. Here’s how you can survive the summer without air conditioning and be smug about it just like me:
Draw the Curtains.
Your plants may enjoy the sunlight streaming through the windows, but if you want to cool off, close your curtains. And make sure you choose the right ones: medium-colored draperies with white-plastic backings can reduce heat gains by 33 percent.
