The heat...is not that bad!

Unfortunately, I have grown inured to the heat of the summer. The past several days have been colder than usual, with days reaching low temperatures of 50. Now, however, methinks the regular hot and humid summer weather is back in swing.

This morning I braved the heat of the second floor of my house in order to lie on my bed and try and relax with my iPod and some books and newspapers. That meant I spent an entire morning sweating and hyperventilating, and by the end of said morning, I was ready to shout vituperations. But suddenly, I thought, why should I have to suffer any more than I need to? After all, I have a fun novelty called a fan.

I recently read in a New York Times article about the merits of using fans over AC. For example, people can save 10% of the energy (and money!) they use for AC by turning up the thermostat one degree.

The author of the article and I have two major differences between us. The first one is the blatant fact that he lived in the cities (Brooklyn, I think), and I live in the outskirts of the small town of Champaign. Thus, the author lived in a co-op where AC was hard to come by, expensive, and inconvenient, whereas I have to walk over to the master bedroom and press some buttons to get the air conditioning on. The other difference is that the author had three, industrial-grade fans, and I have my one dinky ceiling fan that is more for ornamental purposes than for actual cooling.

But other than that, we're practically in the situation. We both want to save money and help the environment (or at least, I hope my parents want to save the environment). We both want to cool off in the most efficient method possible. Luckily for us, the fan works. The differences cancel out: the author has powerful fans to cool the entire apartment and I have a flimsy fan to cool myself in a bedroom. Luckily for both of us, the fan is more than sufficient.

In my personal opinion, the fan actually works better. The AC leaves a lasting impact on the temperature of the room, but the fan's brisk, gentle breezes relax and cool me just fine. Next time, bring a small and portable fan on a car trip to the supermarket or mall. After the shopping spree, instead of burning up in the car and waiting for the air conditioning to start its tortuously-slow so-called "conditioning," turn on the fan and let it do its job.

How to relieve one's agony while saving money and trees? Try the fan. After all, once I switched on the ceiling fan, I ceased my sweating and my urge to shout profanities and enjoyed my afternoon well.