The winter season was even less forgiving, with frigid temperatures and even colder wind chills
For the first 27 years of my life I lived within a 200 mile radius in the state I was born. I grew pretty accustomed to the way of life there, including the difficult climate. I didn’t realize how hard the weather made life until I recently relocated and got a taste of a new climate; now I can’t believe how I used to survive under the previous conditions. The most startling aspect is how much money it used to cost me to keep my house in livable condition, because it was necessary to operate my HVAC system 24/7. You see, the variable climate managed to hit all of the most extreme notes for each season. During the summer time it was unbearably hot and humid, and there was no choice but to run air conditioning for half of the year. Between the months of May and October there was no escaping the moist air and pounding sun, and the only way to keep your house comfortable was with powerful air conditioning systems. Most people had central cooling units, which suck up a ton of energy to operate. There was little ventilation otherwise, so it was quite impossible not to run the AC for weeks and months on end. The winter season was even less forgiving, with frigid temperatures and even colder wind chills. It was necessary to employ traditional furnaces for the other half of the year, just to keep your pipes from freezing and ruining your house. Overall, the energy company was making a killing on all the heating and cooling implements necessary for life in the midwest.