I lived in Berlin for 5 years, did not have air conditioning, and don't recall missing it. Sure, we had the odd very hot day now and then during the summer. But after leaving Iowa, where heat and humidity could build up to huge thunderstorms in summer afternoons, those hot days in Berlin didn't feel nearly so oppressive.

Once, in the middle of summer, I flew out of Berlin and landed in Miami. Stepping out into the afternoon heat, I felt like I'd received a body blow from a professional boxer.

I enjoyed my vacation, but I sure was glad my hotel had air conditioning. And I didn't miss air conditioning when I flew back to Germany.

Of course, my apartment building there, like most, was designed to open up and air out very well at night during cooler temps. The building was engineered to keep people comfortable without air conditioning, or at least as much as possible.

None of those techniques would have worked in southern Florida, and they wouldn't even have worked in Iowa during the dog days of August.

I live in Michigan now, where we can have our own dog days. I used my air conditioning six times this summer. I counted. Lol.

One thing I did that really helped was buying relatively powerful window fans that I could use at night to significantly cool the house down. Then I would keep the shades down and windows closed during hot afternoons, and things really wouldn't heat up too bad. If they did, I wouldn't deny myself a little air conditioning.

But I really didn't need it that much! I don't think it even impacted my energy budget.