Nestled within Green Living Ideas’ collection of practical resources is a top notch piece on why air conditioning is best used as a last resort, if at all. It echoes a few concerns that I’ve been ruminating as this summer steams along.

Beyond an overall discomfort with consuming massive amounts of energy to rid our homes of heat (also energy) while warming the climate in the process, the Eco Air Conditioning piece points out the social and health costs associated with air conditioning systems, and reminds readers of both simple and technical solutions to an overheated home.

Still, it amazes me that as we control our indoor environments, we forget that heat is energy. Why have we not yet found a way to harvest this heat for domestic water heating and other applications? Let’s make like a martial arts master and ‘harness the strength and momentum of our opponent for our own benefit’.

While we await the next generation of heat harvesting-cooling technology, how about we embrace non-technical solutions that don’t rely on energy consumption to kick heat out of the house? Visit Green Living Ideas for the full article.