Long story short: We are getting central air conditioning installed this week! After decades of longer, hotter summers the window units and fans are being donated, and we are acquiescing to the fact that we may never “cool off” just by keeping windows open at night again.
New England isn’t known for its air-conditioned buildings, houses, or schools. And why should they be? In Vermont and other New England states we experience all four seasons. At the turn of the century, 2000 (not 1900) very few new construction houses were built with central air conditioning. In fact, most of the requests came from buyers moving “up” from the South.
Vermonters and their counterparts in New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Maine were mostly able to “get by” during the sweltering summer months with fans, window air conditioning units, and just plain old “opening the windows” at night to cool everything off.
Call it climate change, call it warming of the earth’s surface due to whatever you want, but for the last few decades it has been darn hot in Vermont. People relocating from warmer climates to Vermont to escape the heat often call me to inquire about the hotter than expected summer temperatures. I have no answer, we are about as “north” as you can go in the contiguous United States. Next stop, Canada.