Air conditioning has always been a "want" labeled as a "need" for me. Personally, I get hot very easily and need an easy was to cool off. Using Air Conditioning is part of a regular day routine.  After reading why it is more sustainable to use a fan instead of an AC unit has changed the amount of usage of AC in the past few months. In an article written by Larry Bitolli, he states "The fact of the matter is that air conditioning is essentially an energy black hole, accounting for about 25% of a home’s electricity costs. [...] While a good room air conditioner can run you anywhere from 36 cents per hour to operate, a ceiling fan (running on medium) will cost roughly a penny for the same amount of time." In other words, fans are cheaper and require less electricity to work.
http://www.bobvila.com/articles/fans-vs … ECE2xHu2P8

Living in Texas I would have put air conditioning as a necessity but after reading this article I've changed my mind. Realistically I cant picture anyone in Texas giving up their air conditioning during the 100 degree weather in the summer, but I think ceiling fans would be a lot more environmentally friendly. I think part of the problem is getting the word out. Most people haven't considered switching to fans, but educating the people could be key to reducing the carbon footprint that air conditioning contributes.

I also live in Texas. I often have my ceiling fans and air conditioning running, because my family likes the house cold. It's often almost too cold for me, and I depend on several blankets to keep warm. Like ellie2809 said, I can't picture my family giving up air conditioning, but I do go to a camp with non-air conditioned cabins, so I know I can survive without it. Also, in Texan winters, we can definitely survive without heating our houses, as the lowest the outside temperature usually gets is around 30°. Not to mention the heated pools, hot tubs, patio heaters, and all sorts of things people have. If someone really, really wants a heated pool, they should look for more energy efficient ones, like [these ones talked about here](http://energy.gov/energysaver/articles/ … ol-heaters). When we step back and look at it, there's a lot of ways we can keep things 'off the table' but still reduce our carbon footprint!

Most areas that use a lot of air conditioning could be producing all or most of the energy from solar panels. Why isn't this a requirement when a home is built or remodeled?