My sibling has lived out of town for most of her adult life.
She married the ‘boy next door’, they purchased a home, plus had two daughters.
Naturally, in order to see my extended family, it meant that I would need to travel there or they would need to travel here. So we’ve done it both ways. Most of the trips are made while in school holidays for the sake of her children, & for the sake of my trip schedule; During the summer time trip, they always come north to my home. Their summers in the south are sweltering. And even though our northern summers seem sizzling enough for our liking, they all feel that our weather conditions is cool… Our household has central a/c, & ceiling fans. I’ve observed that once our household has four more bodies in it, the a/c plus ceiling fans are running much more steadily than normal. I got to thinking about the reason for this. Once I googled the question ‘how much heat does one human body emit?’, I ended up learning about Btu’s plus what that means for central a/c. One Heating, Ventilation, plus A/C website stated that “on average, a sedentary woman will add 500 Btu’s per hour to a home, whether it’s sizzling or freezing outside”. In addition, if people are using computers, lights, etc., there are extra Btu’s to consider. Once I understood the reason for the non-stop running of the a/c plus fans, I started thinking about the added cost to my utility bill. I’m no Scrooge, although I am careful of how my currency is being spent – or wasted. In the end, I decided to adjust my temperature control by one degree – warmer, that is. I figured that these southerners were used to the heat anyway!