Tuesday, June 03, 2008

summer is here (almost)


albatross
Originally uploaded by madabandon.

I know that summer is here because I have had to turn on my air-conditioners. There is a price to pay for top-floor living in NYC. For the privilege of not having people walking around over your head, and for the unobstructed view, one pays with higher electric bills. My building is about 90 years old; there is no insulation between my ceiling the roof. The roof is painted silver to reflect the sun, but still once the temperature tops 80F for a few days it heats up. I don't have much cross-ventilation, so on goes the A/C. I am reasonable and try to keep the thermostat up at 75F. And did you know that in a co-op the higher the floor the higher the monthly maintenance charge? If I lived a few floors down I would pay a few hundred dollars less per month.

2 comments:

SHE said...

this is entirely fascinating to me.. i had no idea

from the time i was a young child i always thought i'd rather live in a small space i could have at the temperature i want, than a bigger place where someone was yelling at you all the time to turn the a/c or heat off

and now -here i am-

and just read recently how it cost less -to the environment- to cool, than to heat.. per degree adjustment

lastly.. it's sounds very worth the extra fees to have a top floor with no one above you and an unobstructed view

"to keepin' it cool and beautiful!" ~s.

mmonk said...

at least the heat wave is over now...