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Where I live it is almost universal; a very large majority (80-90%?) of houses have central air and the rest have window units. The places with window units are almost all inexpensive houses or apartments. Commercial and public buildings are also all air conditioned. My grandfather (who lived in Atlanta at the time) says movie theaters started getting AC first (maybe 1950s or so). My dad says his family got AC around 1973 and that it was very common by the 1980s. However, it took until the late 1980s for his church to get AC, one of the elementary schools didn't get it until around 1990, and some dorms at UNC took until around 2000 to get it. Now just about the only places that don't have air conditioning are sheds, state park bathrooms, and old school buses.
It is hot enough in the summer that air conditioning is frequently needed to keep buildings comfortable from May through September.
Location: João Pessoa,Brazil(The easternmost point of Americas)
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Here(João pessoa,Northeast Brazil),we do use to sleep only,because is uncomfortable.
When power outage here,we just cant sleep;(Tropical nights beetween 23C-25C).
very few here - just not hot enough. Although reverse cycle heat pumps have A/C capability, it's rare to see them in use during summer other than for maintenance purposes.
Stores and businesses have them as standard though.
It's ubiquitous in the valleys, somewhat common (but not mandatory) in the areas inland away from the coast but not in the valley, and totally optional at the coast. Even in the Valleys, after a day "normal" day in the mid 90s, it cools down to about 60 making it possible to just run the AC for a couple of hours in the evening and then open the windows after dark. At the coast, with average highs in the 70s, no AC would be needed on an average day but when there's a heat wave (dry heat over 100 F), those without AC flock to the malls and the homes of friends with AC!
By the way, last few days had highs in the low to mid 60s with overcast and spotty showers and some of the folks ran their heating....IN MAY!
Hardly anyone here has air conditioning. in fact I only know of one person. I guess being in the mountains at 7,000 to 9,000 feet has something to do with that.
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