Some things in life have become necessities even though they didn’t used to be. How does that happen? Let’s look at cars or public transportation for example. Way back in the day, there was no such thing. Even so, people walked to the store, the doctor, or wherever they had to go. Now, because we have had transportation options for so long, have we lost the ability to walk that far or that regularly? I know I have. What about HVAC? Have we always had furnaces in the north and air conditioning in the south? Have we gotten so used to heating and cooling that it is now impossible to live with it? I have a friend who insists that we do not need HVAC systems in our homes. He points to the homeless population as perfect evidence that heating and cooling is a luxury, not a necessity. Although I can’t deny that the homeless do seem to survive without a/c or heating, I don’t know how they do it. I do not think that I would survive one single summer without air conditioning. For five years, I drove a car that had a broken compressor. When I took the car into the shop to have the a/c fixed, the quote was so high I refused to pay it. Just driving for fifteen minutes to get home made me feel like I was going to pass out. Remember, I live in the deep south, and it gets really hot here. I personally think that heating in the north and cooling in the south are both necessities, not luxuries.