Too many Americans, abstaining from air-conditioning is a masochistic folly akin to refusing Novocain or renouncing the dishwasher.

Yet as this particular summer finally heats up, even citizens who believe that climate control is a God-given right may be questioning whether it has become a luxury they can no longer afford. They are probably also wondering how they can survive without it.

Those who’ve done just that like to point out that air-conditioning is a relatively recent boon to humanity: The Allies won World War II without it, and the great pyramids of Egypt were built al fresco. Today, fans of the unchilled life say that it is not only possible to turn back the clock and live as one with summer, but to do it while maintaining a fairly high quality of life.

Lisa Finkelstein, a freelance editor, stopped using the semi-functional air-conditioning and heating unit in her rented cottage in Tallahassee, Fla., two years ago, mostly for economic reasons.

THE idea that burrowing underground could somehow help you cool off on a hot summer day might seem illogical — especially to anyone who rides the subway, where platforms at this time of year can be sweltering.

But burrowing is exactly what geothermal heat pumps do to reduce temperatures. They work because the ground hundreds of feet down remains a fairly constant 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Absorbing heat into water, they whisk it downward, disperse it and then resend it, newly chilled, back to the surface.

The technology has existed since World War II; newly eco-conscious developers are taking advantage of its greenness. In cooling a room, it uses about half the electricity of the typical air-conditioner and produces fewer carbon emissions.

The pumps can be four times more expensive to install than traditional heating and cooling systems, partly because thick bedrock and narrow lots complicate drilling the deep wells they need. But they can pay for themselves in a decade, according to developers, engineers and industry leaders.

A few multiunit buildings in the area are therefore trying out the technology.

Caring for Horses in Freezing Temperatures

Most horses in freezing temperatures will try their hardest to find ways to get warm. They will seek out shelter, even if it is only the overhanging boughs of a tree, and they will huddle together if turned out in groups. However, it is up to people to learn and remember cold weather horse care.

The Horse’s Response to Freezing Temperatures

Like most other animals, horses possess built-in responses to freezing temperatures that help them to survive in the wild. They grow longer, thicker coats that insulate them against the cold, and their nostrils contain spirals of bone and cartilage that help warm air as they inhale.

A horse’s metabolism also slows down in cold weather, allowing him to store fatty tissue just under the skin. He has a long mane and a forelock that provide protection for his neck, and his eyes are shaped to block out damaging light that might cause snowblindness in humans.

WASHINGTON, DC — Green roofs, green buildings and an energy management system have put the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) on the fast track to achieve its energy reduction goal.

The USPS said Thursday it is more than two-thirds of the way to reducing energy use by 30 percent by 2015.

An impressive component of the agency’s multi-pronged energy strategy is its green roof topping its Morgan mail processing facility in Midtown Manhattan. Covering nearly 2.5 acres, the year-old green roof is the largest of its kind in New York City.

The roof is meeting or exceeding the agency’s initial estimates for performance. For example, it is on track to reduce polluted stormwater runoff by 75 percent in the summer and 40 percent in the winter. The facility is enjoying a 40 percent per month reduction in energy use, with average monthly energy expenses about 15 percent lower than previous levels, also due to the replacement of 1,600 windows and other energy-saving measures.

“A year ago, the Postal Service projected the green roof would help the Morgan facility save $30,000 in annual energy expenses,” Tom Samra, vice president of facilities, said in a statement. “We’re pleased to have surpassed that goal, saving more than $1 million since the implementation of the green roof and other energy-saving measures at Morgan.”

CHICAGO, IL — A group of leading building owners, investment advisory firms and corporate tenants have become allies in a campaign to make commercial office space more sustainable by breaking down the barriers to green leasing.

Bank of America, Beacon Capital Partners, Deutsche Bank and its real estate investment manage arm RREEF, JPMorgan Chase, Jones Lang LaSalle’s investment arm, LaSalle Investment Management, and Whirlpool Corporation are among the first to enlist in the effort.

In doing so, the participants made a commitment to the Green Lease Action Plan and its guiding principles — and pledge to apply the concepts to properties they own, manage or occupy.

The action plan and its early adopters, who collectively own or occupy more than 350 million square feet of office space, were announced this week. The effort was launched in association with the Greenprint Foundation, an international group of real estate owners, investors and financial institutions committed to reducing carbon emissions.

Buildings account for almost 40 percent of energy use and carbon emissions in the U.S. and many other countries. Making those structures more efficient would greatly reduce energy consumption, emissions and related costs, say green building advocates, who point to existing structures — commercial buildings in particular — as the best targets for improvement. In the U.S., for example, there are 74 billion square feet of non-residential space.

AUSTIN, TX — Office Depot has opened its first store registered as a green building project under LEED standards for commercial interiors (LEED-CI) — the latest move in the company’s program to make its sites more environmentally friendly.

The store in Austin, Texas, awaits certification. Office Depot says it will open 14 others with commercial interiors designed to LEED standards before the end of the year, and it will seek certification for all of them.

By designing store interiors to LEED-CI standards, Office Depot extends its green building program to existing structures.

The company devised its green solution for new construction rmore than two years ago.

In January 2009, capping more than a year of prototype development, Office Depot became the first retailer to receive LEED-Gold pre-approval of a design prototype for green stores built from scratch. Under the USGBC volume certification program, companies that obtain design approval of their building plan can expedite the review process and quickly finalize certification of any structure constructed according to the plan. Office Depot has said it intends to use its prototype for any store construction project that it manages from the ground up.