Living abroad for so long really changed so much about how I look at my life.
When you come from such abundance as I did, you don’t realize that this isn’t the case most everywhere.
I’m here to tell you that we take far too many things totally for granted in this country. Residential HVAC is a great example. I spent the last 20 years living in developing countries where any sort of modern HVAC technology was pretty rare. Many of the government building had central air conditioning and there were some affluent people who also had HVAC. Other than that, HVAC cooling just wasn’t something a person could just expect. Far from it actually. Just having access to a fan was something that would end up being such a bonus for me. But like all human beings, we all have the ability to evolve to a given situation. It didn’t take me too long to get acclimated to living without residential HVAC. Since returning, I have had more difficulty getting accustomed to all the abundance in this country. I’m still choosing to live simply though. I just bought a small two bedroom place that is perfect for my wife and our dogs. Prior to moving in, we had to replace the heating and cooling. The HVAC contractor suggested we go with a ductless heat pump. I had never seen one so was just completely amazed by how much HVAC power was packed in such a small package. Our house has a pair of ductless heat pumps and we are super thrilled to have residential HVAC for the first time in a couple of decades.