In my kitchen heat travels around in circles; my electric stove, refridgerator and window air conditioner are all located in a corner within 6 ft. of each other. I've come home on hot summer days to find my wife cooking or roasting something in the oven, with the AC roaring away. The refridgerator is usually overstuffed, so it is open for extended searches. I can't seem to get her to understand the basic physics of this situation, I think she tunes me out.
I think that this problem is actually fairly representative of the generic attitude many people have- "I want a roast, and I'll just turn the air conditioner up, that's what it's for." They don't want to think past the obvious inefficiencies.
Without dwelling on this too much, I would just like to say that it would be so nice, it would displace some frustration, if I knew that at least some of the "waste" heat from the AC and fridge was being recovered and used, either as water heater preheat, or maybe in the swimming pool 20 ft away!
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