I think this fails to factor some things in overall. Mainly humidity is a very difficult thing to work with, and a problem with America is the structures. If you look at Arizona, native housing there is built with adobe, because it's a natural insulator. It keeps the heat out or in, depending on what you need in winter or summer. But that's not how America was built, which is to say, quickly, cheaply, pre-fabricated, and meant to match or expand growth. So you're left with houses made of wood and drywall that have no business being in that environment. And there's very little differentiation across the country. It's not the fault of the dwellers that we rely on AC, it's that we don't have the benefit of houses built to their situations.

On a side note, I wish there was a way to control my office's temperature. It's all one system though, for a very large building. A dormitory, in fact. My office being the basement level, where most of the ventilation systems lie tends to make it.... much colder than what the building is attempting to reach.