Pa. county rethinks plan to save by turning off AC

    A suburban Philadelphia county is rethinking a program in which officials were cutting back air conditioning in county buildings to save $250,000 a year on energy costs.

    Bucks County officials had been trying a program in which they cut off the AC late in the afternoon on select hot days.

    It’s a nice thought, but in this heat? Not so much.

    The Bucks County Courier Times reports officials are leaning toward scrapping it amid complaints from employees who said the cut-backs were uncomfortable and sometimes unsafe.

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    Chief Operating Officer Brian Hessenthaler says he spoke with the county commissioners and they came to the conclusion that they were going to scrap the program. That comes as much of the region is in the midst of a heat wave in which temperatures have been creeping toward triple digits.

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