The other thing is most new houses are constructed without any concerns to natural (cross ventilation) cooling. My previous house was built in 98, and had huge

The other thing is most new houses are constructed without any concerns to natural (cross ventilation) cooling. My previous house was built in 98, and had huge windows that happened to line up on the east and west sides. They let in a lot of light, but also too much heat (even with blinds and thick curtains closed, still too much heat for the AC to keep up with). That, and the neighborhood was former farm field, so the only trees were the ornamental (short) ones that were put in front of every house. Where I'm at now, only 20 miles away, was built in the 70's, much fewer windows, no vaulted ceiling, and the summer AC bill dropped by more than half. And the neighborhood is older with many mature trees -- everywhere I look is green. So overall much more pleasant.