I can see the burrard inlet from my balconey
But even so, I run central air. It helps a lot, the tank stays about 10degrees above ambient in my place. Since I like the house at 74 though, the tank was running at 84... a bit too hot for me. Which is why I bought the chiller.
Personally, I think the central air rocks. Nothing like coming home to a cool house when outside is boiling hot - like today. And my hydro bill isnt so bad. If I recall correctly, I think it was $350 for 62 days this last bill.
AC running every day.
4 x 400wMH running everyday
3 tanks full of equipment running
1 chiller
6 pc's (and one laptop)
big ass TV/entertainment system running every evening for 4-6 hours (my fiancee is hooked on TV)
etc...