A/C is effectively a closed system when operating. A fireplace or furnace is not.
A/C is needed most in places and times where solar panels work the best. Heating is the opposite.
Objectively living in Maine has a significantly higher environmental cost than living in Arizona.
New England winters are on average colder than some places near the arctic circle (Iceland for example) and summers get hotter than many places in the US as well.
- Firewood is really cheap. My house uses oil for its primary heating, but we supplement with a wood stove because aesthetics and cheap heat.
- A lot of the summer it's not the heat that gets you, more the humidity. We run A/C a lot, but often we could get by with just better dehumidifiers whose waste-heat stayed outside the house.
- Only relatively new houses have central A/C and/or dehumidifiers. Older houses tend to use window-mounted A/C's, which are less efficient and less appealing. Unfortunately retrofitting a house with central A/C can be outside many people's budgets.
- At my latitude, we get enough sunlight to make roof-mounted solar panels worthwhile for many people. But the financial break-even time can be pretty long, and there don't always seem to be government-subsidized low-interest loans to help.
I live in a dense urban area and we wouldn't really have the option. We're on an electric heat pump for heating/cooling/dehumidifying (it's a nice system, a little expensive, but better than resistance electric heat and window units). We're in an old house without ducts, and compared to traditional systems it was cheap to install ($10k for 1500 ft sq).
I think one of the key difference between heating and cooling is that the majority of energy used for heating is natural gas while AC uses electricity. Natural gas flows through pipes into the home when you need it without much change on the utility side, while electricity requires the utility to be generating more than enough energy. It's not easy/efficient to store electricity, which is a good reason to try to use less of it.
Heating uses more energy in part because more people live in areas with more heating degree days (HDD) and fewer cooling degree days (CDD).
[1] https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.php?page=about_deg...
One particularly annoying example is the train. The trains always have the heat blasting. I, like most people, have to walk to the train, and stand on the (often outdoor) platform, so I wear clothing that will keep me comfortable while walking, and while waiting on the platform. As soon as I'm on the oven-like train, I have to strip off all layers to avoid sweating. I assume this is for the benefit of people who do not dress appropriately for the cold. I would prefer that they optimised for the opposite.