100th Anniversary of Air Conditioning

RealPerseus writes "The Buffalo News reports today in this article that the 100th annivsary of air conditioning is upon us. Who would have thought that air conditioning was invented in Buffalo?"

Comments

now I know how to really cool my PC....

[PhreakOfTime]

Well, finally...an old-school hacker gets some credit. Some guy working in a factory, invents such an important device for modern society...bravo Mr. Carrier

Graduate of two high schools?

[Weffs11]

From the article.
"Carrier graduated from both Angola High School and the old Hutchinson-Central High School in Buffalo."

How do you graduate from two high schools?

lower temperature inside - what about outside?

[evalhalla]

Anybody knows whether there are studies about the impact that air conditioning may have on the climate? expecially in cities/towns.

At least the microclimate near air conditioned buildings is influenced: sometimes you can't just pass near them because of hot air.

I know that there are some places around the world where you couldn't live without AC, and that there are places where you need it for computers and other sensible stuff, but I feel that in most places it is abused. (Things like 18C inside when outside there is only a perfectly tolerable 25C)

Re:lower temperature inside - what about outside?

[Hektor_Troy]

Well, I'm no engineer, but I work with some, who specialice in, of all things, air conditioning, and one of the things I've learned is:

1) The "perfect" temperature to aim for is 17 C, as both humans and electrical equipment will heat up the air to up around 20 C.

2) If your building is affected by solar heating, you cannot simply use passive cooling/convection to cool it down, and the temperature will rise quite quickly to intolerable levels (more than 25 C)

3) If it's sunny and 25 C outside, and your building is slightly succeptible to solar heating, it will rather quickly become REALLY hot inside if you don't use airconditioning. I know this myself, as we DON'T have any kind of AC in our building (even though that's what we do for a living), and if it's 20 C+ outside and sunny, it will rise to an abyssmal 5 C hotter than that inside; I guess it's because we don't have movement of air inside, as opening windows usually results in too powerfull drafts throwing papers all over the office and leaving me to find them and sort them out again - yes, I'm speaking from experience :-(

Anyway, modern air conditioning can recycle up to 95% of the heat you suck out of a building, so in the winter time hardly any heat is wasted, but in the summertime there's really no need to recycle it.

Re:read this the other day...

[Detritus]

AC was also an important feature of the U.S. Navy's fleet submarines in World War II. By keeping the temperature and humidity down, it made the long war patrols in the Pacific bearable for the men and the equipment on the submarine.

American air conditioner craze

[magi]

Americans seem to be rather crazy about the air conditioners. Not that they are nice in a hot day, but why the hell do they have to turn their houses into freezers with them?

I mean, last time I was in Florida, I was shivering all the time I was indoors. Being indoors with shorts and a T-shirt was very unconfortable. In my hotel, the entire room was filled with a freezing gale from an enormous air conditioner. I tried to find some controls or a switch to turn it off, but couldn't. Luckily the beds had enough blankets to sleep in Siberian winter, so I didn't have to sleep outside.

After a few days, I got a bad cold, and had to end my conference&vacation trip early. I wasn't in a condition to be able to go to the Space Center, Epcot, or other sights in Orlando. Some other Finnish people I know tell that they get a cold every time they visit US.

What's the problem with you? Is it that the businessmen and others have to be able to wear a suit in hotels all the time, or what?

important in submarines -now-

[cascadingstylesheet]

AC was also an important feature of the U.S. Navy's fleet submarines in World War II

I was a crew member of one a few years ago. We could stay submerged for weeks or months. Air conditioning was pretty vital. We had two huge R-114 units. Man, it got hot during drills involving loss of non-vital electrical loads ...

A/C in cars

[Peyna]

While working at a General Motors truck plant last summer I noticed that nearly every truck we built had an air conditioner and a radio except for the ones we sent to Mexico. You would think somewhere as hot as mexico they would want A/C. At first I thought this was because nobody down there could afford it, but then I realized it's because they are more adapted to living in the heat than we are. IIRC most buildings in Mexico don't have A/C, but nobody really cares either.

Maybe all of us in the states like our A/C so much because most of us came from parts of Europe where it is a bit cooler most of the year than it is here.