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

What more can I say but...

[errorlevel]

Cool!

This has to be cheating.

[Corvaith]

Here I am, sitting in a tiny room with a very small oscillating fan trying in vain to fight the muggy late-night heat. In the other corner, my computer is quite happily chugging away, heating the room up even more.

And, here, a story about air conditioning. That I don't have. Meanies.

Not much there.

[spongman]

A few quotes and the standard journalist rambling. It might be appropriate on this day to find out/brush up on how they work.

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)

Air conditioning has destroyed architecture

[Bastian]

8' (as opposed to 10') ceilings, poor placement of windows leading to no cross-ventilation, cutting down all the trees around a lot to ease construction but destroying the shade, the death of the porch.

I love air conditioning, but I want to hate it. . .

Thanks?

[Comrade Brightski]

This is probably a pretty unpopular comment to make to a crowd of geeks in the heat of summer, but I'll say it anyways. While air conditioning is a great scientific and engineering achievement, I'm not sure that it's been a great advantage to society. It's done very little to improve the quality of life for humans and quite a bit to degrade it. I am by no means an avid environmentalist, yet anyone can recognize all the damage caused by freon and the tremendous strain that condensors place on the power grid.

What amazes me most is how Americans have begun to view air conditioning as a "necessity". Are we insane? The necessities in life are food, oxygen, and heat in climates with extreme cold. Nevertheless, the petroleum supplies are depleted at an increasing rate so that people can be more comfortable as they sit in traffic with the A/C on full blast.

Yes, it's a nice invention. Hospitals can benefit tremendously from it. But it's nowhere near a necessity and if humans would tolerate a little discomfort, the Earth might be in much better shape.

Re:Thanks?

[guran]

Unpopular, a bit oversimplyfying, but nonetheless interesting.

Compare housing in america to housing in, say italy or greece. (or mexico for that matter.)
My feeling is that the widespread use of AC has made architects forget how you build a house for a hot climate. You don't have large south-facing windows. You have wooden or even stone floors and not a carpet. (Carpets are germ infested discusting things anyway) You have proper insulation and ventilation. You make sure that you get some freaking shade.

Or,... you just put in some AC, and hope that power will never be a problem.

Re:Thanks?

[yatest5]

Instead people insist on wearing more than they need and then draining power from the grid to make up for their own insecurity.

I'd much prefer to waste the earths resources than see the sweaty hairy hacker next to me's ballbag attempting to escape from his shorts, believe me...

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.

Carrier

[benh57]

And in an amazing coincidence, it was Mr Carrier's grandson "No" who invented the computer modem. He left his mark on his invention with the familiar signoff..

NO CARRIER

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.