Last week was the anniversary of the invention of air conditioning. Several prestigious news outlets ran articles about the occasion, except for me of course because I'm a day late on the topic. Ironically enough, I did have a conversation about air conditioning with a friend of mine that works for the cuisine magazine, Saveur. He doesn't like and doesn't use air conditioning.
However, the media stories that I was reading made the story of air conditioning seem exciting even sexy. The headline at the Economic Times read " invention of air-conditioner in 1902 changed the world". And it seems my friend is now a member of a minority. In the late 1970s, 23 percent of American homes had air conditioning; now, 87 percent do. Nine out of ten new homes are now built with air conditioning included. In America alone, 40 billion is spent annually to cool our buildings. It is a fact that air conditioners are greatly taxing our natural resources and increasing our carbon footprint. Here's to the hope that their energy efficiency ratings climbs to 30 plus rather than the 9.0 to 12 eer that we are getting on new units today. Photo Courtesy of Carrier Corporation
I want to give the inventor of air conditioning the Nobel Prize! One of the best invention since fire.
Can you tell us how it changed America?