1 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:05,840 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. Not too long ago, we had an episode 2 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:09,480 Speaker 1: on Augustine Daily and we talked about the installation of 3 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:13,039 Speaker 1: air conditioning at his Fifth Avenue Theater in New York. 4 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:15,760 Speaker 1: Not long after that episode came out, we got an 5 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: email from listener Charlotte asking if we had ever done 6 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:22,919 Speaker 1: an episode on the history of air conditioning, and I thought, hey, 7 00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:25,680 Speaker 1: I meant to pull that out as a Saturday classic 8 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:29,520 Speaker 1: to run after the Augustine Daily episode, but I forgot 9 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:34,440 Speaker 1: so here it is now weeks later, Thanks Charlotte. This 10 00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:37,760 Speaker 1: episode originally came out on August twenty ninth, twenty eighteen. 11 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:43,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 12 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:54,440 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. 13 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:58,880 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. It's August, although by the 14 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 1: time this podcast comes out I could possibly be September. 15 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:04,400 Speaker 1: Not quite sure when this one's gonna drop yet. And also, 16 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:08,120 Speaker 1: it's hot. That's what August means usually for us, at least, 17 00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:11,039 Speaker 1: yeah for us for sure. I started working on this 18 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:13,080 Speaker 1: episode on one of those days when I woke up 19 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:16,200 Speaker 1: and it was already eighty two degrees inside my apartment. 20 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:19,640 Speaker 1: It is eighty six degrees in my little studio right now, 21 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:23,320 Speaker 1: I am sitting with a cold pack draped over my chair. 22 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:26,840 Speaker 1: So I decided we should talk about the history of 23 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:31,440 Speaker 1: air conditioning. And sorry to our Southern Hemisphere friends who 24 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:34,319 Speaker 1: are always getting the episodes in which I'm complaining that 25 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:37,600 Speaker 1: it's hot, and so We're going to talk about ice 26 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:44,040 Speaker 1: or air conditioning or whatever. When it's winter there. I 27 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:46,280 Speaker 1: could go there and complain about winter while you're here 28 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 1: and complain about hot because I love the heat, but 29 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:53,920 Speaker 1: that cold is not for me. So about a year ago, 30 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 1: we did an episode on Frederick Tudor, who cut ice 31 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:00,160 Speaker 1: out of ponds in Massachusetts in winter and then turn 32 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:03,760 Speaker 1: that into a globally traded commodity. In that episode, we 33 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:05,680 Speaker 1: talked about some of the ways that people had been 34 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:08,560 Speaker 1: making ice and refrigerating things in warmer parts of the 35 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 1: world before the establishment of the ice trade and the 36 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 1: development of mechanical refrigeration. Things like people in the Indian 37 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:20,280 Speaker 1: subcontinent using earthenware vessels as evaporative coolers to make kind 38 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:24,400 Speaker 1: of a semi frozen slush, or using saltpeter infused water 39 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:28,240 Speaker 1: to chill bottles of beverages. Similarly, people all over the 40 00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:31,240 Speaker 1: world had figured out ways to keep themselves at least 41 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 1: relatively cool for millennia before the invention of air conditioning, 42 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:37,440 Speaker 1: and a lot of these methods are still in use 43 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:40,960 Speaker 1: in one way or another today. The most obvious starting 44 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,680 Speaker 1: point is the fan. People have probably fanned themselves with 45 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:47,800 Speaker 1: their hands or with relatively flat objects for about as 46 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:50,960 Speaker 1: long as people have existed, but in terms of objects 47 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:55,160 Speaker 1: created specifically as fans, we know that goes back at 48 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:59,640 Speaker 1: least five thousand years. We have examples of hand fans 49 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:04,000 Speaker 1: from numerous ancient civilizations all over the world. The earliest 50 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:07,079 Speaker 1: fans were fixed or rigid, and made of all kinds 51 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:12,400 Speaker 1: of feathers, fronds, textiles, and other materials. The first folding 52 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:15,880 Speaker 1: fans were probably developed in either Japan or China. There 53 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:18,520 Speaker 1: are examples from both that are about the same age, 54 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:21,640 Speaker 1: and both nations have their own lore about the development 55 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 1: of the folding fan. Of course, fans themselves have their 56 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:28,640 Speaker 1: own history, with all kinds of mythology and symbolism and 57 00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:32,000 Speaker 1: etiquette and art and culture woven in, and a lot 58 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:35,920 Speaker 1: of culture's fans have also had religious or ceremonial uses 59 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:38,600 Speaker 1: as well. And that's on top of all the variation 60 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:41,400 Speaker 1: in the materials that fans have been made of and 61 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:45,000 Speaker 1: how they've been designed and constructed. We probably, if we 62 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:47,840 Speaker 1: felt inclined, could do a whole episode just on fans. 63 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 1: Only if we talk about Star Trek and the fan dance, 64 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:57,120 Speaker 1: then I'm in a lot of the earliest personal cooling 65 00:03:57,160 --> 00:04:01,240 Speaker 1: methods were built around the fan, people either fanning themselves 66 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 1: or having a servant or an enslaved person do it 67 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:07,440 Speaker 1: for them. In places that were both hot and dry, 68 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:11,200 Speaker 1: people used fans to force air through dampened screens or mats, 69 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:14,119 Speaker 1: which would both humidify the air and cool the air 70 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:18,000 Speaker 1: as water evaporated. In places where it was hot and damp, 71 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:20,520 Speaker 1: people were more likely to use fans to move air 72 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:23,880 Speaker 1: over ice, although that still made the room even more humid, 73 00:04:23,960 --> 00:04:26,560 Speaker 1: and depending on where that ice came from, it might 74 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:30,600 Speaker 1: also make the room smell like gross pond water. After 75 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:33,760 Speaker 1: President James Garfield was shot in eighteen eighty one, his 76 00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:37,240 Speaker 1: doctors used a variation on this fan and ice method 77 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:40,000 Speaker 1: to try to keep him cool, and that used almost 78 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:43,680 Speaker 1: five hundred pounds of ice per day. Leonardo da Vinciti 79 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:47,600 Speaker 1: developed a water powered fan in about fifteen hundred, and 80 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:51,040 Speaker 1: mechanically driven fans powered by things like hand cranks were 81 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:55,080 Speaker 1: developed about the same time. The first electric fan was 82 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,960 Speaker 1: developed by Crocker and Curtis Electric Motor Company in eighteen 83 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:03,120 Speaker 1: eighty two. That in eighteen eighty four, William Whiteley developed 84 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:06,560 Speaker 1: the all Weather Eye, which was a fan that attached 85 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:09,640 Speaker 1: to the axle of a carriage, so when the carriage 86 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:12,760 Speaker 1: was moving, the fan turned and it forced air over 87 00:05:12,839 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 1: a block of ice that was mounted under the passenger area, 88 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:19,520 Speaker 1: sort of air conditioning the inside of the carriage. That's 89 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:23,560 Speaker 1: pretty ingenious. There are also all kinds of architectural features 90 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:27,080 Speaker 1: all over the world intended to keep people cooler. Before 91 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:31,000 Speaker 1: industrialization and the creation of air conditioning, most people lived 92 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:33,800 Speaker 1: in buildings that were adapted to where they lived. They 93 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:37,240 Speaker 1: used local materials and building techniques which were suited to 94 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:40,040 Speaker 1: the needs of the climate and the landscape. The whole 95 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:45,039 Speaker 1: idea is summed up as vernacular architecture. Vernacular architecture is 96 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 1: absolutely full of ways to deal with heat and humidity, 97 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:51,320 Speaker 1: and there are so many that we cannot possibly name 98 00:05:51,400 --> 00:05:54,560 Speaker 1: them all, just like we cannot possibly name every variation 99 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:57,760 Speaker 1: on the fan. But here are some examples. People on 100 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:00,840 Speaker 1: coasts oriented their homes to catch this sea breeze through 101 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:05,320 Speaker 1: the windows. Porches gave people an outdoor, semi sheltered place 102 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:08,440 Speaker 1: to go when the house got too hot, and sleeping 103 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:11,279 Speaker 1: porches had bunks or hammocks already there for when it 104 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:13,080 Speaker 1: was just too hot to possibly go to sleep in 105 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:17,560 Speaker 1: the house. Thick walls, high ceilings, and large windows have 106 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:22,760 Speaker 1: insulated buildings while also allowing air circulation. Shady courtyards and 107 00:06:22,839 --> 00:06:26,039 Speaker 1: fountains of offered respite from the heat, and in places 108 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:28,600 Speaker 1: where it's hot in the day and cool at night, 109 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:32,839 Speaker 1: thick walls made from mud or adobe absorb heat during 110 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:35,040 Speaker 1: the day and to keep the inside cooler, and then 111 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: release it at night to keep the inside warmer. Then, 112 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:40,520 Speaker 1: of course there's just planting trees to shade the buildings 113 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 1: from the sun. In the southeastern United States, one common 114 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:47,640 Speaker 1: design was the dog trot house. This was a house 115 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:50,960 Speaker 1: with two halves separated by a roofed breezeway in between, 116 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:55,760 Speaker 1: which usually also connected a front and back porch. Usually 117 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:58,120 Speaker 1: the kitchen was on one side of the dog trot 118 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:00,680 Speaker 1: while the sleeping area was on the other, so you 119 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:03,360 Speaker 1: weren't heating up your bedroom while you were cooking your food. 120 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:07,000 Speaker 1: Dog trot houses were often built upon bricks or stones 121 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:09,840 Speaker 1: rather than resting on a foundation or the ground, and 122 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:12,440 Speaker 1: that allowed air to circulate under the house as well. 123 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:15,760 Speaker 1: And sometimes these are also called possum trot houses. And 124 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:19,160 Speaker 1: the same basic design is still used in some places today. 125 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:22,560 Speaker 1: My sister in law lives in a house just like this. Yeah, 126 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:24,760 Speaker 1: there are also, I mean there are historic ones that 127 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:28,320 Speaker 1: still stand in newly built houses that are still following 128 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:30,680 Speaker 1: that same basic design. I remember when I was in 129 00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:33,440 Speaker 1: college there was one at the botanical gardens next door 130 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:35,880 Speaker 1: to the campus where we like to go sit around 131 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 1: and read. Step wells are a way of dealing with 132 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 1: the heat in very arid countries, especially on the Indian subcontinent. 133 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:47,200 Speaker 1: This is a pool of water very very deep underground 134 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 1: which people would reach down an incredibly long spiral or 135 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:54,760 Speaker 1: zigzag staircase. These pools had to be that deep underground 136 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:56,760 Speaker 1: because that's how far down you had to go to 137 00:07:56,760 --> 00:07:59,600 Speaker 1: get to the water table. They were used as a 138 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:03,680 Speaker 1: water but then also having such a deep, dark underground 139 00:08:03,760 --> 00:08:06,680 Speaker 1: shaft gave people a place to retreat out of the heat. 140 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:10,720 Speaker 1: Sometimes stepwells were designed to serve as very large gathering 141 00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:14,600 Speaker 1: places with intricate stairways and terraces, basically lots of places 142 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:17,480 Speaker 1: for people to go down there and chill out. A 143 00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 1: lot of these stepwells fell into disuse as human activity 144 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:24,640 Speaker 1: lowered the water table, either gradually filling with trash or 145 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:28,760 Speaker 1: being taken over by animals. The British Empire also destroyed 146 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:31,480 Speaker 1: a lot of them under the idea that they were unsanitary, 147 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:34,400 Speaker 1: and this was kind of ironic since it was extremely 148 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:37,680 Speaker 1: fashionable for British people to complain about how miserable the 149 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:41,840 Speaker 1: heat was in colonial India. Today, though, some stepwells are 150 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:44,800 Speaker 1: being restored and reopened as water sources, and the same 151 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:48,199 Speaker 1: principle has been used to design modern buildings that require 152 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:52,400 Speaker 1: less energy to cool. Wind catchers were common in Persian 153 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:55,280 Speaker 1: architecture starting thousands of years ago, and a lot of 154 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:58,720 Speaker 1: them are still standing and still working today. This is 155 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:01,960 Speaker 1: essentially a window tower that's built to take advantage of 156 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:05,559 Speaker 1: the prevailing winds, so exactly how the tower is designed, 157 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:08,880 Speaker 1: how many windows it has, and which direction it faces 158 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:12,320 Speaker 1: depends on where it's being built. When the wind blows 159 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:15,040 Speaker 1: through a windcatcher, it draws hot air up out of 160 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:18,240 Speaker 1: the house. Sometimes there's also a reservoir of water or 161 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:20,680 Speaker 1: a very deep well inside the house, so as the 162 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:24,080 Speaker 1: hot air moves out, moist, cooler air is pulled up 163 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:27,440 Speaker 1: from below. A similar design was also part of ancient 164 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:32,600 Speaker 1: Egyptian architecture. So vernacular architecture is just full of things 165 00:09:32,679 --> 00:09:35,640 Speaker 1: like this, and people living in hot places have also 166 00:09:35,679 --> 00:09:39,120 Speaker 1: adapted their behavior, like the siesta during the hottest part 167 00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:42,599 Speaker 1: of the day. But as areas have adopted air conditioning, 168 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:46,480 Speaker 1: these traditional elements have tended to disappear as people instead 169 00:09:46,559 --> 00:09:49,800 Speaker 1: design buildings that are going to be mechanically cooled. And 170 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:52,040 Speaker 1: we're going to start talking about that in some detail 171 00:09:52,120 --> 00:10:04,400 Speaker 1: after we first pause for a little sponsor break. Modern 172 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:07,120 Speaker 1: air conditioning was developed in the United States, and the 173 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:10,440 Speaker 1: United States has adopted it much faster than the rest 174 00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:13,080 Speaker 1: of the world, so the next stretch of this show 175 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:16,320 Speaker 1: is going to be pretty US centric. The first person 176 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:18,720 Speaker 1: in the United States to write down some thoughts for 177 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:22,600 Speaker 1: creating a large scale way to cool places was John 178 00:10:22,679 --> 00:10:25,640 Speaker 1: Gory in eighteen forty two. He wrote about wanting to 179 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:29,800 Speaker 1: use mechanical condensation to quote counteract the evils of high 180 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:34,520 Speaker 1: temperature and improve the condition of our cities. He speculated 181 00:10:34,559 --> 00:10:37,679 Speaker 1: about a massive city that could use one machine to 182 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:40,400 Speaker 1: cool off the entire place, as well as to cool 183 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:44,320 Speaker 1: individual buildings. It's not clear whether he ever made a 184 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:47,640 Speaker 1: working prototype of this air conditioner he had in mind, 185 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:50,520 Speaker 1: but he did create a refrigerator that could make ice. 186 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:54,840 Speaker 1: He had this working at the US Marine Hospital in Apalachicola, Florida, 187 00:10:55,160 --> 00:10:58,160 Speaker 1: in eighteen forty four, and he patented it in eighteen 188 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:01,720 Speaker 1: fifty one. That ice was put to use in conjunction 189 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:04,600 Speaker 1: with fans to try to keep patients with malaria and 190 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:08,880 Speaker 1: yellow fever cool. By eighteen eighty, people were using fans 191 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:11,120 Speaker 1: and ice together to try to cool buildings on a 192 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:15,160 Speaker 1: much larger scale. That year, New York's Madison Square Theater 193 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:18,880 Speaker 1: was using four tons of ice per day to try 194 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:21,480 Speaker 1: to cool the theater in the summer. Before trying that 195 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:24,080 Speaker 1: it would pretty much just not had shows in the summer. 196 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:28,480 Speaker 1: There's some overlap in the development of refrigeration and air conditioning, 197 00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:31,160 Speaker 1: and in the late eighteen eighties people were also using 198 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:35,720 Speaker 1: refrigeration to try to cool whole rooms. Pipes were used 199 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:39,239 Speaker 1: to carry a refrigerant from a central station out to customers, 200 00:11:39,679 --> 00:11:42,839 Speaker 1: and this central station refrigeration was mainly used to cool 201 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:47,120 Speaker 1: whole rooms for things like meat packing and cold storage. 202 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:50,600 Speaker 1: A few businesses did try to put central station refrigeration 203 00:11:50,679 --> 00:11:54,480 Speaker 1: to use basically as air conditioning for people's comfort, though. 204 00:11:54,960 --> 00:11:58,480 Speaker 1: In eighteen ninety one, a restaurant called Ice Palace opened 205 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:02,280 Speaker 1: in Saint Louis, Missouri that used central station refrigeration to 206 00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:05,000 Speaker 1: keep the whole building cool, and it also decorated the 207 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:08,440 Speaker 1: place with lots of pictures of wintry scenes. Over the 208 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:12,280 Speaker 1: next couple of decades, several people started designing the systems 209 00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:16,600 Speaker 1: that evolved into modern air conditioning. Alfred Wolf created cooling 210 00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:19,080 Speaker 1: systems for a number of buildings in the late nineteenth 211 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:22,840 Speaker 1: and early twentieth centuries. In eighteen eighty nine, he created 212 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:26,360 Speaker 1: a ventilation system for Carnegie Hall or Carnegie if you 213 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:29,520 Speaker 1: liked that pronunciation, but most people except Carnegie Hall as 214 00:12:29,559 --> 00:12:33,440 Speaker 1: the pronunciation on that one. These included racks for blocks 215 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:36,679 Speaker 1: of ice, and that same year he used chilling coils 216 00:12:36,720 --> 00:12:39,240 Speaker 1: to cool the air in a dissecting room at Cornell 217 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:43,199 Speaker 1: Medical College, which seems like an excellent venue for air conditioning. 218 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:46,480 Speaker 1: In nineteen oh two, he created a fan driven system 219 00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:49,040 Speaker 1: for the New York stock Exchange that cost one hundred 220 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:52,400 Speaker 1: and thirty thousand dollars, and it could heat and cool 221 00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:56,520 Speaker 1: the building. In cold weather, steam boilers added heat and humidity, 222 00:12:56,520 --> 00:12:58,960 Speaker 1: and in hot weather, the air moved over coils that 223 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:02,439 Speaker 1: were filled with a cooling brine to cool and dehumidify. 224 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:06,760 Speaker 1: At about the same time, engineer Stuart Kramer was working 225 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:10,240 Speaker 1: in textile mills in the South, especially in the winter. 226 00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:13,040 Speaker 1: That air in these mills would become very dry, which 227 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:16,480 Speaker 1: was a problem. Cotton thread is a lot more brittle 228 00:13:16,600 --> 00:13:19,600 Speaker 1: and likely to snap when it's too dry. Wool is 229 00:13:19,640 --> 00:13:23,319 Speaker 1: a lot easier to work when it's properly moist. Plus 230 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:26,200 Speaker 1: static electricity when working with a bunch of textiles in 231 00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:30,720 Speaker 1: too dry air, could be just unbearable. Kramer developed systems 232 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:35,040 Speaker 1: that combined ventilation with humidification. They basically circulated the air 233 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:38,480 Speaker 1: while also releasing a very fine mist of water. The 234 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:41,400 Speaker 1: word that he coined for this combination of temperature and 235 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:46,000 Speaker 1: humidity control was air conditioning. Kramer was awarded a patent 236 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:49,880 Speaker 1: for his air conditioning system in nineteen oh six. Concurrently 237 00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:53,840 Speaker 1: with Wolf and Kramer, Willis Carrier was working at Buffalo 238 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:57,640 Speaker 1: Forge Company and the company made things like blowers and bellows, 239 00:13:57,720 --> 00:13:59,880 Speaker 1: and he had been made head of its new ex 240 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:04,200 Speaker 1: experimental engineering department. Those three men that we've just talked about, 241 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:06,319 Speaker 1: his is probably the name that at least rings a 242 00:14:06,360 --> 00:14:10,360 Speaker 1: bell because Carrier is still associated with air conditioning. We 243 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:12,840 Speaker 1: just got a new air conditioner installed and it is 244 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:19,480 Speaker 1: a Carrier unit. So. Second, Wilhelm's Lithographic and Publishing Company 245 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:23,479 Speaker 1: in Brooklyn, New York, was one of Buffalo Forged Company's clients, 246 00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:27,520 Speaker 1: and they were having a problem with humidity. Variations in 247 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:30,440 Speaker 1: the humidity affected the paper that was running through their 248 00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:34,000 Speaker 1: printing presses. Sometimes this would cause the ink to bleed 249 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:36,880 Speaker 1: or to smear, or for the paper to visibly warp. 250 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:40,040 Speaker 1: But a bigger problem was that they were printing in color. 251 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:44,400 Speaker 1: Colored inks went onto the paper one layer at the time. 252 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:48,520 Speaker 1: Even a slight difference in humidity affected the paper enough 253 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:51,400 Speaker 1: that the colors would be out of register. Those layers 254 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:54,280 Speaker 1: wouldn't line up correctly. It would not look like a 255 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:58,400 Speaker 1: cleanly printed color document. It would look like overlapping out 256 00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:02,120 Speaker 1: of the lines, messed up color. I'm thinking about the 257 00:15:02,240 --> 00:15:05,400 Speaker 1: various episodes we have done about artists and their work 258 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:09,880 Speaker 1: getting printed cheaply, and I'm betting probably these problems were 259 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:13,440 Speaker 1: part of how they ended up such a mess. So 260 00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:16,560 Speaker 1: Carrier developed a system that moved air over a series 261 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:20,920 Speaker 1: of coils that were cooled with compressed ammonia. Moisture condensed 262 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:23,440 Speaker 1: out of the air and onto the coils, drying it out, 263 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:26,520 Speaker 1: which also had the side effect of cooling the air off. 264 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:31,520 Speaker 1: He ultimately developed a cooling, dehumidification, and air circulation system 265 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:35,120 Speaker 1: that maintained a temperature of seventy degrees fahrenheit in winter 266 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:38,600 Speaker 1: or eighty degrees in summer, and a relative humidity that 267 00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:42,720 Speaker 1: was a consistent fifty five percent. This was Carrier's first 268 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:45,560 Speaker 1: attempt at endoor climate control, and he went on to 269 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:49,360 Speaker 1: be awarded numerous patents within the field. The first one 270 00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:51,840 Speaker 1: was issued in nineteen oh six that was US Patent 271 00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:55,680 Speaker 1: number eighth eight eight nine seven apparatus or treading Air. 272 00:15:56,360 --> 00:15:59,680 Speaker 1: It described a process for forcing air through a spray 273 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:01,920 Speaker 1: of water and then through a set of baffles to 274 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:05,080 Speaker 1: remove any kind of pollutants or impurities, before then heating 275 00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:08,840 Speaker 1: or cooling it and adding or removing humidity. In late 276 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:13,240 Speaker 1: nineteen oh seven, Buffalo Forge Company established Carrier Air Conditioning 277 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:17,160 Speaker 1: Company of America as a subsidy. Willis Carrier was vice 278 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:21,000 Speaker 1: president and chief engineer. Among the first clients were flour 279 00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:24,680 Speaker 1: mills and Jellette. Too much humidity was causing the razor 280 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:28,160 Speaker 1: blades to rust, and in nineteen eleven Carrier gave an 281 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:32,600 Speaker 1: address on his rational psychometric formulae at the American Society 282 00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:36,400 Speaker 1: of Mechanical Engineers. This was also published in the Society's journal, 283 00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:40,640 Speaker 1: and the printed version started quote. A specialized engineering field 284 00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:44,600 Speaker 1: has recently developed, technically known as air conditioning or the 285 00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:49,280 Speaker 1: artificial regulation of atmospheric moisture. The application of this new 286 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:52,800 Speaker 1: art to many varied industries has been demonstrated to be 287 00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:57,000 Speaker 1: of greatest economic importance. When applied to the blast furnace, 288 00:16:57,080 --> 00:16:59,880 Speaker 1: that has increased the net profit in the production of 289 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:03,840 Speaker 1: pig iron from fifty cents to seventy cents per ton, 290 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:06,359 Speaker 1: and in the textile mill it has increased the output 291 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:09,520 Speaker 1: from five to fifteen percent, at the same time greatly 292 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:13,200 Speaker 1: improving the quality and the hygienic conditions surrounding the operative. 293 00:17:13,840 --> 00:17:18,159 Speaker 1: And many other industries such as lithographing, the manufacture of 294 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:22,600 Speaker 1: candy bread, high explosives and photographic films, and the drying 295 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:27,919 Speaker 1: and preparing of delicate hygroscopic materials such as macaroni and tobacco. 296 00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:33,359 Speaker 1: The question of humidity is equally important. While air conditioning 297 00:17:33,359 --> 00:17:37,119 Speaker 1: has never been properly applied to coal mines, the author 298 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:40,679 Speaker 1: is convinced that if this were made compulsory, the greater 299 00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:45,520 Speaker 1: number of mine explosions would be prevented. The paper goes 300 00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:49,720 Speaker 1: on to detail all kinds of formulas about temperature, humidity, 301 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:53,399 Speaker 1: and dew point, how they're interrelated, how they can be adjusted, 302 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:57,359 Speaker 1: and what the effect of those adjustments would be. So 303 00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:00,000 Speaker 1: that introduction to the paper and the paper itself highlight 304 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:03,960 Speaker 1: a couple of things. One is that initially air conditioning 305 00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:07,000 Speaker 1: had a slightly different meaning than it does today. Today 306 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:10,760 Speaker 1: we most associate air conditioning with keeping things cool and 307 00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:15,640 Speaker 1: not too humid. Another is that, almost without exception, it 308 00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:19,959 Speaker 1: was not about the workers' comfort. It was about the 309 00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:23,120 Speaker 1: products they were making and the temperature and humidity needs 310 00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:25,600 Speaker 1: of the materials and equipment they were working with, in 311 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:27,800 Speaker 1: order to make them more productive and to make the 312 00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:30,879 Speaker 1: business more profitable. You can be hot and sweaty, but 313 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:35,200 Speaker 1: the paper cannot correct. We're going to get into how 314 00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:38,920 Speaker 1: air conditioning finally became a household commodity after we first 315 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:51,160 Speaker 1: paused for a little sponsor break in the early nineteen hundreds. 316 00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:54,919 Speaker 1: The general public didn't get to experience much air conditioning 317 00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:57,520 Speaker 1: in the United States unless it was something that was 318 00:18:57,560 --> 00:19:00,920 Speaker 1: being employed at their work to make their work were profitable. 319 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:04,320 Speaker 1: The Saint Louis World's Fair used mechanical cooling at the 320 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:08,159 Speaker 1: Missouri State Building in nineteen oh four. Roughly twenty million 321 00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:10,400 Speaker 1: people attended the fair, and for a lot of them 322 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:13,879 Speaker 1: this was the first ever experience they had with air conditioning. 323 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:17,600 Speaker 1: Home air conditioning was still way out of reach. The 324 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:21,080 Speaker 1: first home air conditioner was installed in nineteen fourteen at 325 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:24,879 Speaker 1: the Charles Gates Mansion in Minneapolis, and it's not clear 326 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:27,399 Speaker 1: whether or not that air conditioner was ever actually used 327 00:19:27,440 --> 00:19:29,680 Speaker 1: because no one was living in the mansion at the time. 328 00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:33,480 Speaker 1: That same year, Buffalo Forge Company decided to pull out 329 00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:36,280 Speaker 1: of the air conditioning business. Willis Carrier and some of 330 00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:40,000 Speaker 1: his colleagues founded Carrier Engineering Corporation the following year, with 331 00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:44,040 Speaker 1: Carrier as its president. Still at this point, air conditioning 332 00:19:44,119 --> 00:19:47,320 Speaker 1: was mainly focused on industry and not comfort, and the 333 00:19:47,359 --> 00:19:50,480 Speaker 1: availability of air conditioning meant that factories were being opened 334 00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:53,280 Speaker 1: in places where the climate had not been very conducive 335 00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:57,119 Speaker 1: to it before that. Industrial systems did sometimes have a 336 00:19:57,160 --> 00:20:00,000 Speaker 1: side effect of making things more comfortable for workers, though. 337 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:03,879 Speaker 1: For example, the use of air conditioning in tobacco processing 338 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:06,840 Speaker 1: kept the tobacco leaves at the right humidity level, but 339 00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:09,119 Speaker 1: it also really cut down on the amount of dust 340 00:20:09,160 --> 00:20:12,120 Speaker 1: that the workers were subjected to. There are, also, of course, 341 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:16,320 Speaker 1: other cases where it was the opposite, where this new 342 00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:19,320 Speaker 1: air conditioning system would make it feel to employees like 343 00:20:19,359 --> 00:20:21,080 Speaker 1: it was cold and damp, and they would want to 344 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:23,320 Speaker 1: open the windows, and if they opened the windows, that 345 00:20:23,359 --> 00:20:25,680 Speaker 1: would ruin the entire point of having had this air 346 00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:28,680 Speaker 1: conditioning in the first place. It was in the nineteen 347 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:32,680 Speaker 1: twenties that people started experiencing air conditioning that was specifically 348 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:35,959 Speaker 1: installed to make them more comfortable while also still being 349 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:41,360 Speaker 1: all about profitability. Because this was at movie theaters. There 350 00:20:41,359 --> 00:20:44,639 Speaker 1: had been theater cooling systems that combined ice blocks and 351 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:47,600 Speaker 1: fans before this, but they often weren't all that effective. 352 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:50,200 Speaker 1: They might wind up with some parts of the theater 353 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:52,919 Speaker 1: being cold and damp while others were hot and damp. 354 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:58,240 Speaker 1: Carrier Engineering Corporation installed the first modern air conditioning system 355 00:20:58,359 --> 00:21:02,240 Speaker 1: at a movie theater, Metropolitan Theater in Los Angeles in 356 00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:06,040 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty two, and this was the start of three 357 00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:10,920 Speaker 1: huge trends. Number one, air conditioned movie theaters. Number two 358 00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:15,359 Speaker 1: movie theaters heavily advertising their air conditioning, and number three 359 00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:18,840 Speaker 1: big movies coming out in the summer when everybody would 360 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:20,800 Speaker 1: be going to the movies to get out of the heat. 361 00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:23,720 Speaker 1: By the start of World War Two, most of the 362 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:26,960 Speaker 1: movie theaters in the southern United States had air conditioning, 363 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:30,119 Speaker 1: and the US isn't the only place where movie theaters 364 00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:32,720 Speaker 1: were the first public buildings to be air conditioned. The 365 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:35,280 Speaker 1: first public building to be air conditioned in Hong Kong 366 00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:39,280 Speaker 1: was King Cinema that happened in nineteen thirty one. After 367 00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:42,720 Speaker 1: movie theaters, the next public buildings to be air conditioned 368 00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:46,399 Speaker 1: in the United States were mostly large department stores, especially 369 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:50,360 Speaker 1: in the South. Smaller stores followed, and then came office buildings, 370 00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:54,800 Speaker 1: with the first air conditioned offices often being banks. The 371 00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:58,120 Speaker 1: United States government started air conditioning some of its buildings 372 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:01,480 Speaker 1: in the late nineteen twenties. The House of Representatives chamber 373 00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:04,080 Speaker 1: was air conditioned in nineteen twenty eight, and then the 374 00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:06,879 Speaker 1: Senate in nineteen twenty nine, and then the White House 375 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:10,159 Speaker 1: and Executive Building in nineteen thirty. The Supreme Court was 376 00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:13,159 Speaker 1: air conditioned in nineteen thirty one. There had been some 377 00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:17,520 Speaker 1: debate about whether these systems should be installed, Even though Washington, 378 00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:20,800 Speaker 1: DC summers are famously punishing in terms of the heat 379 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:24,760 Speaker 1: and humidity. There were worries that people would see legislators 380 00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:27,720 Speaker 1: and Supreme Court justices as weak if they were going 381 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:32,520 Speaker 1: to work in comfortable air conditioned buildings. Over these same years, 382 00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:37,240 Speaker 1: Carrier and other engineers were continuing to refine air conditioning technology. 383 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:41,840 Speaker 1: Has included more efficient compressors for the refrigerant and refrigerants 384 00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:45,760 Speaker 1: themselves that were safer to use. That compressed ammonia that 385 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:49,560 Speaker 1: was being used in the earliest air conditioners was extremely toxic. 386 00:22:50,119 --> 00:22:54,639 Speaker 1: What breathing ammonia air isn't good for me? Even so, 387 00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:58,200 Speaker 1: by the nineteen twenties, home air conditioning was still pretty rare, 388 00:22:58,359 --> 00:23:01,080 Speaker 1: unless a person was perhaps so healthy that they could 389 00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:04,399 Speaker 1: afford to install one at their unoccupied mansion in Minnesota. 390 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:08,200 Speaker 1: But that started to change as corporations started to develop 391 00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:12,440 Speaker 1: more compact and affordable models. Brigid Air debuted a room 392 00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:16,560 Speaker 1: cooler in nineteen twenty nine. In nineteen thirty one, HH 393 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:19,840 Speaker 1: Schultz and JQ. Sherman launched an early version of the 394 00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:23,600 Speaker 1: window air conditioner that was too expensive to actually be workable. 395 00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:27,840 Speaker 1: The Thorn room air conditioner came out in nineteen thirty two, 396 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:31,199 Speaker 1: and most of today's window air conditioners still look a 397 00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:35,520 Speaker 1: lot like it. Yeah, the window air conditioning technology has 398 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:41,480 Speaker 1: not changed all that much since this happened. Hotels had 399 00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:45,320 Speaker 1: started installing air conditioning not long after movie theaters did, 400 00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:47,320 Speaker 1: but at first it was only in the lobbies and 401 00:23:47,359 --> 00:23:51,280 Speaker 1: the public spaces. The first hotel with air conditioned guest 402 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:55,160 Speaker 1: rooms was the Detroit Statler in nineteen thirty four. Even 403 00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:57,840 Speaker 1: though window air conditioners were starting to become a lot 404 00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:00,879 Speaker 1: more affordable, the Great Depression took a toll on the 405 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:04,840 Speaker 1: whole industry. One exception was in the American Southwest, which 406 00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:07,159 Speaker 1: was also struck by the dust bowl. At about the 407 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:10,199 Speaker 1: same time, people who could find the money to do 408 00:24:10,320 --> 00:24:13,440 Speaker 1: so installed air conditioners to try to keep the relentless 409 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:16,480 Speaker 1: dust out of their homes. In nineteen thirty nine, the 410 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:18,919 Speaker 1: Carrier Company went to the New York World's Fair with 411 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:23,359 Speaker 1: its Igloo of Tomorrow which both demonstrated and educated people 412 00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:27,280 Speaker 1: about air conditioning. That same year, Packered debuted the first 413 00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:30,480 Speaker 1: air conditioned car, but that was pretty slow to be adopted. 414 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:33,920 Speaker 1: Only ten percent of cars sold in the United States 415 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:36,640 Speaker 1: had air conditioning in nineteen sixty six, but by two 416 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:40,760 Speaker 1: thousand it was ninety eight percent. Also in the nineteen thirties, 417 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:44,120 Speaker 1: swamp coolers started to be manufactured to cool the air 418 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:47,520 Speaker 1: in dry environments. Unlike most of the systems we've been 419 00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:50,359 Speaker 1: talking about, which used coils filled with some kind of 420 00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:55,000 Speaker 1: refrigerant to cool and dehumidify the air, swamp coolers cool 421 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:59,160 Speaker 1: the air by adding moisture. Greyhound started air conditioning its 422 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:01,760 Speaker 1: buses in night eighteen forty, and in nineteen forty two, 423 00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:05,280 Speaker 1: power plants in the United States started implementing summer peaking 424 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:08,359 Speaker 1: to handle the increased electricity demand caused by all this 425 00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:12,440 Speaker 1: air conditioning. The first really affordable window units hit the 426 00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:15,760 Speaker 1: market in nineteen fifty one, which put air conditioning on 427 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:19,000 Speaker 1: the way to becoming almost ubiquitous in the United States. 428 00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:22,679 Speaker 1: Even though John Gory's first attempt at creating a cooling 429 00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:26,480 Speaker 1: system was all about patients in a hospital, hospitals were 430 00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:30,080 Speaker 1: slow to adopt air conditioning. By nineteen sixty two, only 431 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:33,440 Speaker 1: fifteen percent of hospital patient rooms in the United States 432 00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:37,359 Speaker 1: were air conditioned. That same year, a Federal Housing Administration 433 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:40,400 Speaker 1: official was quoted as saying, quote, within a few years, 434 00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:43,760 Speaker 1: any house that is not air conditioned will probably be obsolescent. 435 00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:47,520 Speaker 1: I couldn't find data about public schools, but just as 436 00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:49,800 Speaker 1: a side note, I was in public school in North 437 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:53,600 Speaker 1: Carolina from nineteen eighty to nineteen ninety three. I was 438 00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:56,800 Speaker 1: almost never in an air conditioned classroom. Nor was my 439 00:25:56,920 --> 00:26:00,520 Speaker 1: college dorm air conditioned. I'm a few years ahead of you, 440 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:02,880 Speaker 1: but by that point I was in Florida and everything 441 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:06,959 Speaker 1: was air conditioned. So yeah, So the only classrooms I 442 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:10,840 Speaker 1: remember being air conditioned were in one case, being in 443 00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:13,480 Speaker 1: a newly constructed part of the school that was like 444 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:15,840 Speaker 1: brand new. We also had these things that were called 445 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:19,959 Speaker 1: portable classroom units. Oh yeah, really trailers. The trailers were 446 00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:21,960 Speaker 1: air conditioned most of the time with like a little 447 00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:28,000 Speaker 1: window unit, and that was really it. So we had 448 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:29,840 Speaker 1: this whole system of if it was going to be 449 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:32,200 Speaker 1: too hot for it to be safe in the classroom, 450 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:38,640 Speaker 1: we had an hour early dismissal. Huh. Fascinating. Yeah, so, uh, 451 00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:41,640 Speaker 1: that's the story of how hot it was. There would 452 00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:44,359 Speaker 1: usually be an oscillating fan mounted up on the wall, 453 00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:47,240 Speaker 1: and just the kids in the classroom seats would just 454 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:49,280 Speaker 1: sort of sway back and forth trying to catch the 455 00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:55,760 Speaker 1: air from the oscillating fan for as long as possible. Meanwhile, 456 00:26:55,840 --> 00:26:58,040 Speaker 1: I was like the weirdy kid, like, can I stand outside? 457 00:26:58,080 --> 00:27:01,800 Speaker 1: It's cold in here. Central air conditioning debuted in the 458 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:04,760 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies. That was also in the middle of an 459 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:08,600 Speaker 1: energy crisis. This prompted the US federal government to put 460 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:12,560 Speaker 1: together its first federal energy efficiency standard for air conditioning. 461 00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:15,800 Speaker 1: So to be clear, when central air conditioning debuted, there 462 00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:18,280 Speaker 1: were plenty of places that were having the whole building 463 00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:22,080 Speaker 1: air conditioned, but this was like a custom designed system 464 00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:25,399 Speaker 1: most of the time, rather than having a model for 465 00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:28,720 Speaker 1: central air conditioning that could be applied to a lot 466 00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:32,200 Speaker 1: of different homes. Like we said earlier, air conditioning was 467 00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:34,840 Speaker 1: adopted much faster in the United States than in the 468 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:38,359 Speaker 1: rest of the world. In nineteen eighty, half of the 469 00:27:38,359 --> 00:27:41,800 Speaker 1: world's air conditioning was installed in the United States. This 470 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:43,960 Speaker 1: means that the United States has also been using a 471 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:46,920 Speaker 1: lot more electricity on air conditioning than the rest of 472 00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:50,080 Speaker 1: the world has, even as other nations have started adopting 473 00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:52,680 Speaker 1: air conditioning a lot more rapidly in more recent years. 474 00:27:53,359 --> 00:27:57,040 Speaker 1: In twenty fifteen, the United States was using more electricity 475 00:27:57,080 --> 00:27:59,800 Speaker 1: for air conditioning than the entire rest of the world 476 00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:04,040 Speaker 1: war and was using more electricity just for ac than 477 00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:07,399 Speaker 1: the entire continent of Africa was using for any purpose 478 00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:11,639 Speaker 1: at all. According to the Energy Information Administration's Residential Energy 479 00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:15,560 Speaker 1: Consumption Survey that was released in twenty eleven, eighty seven 480 00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:18,040 Speaker 1: percent of households in the United States have an air 481 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:22,760 Speaker 1: conditioner or central air. By comparison, eleven percent of households 482 00:28:22,760 --> 00:28:25,840 Speaker 1: in Brazil and two percent of households in India had 483 00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:29,200 Speaker 1: air conditioning at the same time. However, the popularity of 484 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:32,280 Speaker 1: air conditioning is spreading, and it's already approached the saturation 485 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:36,160 Speaker 1: point in some other countries, including China, South Korea, and Japan. 486 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:40,040 Speaker 1: In twenty ten, fifty million air conditioning units were sold 487 00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:43,880 Speaker 1: in China alone. This has, of course led to environmental 488 00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:47,280 Speaker 1: concerns as a global adoption of air conditioning starts to 489 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:50,960 Speaker 1: align with what already happened in the United States. According 490 00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:54,680 Speaker 1: to some estimates, electricity demand for air conditioning could increase 491 00:28:54,840 --> 00:28:58,400 Speaker 1: tenfold by the air twenty fifty. That is on top 492 00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:01,560 Speaker 1: of concerns about refrigerator and their effects on the environment. 493 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:04,640 Speaker 1: Listeners of a certain age will probably remember concerns about 494 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:07,640 Speaker 1: the chlorofluorocarbons like free on, which were banned in the 495 00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:10,400 Speaker 1: late nineteen eighties because of their role in depleting the 496 00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:13,480 Speaker 1: planet's ozone layer. And then there's the fact that air 497 00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:17,760 Speaker 1: conditioners pump hot air out and cool air in, so 498 00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:20,440 Speaker 1: the air just gets hotter around any building where air 499 00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:24,479 Speaker 1: conditioning is used, which then requires more air conditioning. So 500 00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:27,400 Speaker 1: in some places architects and designers are looking at ways 501 00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:31,080 Speaker 1: to incorporate some of those elements of vernacular architecture so 502 00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:34,440 Speaker 1: that it doesn't take quite so much electricity and mechanical 503 00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:38,240 Speaker 1: air conditioning to cool the place off. The existence of 504 00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:42,200 Speaker 1: air conditioning has also had a huge impact on so 505 00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:47,760 Speaker 1: many things, including architecture, human behavior, and demographics, everything from 506 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:51,880 Speaker 1: fewer premature deaths during heat waves to the existence of 507 00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:56,000 Speaker 1: computers since their components can't really be manufactured without temperature 508 00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:59,560 Speaker 1: and dust control. The advent of air conditioning has been 509 00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:03,320 Speaker 1: credited with people retiring to the South, particularly to Florida. 510 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:07,719 Speaker 1: It's also been credited with leading to more industrialization and 511 00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:11,200 Speaker 1: urbanizing parts of the American South. There is still some 512 00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:15,920 Speaker 1: debate about correlation versus causation, but in general, air conditioning 513 00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:19,560 Speaker 1: has been cited as one element in a massive Southern 514 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:23,520 Speaker 1: population boom in the last fifty years. As one example 515 00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:26,600 Speaker 1: that ties all of this together, during the post World 516 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:29,720 Speaker 1: War II Baby boom, huge numbers of white, middle class 517 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:33,400 Speaker 1: Americans were buying houses in the suburbs. Many of those 518 00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:36,600 Speaker 1: newly designed houses were built to be cooled through air conditioning. 519 00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:40,320 Speaker 1: Particularly popular in the region of the southern US that's 520 00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:43,120 Speaker 1: known as the Sun Belt was the ranch house, one 521 00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:46,200 Speaker 1: story flat, often with a large picture window in the 522 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:50,080 Speaker 1: living room but small, narrow windows elsewhere. It had none 523 00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:52,800 Speaker 1: of the vernacular design elements that we talked about earlier 524 00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:55,480 Speaker 1: meant to help a building stay cool because it was 525 00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:58,520 Speaker 1: meant to be cooled with AC. And then there's another 526 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:02,600 Speaker 1: trend that wraps back how air conditioning really started out 527 00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:07,000 Speaker 1: to help industries. According to research by economist William Nordhaus, 528 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:10,600 Speaker 1: around the world, as a general trend, the hotter the 529 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:14,960 Speaker 1: average temperature, the less productive people are. In the past, 530 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:18,000 Speaker 1: this trend has been used to prop up racist stereotypes 531 00:31:18,040 --> 00:31:21,480 Speaker 1: about people from the hottest parts of the world. But 532 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:24,440 Speaker 1: really there's just a lot of data that being hot 533 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:30,080 Speaker 1: makes it harder to be productive. Just as one example, 534 00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:33,520 Speaker 1: this summer that we're recording this podcast, the Harvard THH. 535 00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:36,400 Speaker 1: Chan School of Public Health published a study about how 536 00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:40,040 Speaker 1: students who lived in non air conditioned buildings in Boston 537 00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:44,520 Speaker 1: performed more poorly on cognitive tests than their peers who 538 00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:47,920 Speaker 1: had air conditioning. So, at least in theory, air conditioning 539 00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:51,880 Speaker 1: or some method of cooling makes countries with a really 540 00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:55,000 Speaker 1: hot climate more productive than they could be without it. 541 00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:58,920 Speaker 1: So it's still about productivity and profitability as much as 542 00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:04,600 Speaker 1: it's about people's coming. The two are kind of inseparable. Really. Yeah, 543 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:13,240 Speaker 1: it's part of how it all works. Thanks so much 544 00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:16,320 Speaker 1: for joining us on this Saturday. Since this episode is 545 00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:18,400 Speaker 1: out of the archive, if you heard an email address 546 00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:21,000 Speaker 1: or a Facebook RL or something similar over the course 547 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:24,280 Speaker 1: of the show, that could be obsolete. Now. Our current 548 00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:29,800 Speaker 1: email address is History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com. Our 549 00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:33,520 Speaker 1: old house stuffworks email address no longer works. 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