1 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:08,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to Invention, a production of I Heart Radio. Hey, 2 00:00:08,680 --> 00:00:11,440 Speaker 1: welcome to Invention. My name is Robert Lamp and I'm 3 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:15,440 Speaker 1: Joe Mccormickin Today, we're gonna be beginning and exploration of 4 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:17,919 Speaker 1: the invention of air conditioning. This is going to be 5 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:21,400 Speaker 1: a multi part series. And for the purpose of this conversation, 6 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:25,000 Speaker 1: we're not going to be talking about all cooling, refrigeration, 7 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:28,760 Speaker 1: all making stuff colder technology that has ever existed. We're 8 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 1: going to be focusing on the invention of systems primarily 9 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:36,559 Speaker 1: for cooling and removing humidity from interior spaces, primarily, but 10 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:39,880 Speaker 1: not exclusively, for the comfort of humans and other animals. 11 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:41,760 Speaker 1: Right that. Now that being said, we are going to 12 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:46,680 Speaker 1: mention some some some various cooling technologies and air circulation 13 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:50,920 Speaker 1: technologies on the path to modern air conditioning exactly. So, 14 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:53,960 Speaker 1: I will say that I can speak from pre recent 15 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:58,480 Speaker 1: personal experience, actual actually multiple experiences, to say that if 16 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:01,720 Speaker 1: you are lucky enough who have air conditioning in your home, 17 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 1: in your workplace, and the places that you dwell, especially 18 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:06,920 Speaker 1: in the hottest months of the year, especially if you 19 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:09,880 Speaker 1: live somewhere hot like in the American South or anywhere 20 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:13,080 Speaker 1: near the equator, I guess, or Atlanta or Hotlanta, as 21 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:16,840 Speaker 1: they know that they do not call it. If you 22 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:19,399 Speaker 1: are one of these lucky people who has this technology, 23 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:22,160 Speaker 1: you should not take this blessing for granted. You should 24 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:25,839 Speaker 1: remember every sweltering day to be thankful for this luxury. 25 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 1: I once lived in an upper floor apartment in an 26 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:31,840 Speaker 1: old house in North Carolina, as though there was an 27 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: apartment below me, and I went the better part of 28 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:38,800 Speaker 1: a blistering summer there with no air conditioning. And you know, 29 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 1: I don't want to over dramatize my my own struggles, 30 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:45,840 Speaker 1: but I just remember, like my brain didn't work. I 31 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:49,440 Speaker 1: remember standing at the refrigerator with the freezer door open 32 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 1: and my head stuck in it, which don't do that, folks. 33 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:54,960 Speaker 1: I mean, that's not energy efficient, but you know, it 34 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:58,280 Speaker 1: just short circuited all my rationality to be in this 35 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:01,400 Speaker 1: hundred degree apartment. I remember I would lie on top 36 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:04,240 Speaker 1: of my bed and try to sleep at night, just 37 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: making like a human sweat angel, like a you know, 38 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:10,600 Speaker 1: a human shaped sweat imprint on the top blanket. It 39 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:14,480 Speaker 1: was disgusting and and more recently actually just last year, 40 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:17,160 Speaker 1: our home air conditioning and it completely broke down. In 41 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:19,919 Speaker 1: the middle of summer, and it was several weeks before 42 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:22,320 Speaker 1: we get the problem fixed. And again, maybe I'm just 43 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:24,639 Speaker 1: a whimp, but I found that in a house that's 44 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:28,120 Speaker 1: like ninety degrees plus are close to a hundred degrees 45 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:32,040 Speaker 1: with high humidity, my brain just broke. I remember sitting 46 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:34,080 Speaker 1: at a desk trying to do work with like a 47 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 1: wet towel around my neck and a box fan propped 48 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:39,880 Speaker 1: up pointing at my head, and it just it never 49 00:02:39,919 --> 00:02:42,520 Speaker 1: felt like enough. The hot, swampy summers down here can 50 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:46,240 Speaker 1: be brutal, and it really makes you appreciate again how 51 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: lucky you are if you have access to this modern convenience, 52 00:02:49,639 --> 00:02:53,120 Speaker 1: especially in Hotlanta or swamp Planta. We can call it that, 53 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:54,959 Speaker 1: I guess, but I got to give a shout out 54 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:57,920 Speaker 1: to my A C guy, Mike, who Robert here referred 55 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:01,119 Speaker 1: me to. Yes, my Mike is great. Effects fixed mine 56 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: up as well. And indeed, air conditioning is one of 57 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:07,079 Speaker 1: those things when when it's working properly, you you hardly 58 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:09,280 Speaker 1: notice it at all and you just take it for granted. 59 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:14,320 Speaker 1: When something goes wrong, that's when you start sweating, and 60 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:18,200 Speaker 1: in all possible ways. Uh, sweating at night getting the 61 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:22,040 Speaker 1: proper terrifying night sweats on. And you know, one of 62 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:23,960 Speaker 1: the things is, is I get older, I do find 63 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:28,240 Speaker 1: that I enjoy the heat. Like I I love to 64 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:32,400 Speaker 1: read and write on my front porch, and I'll generally 65 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:35,200 Speaker 1: like push that as far as humanly possible in either direction. 66 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:38,400 Speaker 1: Like when it's colder, I'll bundle up as much as possible, 67 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 1: but I can't quite bundle my fingers. And then at 68 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:43,320 Speaker 1: that point I'm driven inside and I have to come 69 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:46,040 Speaker 1: out when you know the warmer person portion of the day, 70 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:48,440 Speaker 1: and then what is it gets hotter and hotter. Uh, 71 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 1: you know, I'll do whatever I need to do to 72 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:53,080 Speaker 1: try and keep the mosquitoes away, you know, burning like um, 73 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: you know, ritual citronella candles, and wearing more clothing than 74 00:03:57,400 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 1: it's perhaps temperature appropriate, just to keep them from biting 75 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 1: that sort of feasting of my blood, that sort of thing. 76 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:06,440 Speaker 1: But but but you know, I don't mind sweating out there. 77 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:09,480 Speaker 1: I can also, you know, bring out a fan if 78 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:12,240 Speaker 1: I need to to keep the air moving. And of course, 79 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:14,680 Speaker 1: as is common with with a lot of you know, 80 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:18,120 Speaker 1: front porch scenarios, if you have a porch swing or 81 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:21,320 Speaker 1: a hammock on hand, like, that's ideal because you're able 82 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:24,280 Speaker 1: to keep the air circulating by keeping yourself in more 83 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:28,240 Speaker 1: or less continuous motion. Um. But then eventually you reach 84 00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:30,680 Speaker 1: the point or I reached the point where I I 85 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:33,200 Speaker 1: have to come inside because it will just get too hot. 86 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:37,239 Speaker 1: And I enjoy having the choice, the privilege of being 87 00:04:37,279 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 1: able to come inside and enjoy the you know, the 88 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 1: cooler air. And you know, it's not only a privilege 89 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:45,080 Speaker 1: of our modern age, it is a privilege in our 90 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 1: modern age. Yeah, there are millions of people around the 91 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:50,280 Speaker 1: world in hot climates these days without air conditioning, and 92 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:53,520 Speaker 1: air conditioning does not come without costs, that's right. I 93 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 1: should also say that on my front porch, having uh, 94 00:04:56,480 --> 00:05:02,040 Speaker 1: you know, a readily refillable supply of ice water is 95 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:04,800 Speaker 1: a must. And of course that's that the history of 96 00:05:04,839 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 1: refrigeration is is right up there with the history of 97 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:10,159 Speaker 1: keeping spaces cool. Uh. So you know, both of these 98 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:13,400 Speaker 1: are technologies that we take completely for granted. So many 99 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:15,600 Speaker 1: of us that are listening to this podcast you have 100 00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:19,520 Speaker 1: not only um uh you know, cool air inside your home, 101 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:23,120 Speaker 1: but you have a miraculous machine that can turn liquid 102 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:27,040 Speaker 1: water into ice, perhaps automatically, and even if not automatically, 103 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:31,120 Speaker 1: like still very passively, you're not having to actually crank 104 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:34,159 Speaker 1: it out. All right. Well, before we start talking about 105 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:39,000 Speaker 1: air conditioning systems or pre air conditioning systems for enclosed spaces, 106 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:41,240 Speaker 1: we always like to ask the question what came before? 107 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:43,360 Speaker 1: I guess the deepest you can go on what came 108 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:47,800 Speaker 1: before for air conditioning technology is biological cooling systems and 109 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:50,880 Speaker 1: thermoregulation in the body, right, and for us that means 110 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:52,880 Speaker 1: sweat and and this is going to be key to 111 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:57,479 Speaker 1: the methodology of all these various air conditioning and temperature 112 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 1: control UH technologies that we're going to discuss in these episodes. So, 113 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:05,360 Speaker 1: your body produces sweat and UH with the in sweat 114 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:08,919 Speaker 1: evaporates from the skin to cool the body. That's essential 115 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 1: is the evaporation, right. It's kind of how in fact 116 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:14,440 Speaker 1: it works for anybody of water. Right. You can take 117 00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:18,359 Speaker 1: a just a bucket full of water, and the evaporation 118 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:20,799 Speaker 1: off the surface of that water will cool the water 119 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:23,719 Speaker 1: in the rest of the bucket because that evaporation is 120 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:27,200 Speaker 1: an energy hungry phase transfer, and it as to suck 121 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:31,160 Speaker 1: energy out of the heat from the rest of the water. Yeah, basically, 122 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:34,680 Speaker 1: liquid water evaporates into vapor using the thermal energy in 123 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:37,599 Speaker 1: the air, resulting in a lower air temperature. The water 124 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:41,880 Speaker 1: in sweat absorbs your body's heat energy and then evaporates, 125 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:46,800 Speaker 1: lowering your temperature in the process. That is evaporateate of cooling. Yeah, 126 00:06:46,839 --> 00:06:49,800 Speaker 1: evaporate of cooling is one of the really cool things 127 00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:51,960 Speaker 1: about chemistry when you really think about it. Here's the 128 00:06:52,040 --> 00:06:55,080 Speaker 1: questions kind of similar. Um, how come when you boil 129 00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:57,360 Speaker 1: a pot of water on the stove and it reaches 130 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:00,920 Speaker 1: the boiling point, the entire pot of water doesn't transform 131 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:05,039 Speaker 1: into steam all at once? Do you even think about that? Yeah? 132 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:09,600 Speaker 1: I was wondering about this one time, one one contemplates 133 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:12,680 Speaker 1: while watching the pot of water boil. Right, one of 134 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:15,640 Speaker 1: the most entertaining of activities. But yeah, it can. It 135 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:18,360 Speaker 1: can raise some interesting questions in your mind. And I 136 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:21,720 Speaker 1: think the way this works is that as water boils, 137 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:24,760 Speaker 1: some of that liquid water is turning into steam. That's 138 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:27,080 Speaker 1: a phase transition. It's the same thing that's happening on 139 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,360 Speaker 1: your skin. Liquid water in your skin is turning into water, 140 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:32,800 Speaker 1: vapor into steam and coming off of your skin. But 141 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:35,200 Speaker 1: as that happens in the pot, as that water is 142 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:38,880 Speaker 1: turned into steam. The pot of water loses energy in 143 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 1: that process because it's a massively energy hungry process to 144 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:45,720 Speaker 1: turn water into steam. And so as the water is 145 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:48,760 Speaker 1: turning into steam, the water is constantly cooling back down 146 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:51,000 Speaker 1: and you have to keep putting more energy into the 147 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:53,400 Speaker 1: bottom of it to keep it boiling. And because it's 148 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 1: largely a good thing, because I'm thinking about scenarios in 149 00:07:55,920 --> 00:08:00,240 Speaker 1: which in which like large portions of water um are 150 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:03,040 Speaker 1: turned to steam instantly, and you're generally talking about an 151 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:06,800 Speaker 1: explosive situation. You're talking about an expansion of steam that 152 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:09,440 Speaker 1: can you can have, you know, catastrophic effects. You wouldn't 153 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:12,280 Speaker 1: want the pot of water you're boiling for spaghetti to 154 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:15,360 Speaker 1: suddenly become steam all at once, No, I mean you 155 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:18,240 Speaker 1: need massive energy inputs for that kind of thing to happen, 156 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:20,520 Speaker 1: just because it takes so much energy to turn water 157 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:23,440 Speaker 1: into steam. And again that's a good thing for your body. 158 00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:27,280 Speaker 1: Taking that energy from the body cools the body off. Now, 159 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:30,400 Speaker 1: when we turn to technological solutions for cooling a space, 160 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:36,680 Speaker 1: there were actually tons of brilliant inventions or little innovations 161 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:40,040 Speaker 1: and tweaks in the design of homes and buildings, UH 162 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:43,480 Speaker 1: for this purpose before the invention of modern like electrical 163 00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:46,920 Speaker 1: air conditioning using heat pumps or refrigeration or anything like that. Yes, 164 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:50,520 Speaker 1: the accumulation of all these little tweaks, all these little 165 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:54,679 Speaker 1: advantages that all add up to make hot temperature environments 166 00:08:54,679 --> 00:08:57,000 Speaker 1: more bearable. It reminds me of like, you know, the 167 00:08:57,000 --> 00:08:59,880 Speaker 1: the argument that you you you win a battle of 168 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:03,320 Speaker 1: all the small, little advantages to your side, you know, 169 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:05,680 Speaker 1: and it's very much that the case with you know, 170 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:09,640 Speaker 1: waging war against a hot climate. Let's talk about some 171 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:12,640 Speaker 1: of these little innovations throughout history. The first is I 172 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:15,600 Speaker 1: would say the absolute most dirt simple probably doesn't even 173 00:09:15,679 --> 00:09:17,680 Speaker 1: need to be mentioned, but won't mention it anyway. How 174 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:20,559 Speaker 1: about a roof that's having having a top level covering 175 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 1: provides shade and that blocks the radiation heating from the sun. 176 00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:27,200 Speaker 1: So that's one of the most important innovations in designing 177 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:29,360 Speaker 1: a cooler space. Yeah, in the same way you would 178 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:32,600 Speaker 1: take you might take comfort beneath the tree or you know, 179 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:36,040 Speaker 1: by the side of a cliff, some naturally occurring shade. Uh, 180 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:38,480 Speaker 1: we are able to construct our own shade as well. 181 00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:40,599 Speaker 1: But of course, by having a house that has a 182 00:09:40,679 --> 00:09:43,320 Speaker 1: roof on top if all else fails for keeping the 183 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:46,160 Speaker 1: house cool at night, one option you would sometimes have 184 00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:48,000 Speaker 1: in the ancient world as you could go out and 185 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:50,000 Speaker 1: you could sleep up on your roof. This seems to 186 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:53,040 Speaker 1: have been common, for example, in ancient Egypt, where a 187 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:57,080 Speaker 1: significant amount of living and sleeping happened on people's rooftops. 188 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:01,160 Speaker 1: That's right. In in past episodes of No I honestly 189 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:02,680 Speaker 1: can't remember it was this show or stuff to blow 190 00:10:02,679 --> 00:10:04,360 Speaker 1: your mind, we talked about some of the ancient cities. 191 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:07,360 Speaker 1: I think this was in our toilets episodes. We're talking 192 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:12,400 Speaker 1: about the archaeological remains of cities in which you know 193 00:10:12,440 --> 00:10:15,880 Speaker 1: there were entrances on all the roofs um. But also 194 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:20,000 Speaker 1: we can look to ancient accounts, say Herodotus writing of 195 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:24,079 Speaker 1: the hanging gardens of Babylon, or in Jewish lore, King 196 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:28,080 Speaker 1: David glimpsing Bathsheba bathing uh while resting on the roof 197 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:30,200 Speaker 1: of the palace. Yeah, I guess the idea is probably 198 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:31,920 Speaker 1: that it was like nice and cool out in the 199 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:33,880 Speaker 1: open air on the roof and where also you're going 200 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:36,200 Speaker 1: to be. But there are tons of other little ways 201 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:38,800 Speaker 1: that once you go beyond just having a structure with 202 00:10:38,840 --> 00:10:41,480 Speaker 1: a roof to block the sun. And you start building 203 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:44,840 Speaker 1: houses with openings and windows and different hallways and rooms, 204 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:48,559 Speaker 1: there is uh, there's all this investment in the architecture 205 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:51,360 Speaker 1: of a house to help aid in cooling. And this 206 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:54,320 Speaker 1: would include the positioning of windows or other openings, the 207 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:57,600 Speaker 1: shape of rooms and floors that allow ventilation of the 208 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:01,679 Speaker 1: inside and encourage cross breeze is to pass through. Also, 209 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:04,680 Speaker 1: something that I feel like is is less uh is 210 00:11:04,679 --> 00:11:07,880 Speaker 1: thought about less in modern home design is the positioning 211 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:10,959 Speaker 1: of windows away from direct sun or in the shade. 212 00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:13,760 Speaker 1: I think because houses are designed with the idea of 213 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:17,160 Speaker 1: air conditioning in the mind often these days that there's 214 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:20,640 Speaker 1: less planning put into Okay, where where are the windows, 215 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:21,959 Speaker 1: What kind of light are they going to get? Is 216 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:24,800 Speaker 1: there a tree to shade the window? And so forth. Yeah, 217 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:27,560 Speaker 1: we'll definitely come back to this in the future. But 218 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:30,760 Speaker 1: we we we see this, uh, this this trend where 219 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:33,680 Speaker 1: all these tiny advantages were discussing in the With the 220 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:37,160 Speaker 1: advent of modern air conditioning, so many of them were 221 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:39,760 Speaker 1: just abandoned because they weren't seen as useful anymore as 222 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:45,400 Speaker 1: necessary to keep a cool uh you know, habitat, and 223 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:47,800 Speaker 1: part of the problem then, is when the air conditioning 224 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:50,400 Speaker 1: goes away, or when the electricity goes away, whatever is 225 00:11:50,679 --> 00:11:54,000 Speaker 1: disrupting things, you have to fall back on a habitat 226 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:57,200 Speaker 1: or building that is not built with any of these 227 00:11:57,240 --> 00:11:59,800 Speaker 1: advantages in place, or even if you're not talking about 228 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:03,120 Speaker 1: using your air conditioning, if you're just considering energy efficiency. 229 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:05,560 Speaker 1: I mean, I think that there are some houses that 230 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:09,559 Speaker 1: are designed without proper thought about energy efficiency for heating 231 00:12:09,559 --> 00:12:11,880 Speaker 1: and cooling in the house, even if you have modern 232 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:15,160 Speaker 1: heating and cooling devices. Yeah. I mean when you're when 233 00:12:15,160 --> 00:12:17,640 Speaker 1: you're a kid and you're around air can I remember 234 00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:19,199 Speaker 1: just loving it. I was like, I just love the 235 00:12:19,240 --> 00:12:21,160 Speaker 1: smell of the air conditioning and just wanted on all 236 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:23,400 Speaker 1: the time. You know, when you're adult and you're actually 237 00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:26,880 Speaker 1: paying the bills, you don't necessarily want the air conditioning 238 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:28,520 Speaker 1: all the time. It would be nice if it went 239 00:12:28,559 --> 00:12:34,280 Speaker 1: off a few times during the month of August. Uh So, yeah, 240 00:12:34,320 --> 00:12:35,959 Speaker 1: you know, it would be nice to have so many 241 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:40,880 Speaker 1: of these other little, um, you know, design advantages in 242 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:44,280 Speaker 1: place as well to just reduce you the necessity of 243 00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:47,319 Speaker 1: running the a C. Here's another design advantage that predates 244 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:50,360 Speaker 1: modern air conditioning. How about construction that takes advantage of 245 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:53,319 Speaker 1: the fact that warm air rises, also known as the 246 00:12:53,400 --> 00:12:56,720 Speaker 1: chimney effect. So one example of this might be high ceilings. 247 00:12:57,320 --> 00:13:01,160 Speaker 1: Another is top side ventilation including passive roof vents or 248 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:04,640 Speaker 1: more recently, an attic fan, and so that this can 249 00:13:04,679 --> 00:13:07,960 Speaker 1: be paired with windows to create this ideal airflow situation 250 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:11,200 Speaker 1: where cool air flows in through open windows on the 251 00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:14,480 Speaker 1: lower floors and then is drawn up through the house 252 00:13:14,559 --> 00:13:17,000 Speaker 1: in a sort of air column that goes up towards 253 00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:20,200 Speaker 1: the attic and towards the roof, creating pressure that pushes 254 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:22,959 Speaker 1: the warm rising air out through vents in the upper 255 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:25,480 Speaker 1: floors or in the ceiling of roof. Yeah, well, I 256 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:27,520 Speaker 1: have one of these attic fans in my house, and 257 00:13:27,559 --> 00:13:30,080 Speaker 1: it's it's it's like being a spaceship, you know, because 258 00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:32,480 Speaker 1: you can just especially if you have only like one 259 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:34,960 Speaker 1: window open, you can just create this terrific flow of 260 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:37,720 Speaker 1: air through the house, which can make a huge difference 261 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:39,920 Speaker 1: of you know, you get kind of like it's gotten 262 00:13:39,880 --> 00:13:41,880 Speaker 1: a little warm, it's got a little hot inside the house, 263 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:44,600 Speaker 1: and you have a like a nice comfortable temperature drop 264 00:13:44,679 --> 00:13:48,200 Speaker 1: outside of the house. You can easily equalize things like 265 00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:50,120 Speaker 1: that a couple of other things would just be what 266 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:52,840 Speaker 1: do you make the house out of, Is it insulated 267 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:55,200 Speaker 1: in the proper way, something that's not going to heat 268 00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:57,520 Speaker 1: up and pass heat from the outside to the inside. 269 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:00,320 Speaker 1: And then another thing would be the outside color ration 270 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:02,680 Speaker 1: of the house that can affect how it absorbs heat. 271 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:05,120 Speaker 1: Do you live in a like a black obelisk or 272 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:06,960 Speaker 1: do you live in uh, you know, some sort of 273 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:10,599 Speaker 1: a white reflective uh domicile, And it's gonna make a 274 00:14:10,679 --> 00:14:12,839 Speaker 1: huge difference. And back to your point about a heat 275 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:16,160 Speaker 1: rising uh you know this also you see this in 276 00:14:16,240 --> 00:14:18,600 Speaker 1: designs of you know, older houses with high ceilings. Obviously 277 00:14:18,679 --> 00:14:20,920 Speaker 1: it's not the heat is going to rise out of 278 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:23,560 Speaker 1: the area in which you were living. But also you 279 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:26,680 Speaker 1: look at a lot of modern houses and the reliance 280 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:29,040 Speaker 1: on a c and where do you see the master bedroom. 281 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:32,120 Speaker 1: You see it on an upper floor, right like it 282 00:14:32,160 --> 00:14:34,560 Speaker 1: becomes more of a selling point of you're you know, saying, okay, 283 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:36,880 Speaker 1: it actually has a master on the main floor. And 284 00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:38,240 Speaker 1: a lot of that has to do with, you know, 285 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:40,880 Speaker 1: individuals get older. It's nicer to not have to go 286 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:43,080 Speaker 1: up a flight of stairs in order to get to 287 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:46,520 Speaker 1: your bedroom. But but also you have to to realize 288 00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:48,360 Speaker 1: it's going to take more to keep that cool up 289 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:51,560 Speaker 1: there like it's it's it's ultimately from a temperature standpoint, 290 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:53,800 Speaker 1: perhaps it's better to have the master bedroom on the 291 00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:56,680 Speaker 1: main floor. Yeah. Absolutely. The one thing I think we 292 00:14:56,680 --> 00:14:59,680 Speaker 1: shouldn't forget is how common I mean we mentioned people 293 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:02,400 Speaker 1: sleep being on the roofs. You shouldn't forget that in 294 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:06,080 Speaker 1: hot climates, it used to be extremely common for people 295 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:09,800 Speaker 1: to sleep outside. Oh yes, I was reading about this, 296 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:12,480 Speaker 1: and in times before air conditioning, and in places where 297 00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:15,280 Speaker 1: there's no air conditioning. Now it's just very common for 298 00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:17,960 Speaker 1: people to sleep on porches in front of their home, 299 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:21,960 Speaker 1: or on the deck behind their home, or in or 300 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:24,520 Speaker 1: just up on the roof for somewhere out in the yard. 301 00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:27,520 Speaker 1: I mean, this remains a way to stay cool at night. 302 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:29,680 Speaker 1: So we've talked to you about a number of examples 303 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:32,960 Speaker 1: of passive cooling design, uh, you know, far different from 304 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:35,680 Speaker 1: the active cooling system that you may have in your 305 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:38,680 Speaker 1: home or your apartment window. But we also have to 306 00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:43,160 Speaker 1: just consider that many of humanities, the oldest civilizations, they 307 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:46,760 Speaker 1: resided in some pretty sweltering places. And while perhaps you know, 308 00:15:46,840 --> 00:15:51,240 Speaker 1: such people's were less coddled by temperature control technology. Uh, 309 00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:53,120 Speaker 1: you know, they still had to do what they could 310 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:57,440 Speaker 1: to keep things chill. So I ran across a very 311 00:15:57,480 --> 00:16:01,160 Speaker 1: insightful article. This was This was an in g conservation 312 00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:04,160 Speaker 1: and management in two thousand and eight and it was 313 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:08,320 Speaker 1: a paper by um Hatamapur and A. Betty and it 314 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:11,640 Speaker 1: considers it concerns the town of the city of Bosher 315 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:14,600 Speaker 1: in southern Iran. This is a region where today you 316 00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:19,000 Speaker 1: see more than of total annual power consumption going to 317 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:22,760 Speaker 1: power a c window units. But people have been living 318 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:27,400 Speaker 1: in this region for at least five thousand years. And 319 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:30,360 Speaker 1: in this paper the authors point out the various strategies 320 00:16:30,400 --> 00:16:32,440 Speaker 1: that were utilized to keep things cool. Some of these 321 00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:35,360 Speaker 1: we've already discussed, but but just to you know, tie 322 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:39,320 Speaker 1: them to a specific location in a very long habited 323 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:42,120 Speaker 1: habitat region of the Earth. They pointed out that the 324 00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:45,760 Speaker 1: buildings were constructed closely together but with spaces for circulation 325 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:48,400 Speaker 1: around each and they were built in the direction of 326 00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:52,040 Speaker 1: seasonal fresh and cold winds. The lanes were narrow for 327 00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:56,480 Speaker 1: the generation of circulation, and they employed ventilation shafts, balconies, terraces. 328 00:16:56,880 --> 00:17:00,480 Speaker 1: The separation of heat generating spaces such as kitchens. Uh, 329 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:02,640 Speaker 1: that's another key one, you know, I think about because 330 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:05,399 Speaker 1: I think a number of us have probably noted, especially 331 00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:07,919 Speaker 1: during the summer, just how hot it gets in the 332 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:11,040 Speaker 1: kitchen when you're just doing something like cooking, you know, 333 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:14,520 Speaker 1: frozen pizza. You could keep things a lot cooler if 334 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:17,440 Speaker 1: you made sure that your your kitchen was somewhere else, 335 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:21,240 Speaker 1: was located in an adjacent building. I mean, I think 336 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:23,200 Speaker 1: it's one of the appeals of grilling in the summer, 337 00:17:23,280 --> 00:17:25,200 Speaker 1: like it's nice to be out in the in the 338 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:27,919 Speaker 1: nice weather while you're cooking, but also the thing that 339 00:17:27,920 --> 00:17:30,040 Speaker 1: gets hot is not inside your house. Yeah, I think 340 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:36,119 Speaker 1: it's a great point. Um Also balconies, coverings for direct sunshine, 341 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:40,919 Speaker 1: windows and walls, trees planted for shading, colored glasses in 342 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:45,760 Speaker 1: the windows, and wooden screens outside the windows, high roofed buildings, 343 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:50,720 Speaker 1: light roof colors, and low conductivity materials like gypsum for 344 00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:54,199 Speaker 1: shell walls. So so yeah, I found that, you know, 345 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:56,879 Speaker 1: again insightful considering that you know, this is a region 346 00:17:57,119 --> 00:17:59,800 Speaker 1: that uh, people have been living in for at least 347 00:17:59,840 --> 00:18:02,600 Speaker 1: five five thousand years, and throughout that five thousand history, 348 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:04,840 Speaker 1: most of it has been without the aid of a 349 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:08,440 Speaker 1: modern a C unit, but instead of having modern electrical 350 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:11,800 Speaker 1: air conditioning, they had this sort of army of other 351 00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:15,840 Speaker 1: little ingenious design solutions to help keep things cool. Yeah, 352 00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:18,480 Speaker 1: every little advantage. And later in the episode we're going 353 00:18:18,520 --> 00:18:20,960 Speaker 1: to talk about one really ingenious system that you see 354 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:24,040 Speaker 1: especially in ancient Persia. This this city was in ancient Persia. 355 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:26,879 Speaker 1: But maybe we should take a break now and then 356 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:29,320 Speaker 1: when we come back we can talk about ancient Egyptians 357 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:38,080 Speaker 1: and ancient Romans. All right, we're back. So the ancient 358 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:42,280 Speaker 1: Egyptians were known to have employed a simple but really 359 00:18:42,359 --> 00:18:47,800 Speaker 1: kind of ingenious system for for cooling their interior habitats, 360 00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:51,199 Speaker 1: and that was they utilized wet mats of reeds that 361 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:55,200 Speaker 1: they hung in windows. Water evaporated from the wet mats, 362 00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:59,200 Speaker 1: reducing air temperature in the process, and then a breeze 363 00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:02,480 Speaker 1: is blowing through the window and uh and moving through 364 00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:05,160 Speaker 1: these mats, lowering the indoor temperature. This is the same 365 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:08,520 Speaker 1: principle that we see later in stuff like the swamp cooler, 366 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:12,760 Speaker 1: right that uses like evaporation in a window in order 367 00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:16,919 Speaker 1: to do this, And that there are places where this 368 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:18,960 Speaker 1: is still a pretty common way of cooling your house. 369 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:21,359 Speaker 1: Actually just like hanging a wet towel and a window, 370 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:24,080 Speaker 1: maybe in conjunction with a fan. Yeah. I've also read 371 00:19:24,119 --> 00:19:26,240 Speaker 1: that it has been common if you're if you have 372 00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:28,639 Speaker 1: laundry that you're drying, you hang them in the window, 373 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:30,960 Speaker 1: and then you're killing two birds with one stone. Yeah. 374 00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:34,080 Speaker 1: Of course the ancient Romans got in on the act 375 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:37,480 Speaker 1: in large part thanks to you know, the aqueducts. Uh. 376 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:40,080 Speaker 1: They had many advances in plumbing, which we've covered on 377 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:42,960 Speaker 1: the show before and regards more to sewers, but it 378 00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:45,240 Speaker 1: also meant the Romans had the ability to channel water 379 00:19:45,280 --> 00:19:49,960 Speaker 1: through indoor pipes in certain homes, cooling them in the process. Yeah, 380 00:19:49,960 --> 00:19:52,280 Speaker 1: it seems like they had a few strategies that were 381 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:56,480 Speaker 1: based on water and evaporation of water. Uh. This next thing, 382 00:19:56,520 --> 00:19:58,880 Speaker 1: it's hard to confirm that this story is true, but 383 00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:02,480 Speaker 1: it's reported it in ancient sources, including the Latin text 384 00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:05,960 Speaker 1: known as the Historia Augusta or the Augustine History, that 385 00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:10,960 Speaker 1: the third century Roman emperor Ella Gabalus had snow carried 386 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:14,199 Speaker 1: down from the mountains to his palace so that it 387 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:16,520 Speaker 1: could be piled up in a in a mountain of 388 00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:19,560 Speaker 1: snow in his orchard to help keep it cool in 389 00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:21,960 Speaker 1: the summer. Now, I do have to say that that 390 00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:25,160 Speaker 1: this sounds like just an ethically Roman emperor thing to do. 391 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:28,080 Speaker 1: But but I do want to point out that in 392 00:20:28,359 --> 00:20:31,480 Speaker 1: the seventy grade Inventions of the Ancient World, Brian and 393 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:35,880 Speaker 1: Fagin points out that in az Tech markets you would 394 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:39,800 Speaker 1: have found mountain ice brought down from the mountains and 395 00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:42,000 Speaker 1: it would have just been available to purchase, at least 396 00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:45,119 Speaker 1: if you were Aztec nobility. Uh, you could purchase it. 397 00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:48,480 Speaker 1: But you know, that's got another like non Roman example 398 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:52,320 Speaker 1: of of ice as a regional commodity. Oh yeah, and 399 00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:54,720 Speaker 1: this does appear to be in smaller quantities, something that 400 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:57,120 Speaker 1: did definitely go on in the Roman world. Now, as 401 00:20:57,119 --> 00:20:59,960 Speaker 1: for having the snow brought down from the mountain to 402 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:02,679 Speaker 1: make a mountain of snow in his garden, you know, 403 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:06,440 Speaker 1: as with many allegations about the decadent behaviors of particular 404 00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:08,760 Speaker 1: Roman emperors, I think sometimes it's hard to know if 405 00:21:08,760 --> 00:21:11,120 Speaker 1: you're reading something that's based in fact, or if it's 406 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:15,440 Speaker 1: just libel against an unpopular figure or a historical adversary 407 00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:17,119 Speaker 1: of the author. I think there are a lot of 408 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:20,239 Speaker 1: Roman histories that are full of allegations like this that 409 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:22,800 Speaker 1: may or may not be true, right, and it also 410 00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:26,040 Speaker 1: had it has an air of the unsensible to it, 411 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:29,399 Speaker 1: you know, like they're going to be extremely diminishing returns 412 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:33,119 Speaker 1: from trying to produce a pile of snow, uh you know, 413 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:36,439 Speaker 1: in your palace or wherever. Whereas having a small amount 414 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:39,199 Speaker 1: of ice, a small amount of snow, uh you know, 415 00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:41,920 Speaker 1: certainly what whatever would be able to survive the journey 416 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:45,439 Speaker 1: could be utilized in an intelligent manner. Potentially. Well, it 417 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:48,080 Speaker 1: does appear to be totally true that in smaller quantities, 418 00:21:48,119 --> 00:21:52,120 Speaker 1: ice and snow transported down from the mountains were stored 419 00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:55,480 Speaker 1: in special cold cellars and sold as a luxury item 420 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:57,800 Speaker 1: or just used as a luxury item in ancient Rome, 421 00:21:58,359 --> 00:22:00,880 Speaker 1: though most of the other references I was reading two 422 00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:04,119 Speaker 1: imported snow seemed to be about people eating it, not 423 00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:06,480 Speaker 1: making a mountain out of it in their pleasure garden. 424 00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:10,680 Speaker 1: So some wealthy ancient Romans, including the Emperor Nero, are 425 00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:14,040 Speaker 1: said to have eaten snow, sometimes allegedly sweetened with honey 426 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:18,120 Speaker 1: or with fruit juice or other flavors, of making snow cones. Yeah. 427 00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:21,840 Speaker 1: This this has turned up in preliminary research for a 428 00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:24,600 Speaker 1: potential episode on ice cream. Oh, we gotta do ice cream, 429 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:26,920 Speaker 1: So yeah, we'll come back to that. But I've also 430 00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:30,760 Speaker 1: seen references to snow being a luxury ittem for Romans 431 00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:33,280 Speaker 1: just to be melted down and drunk like water because 432 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:36,000 Speaker 1: they believed it was very pure and cold or used 433 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:39,159 Speaker 1: to chill wine. So yeah, if you you know, you 434 00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:41,760 Speaker 1: were rich and you could shell out for some fresh 435 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:45,160 Speaker 1: snow from somebody's seller that they had imported down from 436 00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:48,200 Speaker 1: the mountaintop, you know, go for it. Well, yeah, it 437 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:51,919 Speaker 1: would have been exotic, it would have So much of 438 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:54,119 Speaker 1: our appreciation of various beverages has to do with the 439 00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:56,159 Speaker 1: story of it, right, And it's like a it's like 440 00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:58,399 Speaker 1: a fine bottle of wine. It's the lore of the 441 00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:01,840 Speaker 1: wine to a large extent that you're drinking and tasting 442 00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:05,560 Speaker 1: and contemplating. And if you're adding that with the you know, 443 00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:08,280 Speaker 1: the properties of watching the snow melt in the in 444 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:11,000 Speaker 1: the glass, certainly in this era or in a later era, 445 00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:15,040 Speaker 1: potentially having like a piece of an iceberg, you know, 446 00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:17,679 Speaker 1: in your beverage. You know that kind of thing. It 447 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:20,080 Speaker 1: has bizzas. You can't blame them for being into the idea. 448 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:23,480 Speaker 1: I think I was reading somewhere that the philosopher Seneca 449 00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:27,960 Speaker 1: wrote with disdain about youths when they're snow eating, as 450 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,399 Speaker 1: if he was talking about always on their iPhones, always 451 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:34,880 Speaker 1: eating snow. Either way, carrying snow down a mountain I think, 452 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:37,119 Speaker 1: and dumping it in a pile in your house is 453 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:40,200 Speaker 1: not a super efficient way to stay cool overall, considering 454 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:42,639 Speaker 1: all the work needed to hauld the snow down. But 455 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:45,239 Speaker 1: I was wondering, well, would making a big pile of 456 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:48,920 Speaker 1: snow actually be effective at cooling your palace. I think 457 00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:52,119 Speaker 1: the answer is potentially yes. Having a large, massive snow 458 00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:54,600 Speaker 1: or ice in a room can actually cool the room 459 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:58,159 Speaker 1: as the snow melts and then eventually evaporates those phase 460 00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:00,920 Speaker 1: transitions like we were talking about before, or will suck 461 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:03,600 Speaker 1: energy out of the surrounding air, which will cool the 462 00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:06,600 Speaker 1: air in the process. I'm not sure this would do 463 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:09,880 Speaker 1: much good just sitting there in an open air orchard. 464 00:24:10,359 --> 00:24:12,199 Speaker 1: But if you were to pair snow or ice with 465 00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:15,800 Speaker 1: moving air, especially so maybe you've have people constantly flapping 466 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:19,120 Speaker 1: big fans at the pile of snow, especially in an 467 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:23,320 Speaker 1: indoor space, I think you could actually get significant cooling effects. 468 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:25,800 Speaker 1: Even if if you don't have air conditioning in your house, 469 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:29,719 Speaker 1: you can probably somewhat cool room several degrees by like 470 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:32,240 Speaker 1: setting up a fan and putting a bottle of frozen 471 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:34,760 Speaker 1: water in front of it. This sounds kind of crude, 472 00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:37,600 Speaker 1: but it actually does work to to circulate colder air, 473 00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:41,680 Speaker 1: and in fact, there are even many large facilities these days, 474 00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:44,800 Speaker 1: such as large office buildings, that have in recent years 475 00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:49,800 Speaker 1: replace their traditional electric air conditioning systems with ice based 476 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:54,000 Speaker 1: cooling systems. I mean on on. On the surface, it 477 00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:57,720 Speaker 1: can seem completely backwards, right, like you're stepping back into 478 00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:00,919 Speaker 1: a more primal, sort of pre a c means of 479 00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:04,200 Speaker 1: cooling your place. But this is actually, in some cases 480 00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:07,480 Speaker 1: a more energy efficient and more cost effective way to 481 00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:09,800 Speaker 1: cool a large building. So how on earth would this 482 00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:13,040 Speaker 1: work well? The ice based cooling system takes advantage of 483 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:17,159 Speaker 1: a principle known as load shifting, because energy cost from 484 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:20,439 Speaker 1: an electrical grid isn't just about the amount of energy 485 00:25:20,520 --> 00:25:23,680 Speaker 1: you use, it's about when you use it. So during 486 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:26,440 Speaker 1: the daytime on a hot summer, there are these periods 487 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:29,480 Speaker 1: of peak demand on power grids when too many people 488 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:32,080 Speaker 1: are all trying to draw lots of electricity at the 489 00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:35,480 Speaker 1: same time to power their energy hungry building cooling needs, 490 00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:38,439 Speaker 1: and it's going to result in what like rolling brownouts, 491 00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:40,680 Speaker 1: right or yeah, I mean it's in any case, it's 492 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:43,280 Speaker 1: like it's putting more demand on the system, and so 493 00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:46,720 Speaker 1: at these times of day there's more energy and efficiency 494 00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:50,800 Speaker 1: and higher costs instead. Now, many large buildings use this 495 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:55,399 Speaker 1: ice cooling method, which switches it's the building's maximum energy 496 00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:59,760 Speaker 1: consumption for cooling purposes to night time off hours, and 497 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:02,080 Speaker 1: the buildings what they do is they have giant water 498 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:05,199 Speaker 1: tanks that can hold thousands of gallons of water, and 499 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:08,480 Speaker 1: at night, when electricity demands are low, when power is 500 00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:11,760 Speaker 1: the cheapest, they use that power to freeze the water 501 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:15,560 Speaker 1: into ice. Then in the daytime they use that ice 502 00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:17,840 Speaker 1: that they made in the night time to chill air 503 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:21,400 Speaker 1: that is blown throughout the building's ventilation system. The ice 504 00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:24,240 Speaker 1: melts gradually throughout the day turns into water. Then the 505 00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:26,919 Speaker 1: melted water is frozen again the next night when power 506 00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:30,119 Speaker 1: is cheap again. That is impressive. Yeah, I would, I 507 00:26:30,119 --> 00:26:32,760 Speaker 1: would love to. I mean, of course, one of the 508 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:35,280 Speaker 1: issues isn't you know we made very well then in 509 00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:37,880 Speaker 1: buildings they use this and just was not aware. Yeah, 510 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:40,440 Speaker 1: we might not know, uh, And and it works because 511 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:44,320 Speaker 1: what water is actually an extremely powerful thermal energy storage medium. 512 00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:47,000 Speaker 1: You can think of these giant tanks full of ice 513 00:26:47,119 --> 00:26:49,840 Speaker 1: as kind of like a thermal battery which can be 514 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:53,199 Speaker 1: charged whenever energy and puts their cheapest and you charge 515 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:55,840 Speaker 1: it by freezing it. But of course these ice based 516 00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:58,680 Speaker 1: methods need to be paired with like fans to circulate 517 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:02,280 Speaker 1: the chilled air. So we should mention general fan based 518 00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:05,160 Speaker 1: cooling effects, which also go way back into history. Yeah. 519 00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:07,320 Speaker 1: I mean the simplest version of a fan, of course, 520 00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:10,680 Speaker 1: as if you have any kind of like suitable fan 521 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:13,760 Speaker 1: shaped object that you can just flutter with your hand, 522 00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:16,600 Speaker 1: big leaf or something. Yeah. And and I think that 523 00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:18,560 Speaker 1: that's one of those things where it's at some point 524 00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:21,800 Speaker 1: to humans figure that out just basic tool use. Some 525 00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:24,080 Speaker 1: of the more one of the more elaborate, but still 526 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:28,320 Speaker 1: simple and elegant in its simplicity. Uh. One of the 527 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:31,640 Speaker 1: devices that certainly comes to mind is the punka fans 528 00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:36,520 Speaker 1: used in India uh from about five b C onward 529 00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:39,480 Speaker 1: it seems. And these are large sales that are hung 530 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:44,080 Speaker 1: from the ceiling and they're flapped manually to circulate air. Um. 531 00:27:44,119 --> 00:27:47,720 Speaker 1: I imagine most of you have seen like some version 532 00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:50,000 Speaker 1: of this, if not like an image of one used 533 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:53,719 Speaker 1: in India or in a depiction of say British occupied India, 534 00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:57,320 Speaker 1: then then you also see them in other historical settings 535 00:27:57,359 --> 00:27:59,960 Speaker 1: as well, you know, particularly hanging above like a din 536 00:28:00,119 --> 00:28:02,080 Speaker 1: or table is of a prime example of what you 537 00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:06,480 Speaker 1: might see one. Yeah, fans can be a fantastically useful 538 00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:10,280 Speaker 1: and very energy efficient way to make a room feel cooler. 539 00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:12,119 Speaker 1: I mean, there's a reason you see fans all throughout 540 00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:15,840 Speaker 1: the world and all throughout history. But the interesting thing 541 00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:20,480 Speaker 1: about fans is I sometimes even forget this myself. Fans 542 00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:23,520 Speaker 1: And let's well, so, if a fan is moving air 543 00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:26,280 Speaker 1: in or out of a room, it can change the 544 00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:28,679 Speaker 1: temperature in a room, right, if you're exchanging with an 545 00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:31,840 Speaker 1: outside system. If you have like a fan, uh, you know, 546 00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:34,800 Speaker 1: positioned in a window. Yeah, and the and the temperature 547 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:37,240 Speaker 1: in the outside is different from the inside, that can 548 00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:41,000 Speaker 1: actually change the temperature in the room. But fans inside 549 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:44,240 Speaker 1: a closed room do not change the temperature of the room. 550 00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:46,960 Speaker 1: They don't actually cool the room. In fact, and in 551 00:28:47,040 --> 00:28:50,760 Speaker 1: most cases they probably slightly increase the temperature in the 552 00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:53,120 Speaker 1: room because you're running an electrical device from the room, 553 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:56,040 Speaker 1: and that's heating up somewhat, and so it's probably emitting 554 00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:58,960 Speaker 1: some heat, so it's moving the air around, but it's 555 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:02,080 Speaker 1: not actually making the or any cooler. So why are fans, 556 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:05,360 Speaker 1: even in a closed room, so good at cooling us 557 00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:08,560 Speaker 1: down if they don't actually lower the temperature in the room. 558 00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:11,160 Speaker 1: This is like a fun little if you want to 559 00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:13,280 Speaker 1: pause and try to figure this out yourself, if you 560 00:29:13,280 --> 00:29:15,600 Speaker 1: don't already know the answer. I don't know if it's 561 00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:17,640 Speaker 1: too didactic, but I had fun trying to figure this 562 00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:20,120 Speaker 1: last night while I was thinking about it. It's because 563 00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:24,920 Speaker 1: speeding up airflow increases the rate of evaporation from a 564 00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:28,480 Speaker 1: body of liquid like water, and essentially you're a water bag. 565 00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:31,160 Speaker 1: Your body is a bag of water, and your body, 566 00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:34,520 Speaker 1: as we were talking about earlier, cools by evaporation of sweat. 567 00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:37,280 Speaker 1: So in order for a fan to cool something, that 568 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:40,080 Speaker 1: thing actually probably needs to be wet. And I did 569 00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:42,920 Speaker 1: an experiment like this in my house just last night, 570 00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:46,440 Speaker 1: using a desk fan and a high accuracy instant read 571 00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:49,880 Speaker 1: kitchen thermometer. So I set the desk fan going on 572 00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:52,200 Speaker 1: the kitchen counter, and I held the thermometer out in 573 00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:54,320 Speaker 1: front of the fan. And even though standing in front 574 00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:57,840 Speaker 1: of a fan makes us feel cooler, holding a thermometer 575 00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:00,200 Speaker 1: in front of a fan does not really change aange 576 00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:03,480 Speaker 1: the temperature that the thermometer registers. For me, the naked 577 00:30:03,520 --> 00:30:06,440 Speaker 1: thermometer probe just hovered around room temperature. Even though I 578 00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:08,320 Speaker 1: held it there for a long time. It didn't do anything. 579 00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:11,240 Speaker 1: But then I wrapped the thermometer probe in a wet 580 00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:14,600 Speaker 1: paper towel. Now this naturally dropped the temperature of the 581 00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:17,840 Speaker 1: thermometer already just because the water is cooler, right, and 582 00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:20,640 Speaker 1: so the water contact drops it down. Then it's stabilized. 583 00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:23,640 Speaker 1: And when you put the wet paper towel thermometer in 584 00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:27,360 Speaker 1: front of a fan, the temperature plummets. It drops down 585 00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:30,520 Speaker 1: as the circulation created by the fast moving air of 586 00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:33,680 Speaker 1: the fan speeds up the evaporation of water from that 587 00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:37,040 Speaker 1: wet paper towel, And the faster the water evaporates, the 588 00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:40,280 Speaker 1: colder the paper towel gets because it's stealing the energy 589 00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:42,840 Speaker 1: from the rest of that water. This rapid air flow 590 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:45,920 Speaker 1: robbed the water of energy, made it cooler, and thus 591 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:48,800 Speaker 1: you get a nice, icy cold paper towel. So when 592 00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:50,640 Speaker 1: you've got a fan running on you in a room. 593 00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,840 Speaker 1: Your body is that paper towel. You're that wet paper towel, 594 00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:57,680 Speaker 1: accelerating evaporation off the top of your skin. Now the 595 00:30:57,760 --> 00:31:00,240 Speaker 1: scenario you're again, you're using a desk fan, you using 596 00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:04,200 Speaker 1: a rotary fan. Uh So it's interesting to dive into 597 00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:07,680 Speaker 1: just you know, briefly the history of the rotary fan, 598 00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:12,360 Speaker 1: and it seems that the earliest example of this goes 599 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:15,840 Speaker 1: all the way back to the Han dynasty in China. 600 00:31:16,320 --> 00:31:20,840 Speaker 1: Han dynasty engineer Ding Juan created a manually operated rotary 601 00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:25,600 Speaker 1: fan with seven wheels around one a d c uh 602 00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:28,239 Speaker 1: and then later on during the Tang dynasty of the 603 00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:32,280 Speaker 1: eighth century, hydraulic power was apparently added to this innovation 604 00:31:32,840 --> 00:31:36,120 Speaker 1: as a way of uh basically for use in blast 605 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:40,800 Speaker 1: furnaces for industrial you know, um air movement circulation. So 606 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:45,000 Speaker 1: flowing water powered the spinning of a fan to circulate air, yeah, 607 00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:48,560 Speaker 1: into a blast furnace. Now, but in Ding Juan's original idea, 608 00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:52,160 Speaker 1: it would have required, uh, you know, a little human power, 609 00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:54,560 Speaker 1: like somebody would have been turning a crank or or 610 00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:59,680 Speaker 1: something in order to manually operate all of these rotary fans. Uh. 611 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:03,680 Speaker 1: So Juan's initial invention here was reported in the text 612 00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:08,280 Speaker 1: Mental Miscellaneous Records of the Western Capital and excavations from 613 00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:12,880 Speaker 1: a former Han tomb in seems to show the necessary 614 00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:16,800 Speaker 1: parts to carry this out. So the seven fans, so 615 00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:19,360 Speaker 1: there have been ten feet or three meters in diameter, 616 00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:22,760 Speaker 1: were connected so that one person could power them all. Uh. 617 00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:25,920 Speaker 1: And this is, of course, UH is another more elaborate 618 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:29,640 Speaker 1: means of just circulating airflow, which can can make all 619 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:33,120 Speaker 1: the difference in a stuffy room. Right. Uh. Now, it's 620 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:36,760 Speaker 1: not evaporative cooling, though I've seen at least one wiki 621 00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:41,080 Speaker 1: lit listing that says Ding Juan had an evaporative cooling system. Uh. 622 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:43,960 Speaker 1: Decided sources that I ran across on those wikis did 623 00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:47,120 Speaker 1: not support it. Uh, that they were just talking about 624 00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:50,760 Speaker 1: what I'm talking about, just air circulation. Uh. So there's 625 00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:53,640 Speaker 1: no evaporation beyond what's happening on your skin. Correct. And 626 00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:56,880 Speaker 1: I didn't see it mentioned in um Ian Inkster's The 627 00:32:56,920 --> 00:32:59,640 Speaker 1: History of Technology, which discusses this. But of course it's 628 00:32:59,760 --> 00:33:01,960 Speaker 1: entirely within the room of possibility that he can bind 629 00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:05,240 Speaker 1: a fan system with something like the Egyptian read Matt 630 00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:08,640 Speaker 1: scenario that we discussed earlier. Having some sort of you know, 631 00:33:08,720 --> 00:33:13,480 Speaker 1: wet fabric in front of it, but I could not 632 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:17,640 Speaker 1: find direct reference to that myself. By the way, Ding 633 00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:22,720 Speaker 1: Juan also allegedly invented something like a zoo trope. According 634 00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:26,960 Speaker 1: to Lance Day and Ian McNeil in Biographical Dictionary of 635 00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:30,640 Speaker 1: the History of Technology, it was a quote zootrope lamp 636 00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:33,720 Speaker 1: which had a thin canopy bearing veins at the top 637 00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:36,760 Speaker 1: that were caused to rotate by an ascending current of 638 00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:40,200 Speaker 1: warm air from the lamp. The canopy bore images which 639 00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:43,560 Speaker 1: if the canopy were rotated fast enough, gave the impression 640 00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:46,200 Speaker 1: of movement. Wow, it's like a it's like a fan 641 00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:49,920 Speaker 1: for your eyes. Yeah. Uh, you know. It also shows 642 00:33:49,960 --> 00:33:54,040 Speaker 1: that like this is an individual who was clearly interested in, uh, 643 00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:59,040 Speaker 1: you know, the combination of of rotary machinery and the 644 00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:03,520 Speaker 1: movements of air. Uh. And also then just throughout Chinese, 645 00:34:03,640 --> 00:34:08,080 Speaker 1: ancient Chinese technology, you also see some other interesting advancements 646 00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:11,160 Speaker 1: in refrigeration, which maybe we'll come back to later on. 647 00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:13,560 Speaker 1: All right, we're gonna take a quick break, but when 648 00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:21,640 Speaker 1: we come back, we shall return to Persia. All right, 649 00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:26,000 Speaker 1: we're back. One genre of ancient cooling technology for buildings 650 00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:30,360 Speaker 1: is i think a really deeply ingenious solution, and we 651 00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:34,120 Speaker 1: find some great examples in ancient and medieval Persia, which 652 00:34:34,160 --> 00:34:37,160 Speaker 1: would be in modern day Iran. So this is going 653 00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:40,880 Speaker 1: to be the idea of wind catchers and a paired 654 00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:43,799 Speaker 1: technology known as connots. And we can start with a 655 00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:46,719 Speaker 1: simple version of the wind catcher that's just focused on 656 00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:50,280 Speaker 1: air flow. So I want you to picture a building 657 00:34:50,640 --> 00:34:53,560 Speaker 1: with towers reaching up above the roof on each side, 658 00:34:54,040 --> 00:34:56,879 Speaker 1: and each of these towers has four ports that can 659 00:34:56,920 --> 00:35:00,080 Speaker 1: be opened and closed, and each of these towers is 660 00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:03,399 Speaker 1: hollow and it connects down to the occupied space within 661 00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:07,080 Speaker 1: the building. So if the wind is blowing from the west, 662 00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:10,920 Speaker 1: you would open the west facing ports on the west 663 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:14,200 Speaker 1: side of the building to accept the incoming air flow 664 00:35:14,239 --> 00:35:17,239 Speaker 1: into the towers, and then on the other side, you 665 00:35:17,239 --> 00:35:20,600 Speaker 1: would open only the east facing ports on the east 666 00:35:20,640 --> 00:35:22,680 Speaker 1: side of the building, so that would be the ports 667 00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:26,040 Speaker 1: facing away from the wind. Now, due to a couple 668 00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:29,000 Speaker 1: of quirks of fluid dynamics, if you have a shaft 669 00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:32,440 Speaker 1: like this that's only open on the side facing away 670 00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:35,879 Speaker 1: from the wind, air will naturally be pulled up from 671 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:39,840 Speaker 1: inside the house through that shaft to flow out in 672 00:35:39,880 --> 00:35:42,840 Speaker 1: the same direction as the prevailing wind. I've seen this 673 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:46,760 Speaker 1: attributed to both the Quanda effect and the Bernoulli effect. 674 00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:49,440 Speaker 1: I have to admit my fluid dynamics knowledge is not 675 00:35:49,560 --> 00:35:52,719 Speaker 1: sharp enough to evaluate whether these characterizations are correct, but 676 00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:55,839 Speaker 1: at least several have definitely attributed it to what's known 677 00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:59,080 Speaker 1: as the Kwanda effect, which just describes a property of 678 00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:02,279 Speaker 1: air flow and certain scenarios. But anyway, if you've got 679 00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:04,839 Speaker 1: towers on each side of a building, with towers on 680 00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:09,000 Speaker 1: one side accepting the prevailing wind and and routing it 681 00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:11,680 Speaker 1: down into the house, and then towers on the other 682 00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:15,160 Speaker 1: side with a negative pressure allowing wind to be sucked 683 00:36:15,239 --> 00:36:19,160 Speaker 1: up from the inside to blow out with the prevailing wind, 684 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:22,319 Speaker 1: it creates a complete circuit of air flow where air 685 00:36:22,440 --> 00:36:24,319 Speaker 1: is sucked down into the house on one side and 686 00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:26,360 Speaker 1: sucked up out of the house on the other side. 687 00:36:26,920 --> 00:36:29,879 Speaker 1: And you can use this method to help drive hot 688 00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:32,239 Speaker 1: air out through the roof for the highest level of 689 00:36:32,280 --> 00:36:35,560 Speaker 1: the house, taking advantage of this chimney principle we discussed 690 00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:38,240 Speaker 1: earlier in the episode. Now, of course, at this stage 691 00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:40,200 Speaker 1: what I've described so far, this would still just be 692 00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:43,920 Speaker 1: circulation of hot air from outside. Right now, we know 693 00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:46,920 Speaker 1: that even if airflow doesn't actually cool a room, it 694 00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:49,239 Speaker 1: can help cool your body if just you you keep 695 00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:51,719 Speaker 1: the air moving because it replaces the air around your 696 00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:55,160 Speaker 1: skin and helps you evaporate faster. But you can also 697 00:36:55,239 --> 00:36:58,040 Speaker 1: greatly improve on the wind catcher design and generate a 698 00:36:58,040 --> 00:37:02,160 Speaker 1: true space cooling effect by pairing it with an underground 699 00:37:02,239 --> 00:37:06,680 Speaker 1: reservoir or subterranean water channel called a cannot. Oh wow, 700 00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:08,840 Speaker 1: So this it's it's almost like we're getting into the 701 00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:12,319 Speaker 1: like the creation of an artificial cave system kind of 702 00:37:12,719 --> 00:37:15,160 Speaker 1: to cool the air. So cannot is a chamber of 703 00:37:15,239 --> 00:37:19,640 Speaker 1: underground water resting or flowing deep in the earth, surrounded 704 00:37:19,640 --> 00:37:22,360 Speaker 1: by dense layers of rocks, so the water stays cool 705 00:37:22,560 --> 00:37:25,319 Speaker 1: even on the hottest days, and it can be used 706 00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:27,239 Speaker 1: for several things. I think from what I've seen, it 707 00:37:27,280 --> 00:37:30,279 Speaker 1: seems like it's most often used to sort of help 708 00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:35,880 Speaker 1: channel water down underground from from higher level water tables 709 00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:38,600 Speaker 1: up in higher elevations so that the water can be 710 00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:42,160 Speaker 1: brought down for irrigation in lower lying areas. But in 711 00:37:42,200 --> 00:37:45,520 Speaker 1: any case, it's underground water. It's a channel of underground water, 712 00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:48,920 Speaker 1: and the water stays very cool because it's deep underground, 713 00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:51,279 Speaker 1: so like even when the sun heats up the top 714 00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:53,719 Speaker 1: of the Earth's surface, it's not heating up that deep 715 00:37:53,719 --> 00:37:58,400 Speaker 1: bedrock below. Now picture this. You've got one shaft leading 716 00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:01,800 Speaker 1: down from the surface down into the cannot that looks 717 00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:04,600 Speaker 1: like it works like an intake shaft, and this can 718 00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:07,760 Speaker 1: be outside the house, drawing in dry air from the desert. 719 00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:11,640 Speaker 1: And then there's another shaft leading up from the same 720 00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:15,240 Speaker 1: cannot into the house, into the inside of the house 721 00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:17,840 Speaker 1: or whatever space you want to cool. And this is 722 00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:21,680 Speaker 1: paired with an outflow wind catcher facing away from the wind, 723 00:38:21,960 --> 00:38:25,200 Speaker 1: which naturally sucks air up from the inside of the house. 724 00:38:25,719 --> 00:38:29,520 Speaker 1: So the circuit created here pulls air from the outside 725 00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:32,920 Speaker 1: down through the first shaft through the cannot to flow 726 00:38:33,080 --> 00:38:35,560 Speaker 1: over and around the cold water down there in the 727 00:38:35,600 --> 00:38:39,120 Speaker 1: deep earth, and then up the second shaft into the house, 728 00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:42,680 Speaker 1: and the dry air passing through the cold humid environment 729 00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:45,920 Speaker 1: of the cannot becomes much cooler as it travels, and 730 00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:49,000 Speaker 1: the result is that you have cold air pulled up 731 00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:52,839 Speaker 1: into the house and flowing, which I think it's just brilliant. Yeah, 732 00:38:52,880 --> 00:38:55,080 Speaker 1: I mean, it's a it's it's one of these systems 733 00:38:55,080 --> 00:38:57,680 Speaker 1: that is um it's it. It's at once kind of 734 00:38:57,719 --> 00:38:59,840 Speaker 1: simple when you when you have it all explained to you, 735 00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:04,000 Speaker 1: but it is especially considering, you know, ancient buildings we 736 00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:06,880 Speaker 1: were talking about it, but pretty elaborate system here. And 737 00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:08,640 Speaker 1: you know, I've actually, I don't know if you ran 738 00:39:08,680 --> 00:39:11,480 Speaker 1: across any modern uses of this, but I read a 739 00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:16,920 Speaker 1: couple of references to UH designs for like large sports 740 00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:20,160 Speaker 1: facilities that utilize at least some version of this to 741 00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:22,879 Speaker 1: try and keep air circulating through um, you know, through 742 00:39:22,960 --> 00:39:26,920 Speaker 1: through the uh the sports arena. Oh okay, well, because 743 00:39:27,080 --> 00:39:29,200 Speaker 1: right if you've got like a sports arena, it sounds 744 00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:33,359 Speaker 1: crazy to try to like air condition that with like 745 00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:36,400 Speaker 1: with just electric air condition so just the sheer scale 746 00:39:36,400 --> 00:39:40,400 Speaker 1: if the building might require you know, a more you know, 747 00:39:40,560 --> 00:39:44,080 Speaker 1: less you know, electricity dependent method, and perhaps I don't know, 748 00:39:44,120 --> 00:39:45,359 Speaker 1: it seems like the kind of thing that that could 749 00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:49,160 Speaker 1: potentially be utilized in large industrial spaces as well, But 750 00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:51,799 Speaker 1: I didn't run across any examples of that. Well, I 751 00:39:51,800 --> 00:39:54,839 Speaker 1: don't know about the scalability of this kind of technology, 752 00:39:54,920 --> 00:39:57,680 Speaker 1: but maybe, yeah, I I just don't know, but I 753 00:39:57,719 --> 00:40:01,759 Speaker 1: do know they're they're ancient examples where things like this 754 00:40:01,880 --> 00:40:05,400 Speaker 1: were used pretty effectively to keep some sellers and basements 755 00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:08,680 Speaker 1: and and dwellings very very cool, and even to the 756 00:40:08,719 --> 00:40:11,239 Speaker 1: point where they could be used to store ice in 757 00:40:11,360 --> 00:40:15,400 Speaker 1: hot places like in Persia. Now we mentioned India earlier 758 00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:19,840 Speaker 1: on the subject of fans uh, but I want to 759 00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:23,400 Speaker 1: return to India once more, particularly to the use of 760 00:40:23,480 --> 00:40:28,719 Speaker 1: step wells and also step ponds. So as Morna Livingstone 761 00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:31,959 Speaker 1: and Milo Beach point out in the book Steps to Water, 762 00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:35,880 Speaker 1: the Ancient step Wells of India quote, the alternating absence 763 00:40:35,880 --> 00:40:38,680 Speaker 1: and abundance of water is crucial to Indian life, and 764 00:40:38,680 --> 00:40:41,480 Speaker 1: the step wells and stepped ponds generated by the use 765 00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:46,719 Speaker 1: of water are especially imaginative. So basically what they're saying 766 00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:49,520 Speaker 1: is that much of the subcontinent is subject to intense months, 767 00:40:49,560 --> 00:40:52,920 Speaker 1: soon seasons and intense dry spells, and during the dry 768 00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:57,800 Speaker 1: spells people need communal access to water UH. And during 769 00:40:57,880 --> 00:41:00,600 Speaker 1: the wet spells, the places they would go for unal access, 770 00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:03,560 Speaker 1: of course they're going to be likely to flood and 771 00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:07,600 Speaker 1: UH and greatly. And so this communal UH connection with 772 00:41:07,680 --> 00:41:10,760 Speaker 1: water is an important aspect of Indian life. A prime 773 00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:13,960 Speaker 1: example of this is it would be there the stepped 774 00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:17,160 Speaker 1: access that you see to the Ganges River in urban 775 00:41:17,239 --> 00:41:20,520 Speaker 1: areas U and think everyone's probably seen images of that, 776 00:41:20,680 --> 00:41:24,080 Speaker 1: you know, especially with religious rights and so forth taking 777 00:41:24,080 --> 00:41:27,279 Speaker 1: place close to the water. But a far less famous, 778 00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:30,960 Speaker 1: less visited and even less preserved example would be the 779 00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:34,879 Speaker 1: step ponds and the step wells. Uh. These are beautiful, 780 00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:37,399 Speaker 1: by the way, if you've never looked up images of them, 781 00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:39,640 Speaker 1: it is some of the most just sort of like 782 00:41:39,880 --> 00:41:43,359 Speaker 1: eye rending architecture I've ever seen, and it's actually not 783 00:41:43,440 --> 00:41:49,960 Speaker 1: all that complicated, is just like geometrically dazzling. Yeah. I 784 00:41:50,040 --> 00:41:52,040 Speaker 1: like to think of it this way. A mountain is 785 00:41:52,080 --> 00:41:56,080 Speaker 1: to a canyon as a ziggurat or a Mesoamerican pyramid 786 00:41:56,200 --> 00:41:58,680 Speaker 1: is to an Indian step. Well, it looks like there's 787 00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:01,640 Speaker 1: a hole in the ground and someone like took a 788 00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:05,120 Speaker 1: zigaratt out of it and left a ziggarat shape in 789 00:42:05,160 --> 00:42:08,759 Speaker 1: the earth descending into the earth inverted zigaratte. Yeah. So 790 00:42:08,920 --> 00:42:13,160 Speaker 1: like imagine these many lattices or steps going down, uh 791 00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:17,680 Speaker 1: to a ridiculous degree. Yeah. Yeah, they're essentially deep holes 792 00:42:18,160 --> 00:42:21,040 Speaker 1: in the earth, dug down to the water table and 793 00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:23,359 Speaker 1: then built out. So there's you know, generally a tear 794 00:42:23,480 --> 00:42:28,160 Speaker 1: there's terrorist access with stairs leading down to it um. 795 00:42:28,200 --> 00:42:30,680 Speaker 1: And one of the points that the author's made in 796 00:42:30,719 --> 00:42:33,120 Speaker 1: this book is that while generally you think of like 797 00:42:33,200 --> 00:42:36,320 Speaker 1: a journey into the deep earth, you know, like it 798 00:42:36,360 --> 00:42:40,080 Speaker 1: would be it would be claustrophobic, it would be frightening. 799 00:42:40,400 --> 00:42:42,359 Speaker 1: But that's not the sense you get when you look 800 00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:46,480 Speaker 1: at the photographs of stepwells, like it is. It is open, 801 00:42:46,560 --> 00:42:50,120 Speaker 1: it is inviting, it is It's not a sense of 802 00:42:50,160 --> 00:42:53,080 Speaker 1: the earth closing around you, but instead one of opening 803 00:42:53,160 --> 00:42:56,239 Speaker 1: up like a flower. They're yeah, they're beautiful, and why 804 00:42:56,239 --> 00:42:58,120 Speaker 1: do I get kind of an m C. S sure 805 00:42:58,280 --> 00:43:00,480 Speaker 1: sense from them? Yeah, there is kind that I think 806 00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:03,279 Speaker 1: part of it is that sort of inversion scenario you get. 807 00:43:03,680 --> 00:43:06,480 Speaker 1: It is like an inverted ziggarat when you look at it, 808 00:43:06,520 --> 00:43:09,160 Speaker 1: and yet you're you're you're sort of climbing up, but 809 00:43:09,239 --> 00:43:14,360 Speaker 1: you're climbing down. Um. So. The main distinction though, between 810 00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:18,440 Speaker 1: step ponds and step wells, according to Livingston and Beach, 811 00:43:18,719 --> 00:43:21,200 Speaker 1: is that step ponds were used for bathing and step 812 00:43:21,239 --> 00:43:24,359 Speaker 1: wells were use more for daily water use. Now, many 813 00:43:24,440 --> 00:43:28,120 Speaker 1: of these have fallen into disrepair or have been abandoned 814 00:43:28,239 --> 00:43:31,840 Speaker 1: in in recent years, in part because of falling water table. 815 00:43:32,280 --> 00:43:35,280 Speaker 1: You know, which renders them dry and useless, but also 816 00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:38,720 Speaker 1: due to the period of British colonial rule in which 817 00:43:39,360 --> 00:43:42,840 Speaker 1: the British condemned them as being you know, potential disease 818 00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:46,400 Speaker 1: of vectors and so forth. But there has been increased 819 00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:49,640 Speaker 1: interest in them in recent years to preserve their cultural importance, 820 00:43:49,840 --> 00:43:52,640 Speaker 1: but also, you know, to preserve them as potential water 821 00:43:52,719 --> 00:43:56,279 Speaker 1: sources and a changing climate. Now, obviously these things are 822 00:43:56,360 --> 00:43:59,600 Speaker 1: architecturally beautiful and you can see their importance as a 823 00:43:59,640 --> 00:44:01,680 Speaker 1: commune a water source, but how do they relate to 824 00:44:01,760 --> 00:44:05,000 Speaker 1: the idea of air conditioning or cooling of spaces. Well, 825 00:44:05,560 --> 00:44:07,640 Speaker 1: you know, some of them are more out in the open, 826 00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:09,440 Speaker 1: you know, get kind of a sense of almost like 827 00:44:09,440 --> 00:44:12,040 Speaker 1: a you know, it's like a you could easily mistake 828 00:44:12,080 --> 00:44:14,640 Speaker 1: them for some sort of ornate swimming pool sort of 829 00:44:15,120 --> 00:44:19,399 Speaker 1: you know, construction. But others are other step wells are 830 00:44:19,480 --> 00:44:23,239 Speaker 1: part of temple palace or other urban complexes. So they're 831 00:44:23,280 --> 00:44:27,640 Speaker 1: part of this other, this, this larger structure. And here 832 00:44:27,680 --> 00:44:29,520 Speaker 1: you know, they were, of course a means of access 833 00:44:29,520 --> 00:44:31,719 Speaker 1: in cool water, which in and of itself is a 834 00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:35,320 Speaker 1: cooling resource. Livingstone and Beach point out that splashing one's 835 00:44:35,360 --> 00:44:38,640 Speaker 1: face with cool water is a standard Indian means of 836 00:44:38,680 --> 00:44:42,680 Speaker 1: coping with the heat. A step well affords this cooling method. 837 00:44:42,760 --> 00:44:45,600 Speaker 1: It also affords one the ability to enjoy the shade 838 00:44:45,880 --> 00:44:48,960 Speaker 1: via the terraces. Or if you've got like hot dry air, 839 00:44:49,120 --> 00:44:52,959 Speaker 1: you could also have evaporative cooling there. Yeah. Yeah, Also 840 00:44:53,160 --> 00:44:55,320 Speaker 1: you can rest against the cool stone. That was That 841 00:44:55,400 --> 00:44:57,279 Speaker 1: was one example they brought up that I didn't think 842 00:44:57,280 --> 00:45:00,600 Speaker 1: of in the early portion of the podcast. Is it 843 00:45:00,600 --> 00:45:02,960 Speaker 1: It's You can also just like if you find some 844 00:45:03,040 --> 00:45:06,520 Speaker 1: cool rock to lay upon, that can be used as 845 00:45:06,560 --> 00:45:09,560 Speaker 1: a very primitive form of air conditioning. But they have 846 00:45:09,640 --> 00:45:12,359 Speaker 1: they have a wonderful quote in the book about uh 847 00:45:12,680 --> 00:45:16,720 Speaker 1: evaporative cooling via the step well quote. In dry weather, 848 00:45:16,800 --> 00:45:20,520 Speaker 1: the step wells pool provides some evaporative cooling, but in 849 00:45:20,640 --> 00:45:25,160 Speaker 1: high humidity, cooling happens only through contact with water. Unlike 850 00:45:25,160 --> 00:45:28,560 Speaker 1: a running fountain, still water and step wells evaporates little. 851 00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:32,520 Speaker 1: A moisture saturated layer forms over the water surface, and 852 00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:34,880 Speaker 1: if it is not ruffled by a breeze or broken 853 00:45:34,920 --> 00:45:38,040 Speaker 1: by splashing, it acts as a vapor barrier. Thus, in 854 00:45:38,160 --> 00:45:40,759 Speaker 1: hot humid weather, the body does not get cooled as 855 00:45:40,840 --> 00:45:44,280 Speaker 1: quickly in a step well as it does in air conditioning. Indeed, 856 00:45:44,280 --> 00:45:48,000 Speaker 1: step well air feels breathlessly still. Okay, so if it's 857 00:45:48,080 --> 00:45:51,160 Speaker 1: humid outside and the air isn't moving, the step well 858 00:45:51,239 --> 00:45:54,040 Speaker 1: isn't gonna have much of a cooling effect. But if 859 00:45:54,040 --> 00:45:57,480 Speaker 1: you had like hot, dry air and a breeze blowing 860 00:45:57,520 --> 00:45:59,839 Speaker 1: through moving the air along the surface of the step all, 861 00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:02,640 Speaker 1: if it was moved by humans somehow, then it sounds 862 00:46:02,640 --> 00:46:06,000 Speaker 1: like you're in business right. However, the humidity is gonna 863 00:46:06,040 --> 00:46:09,120 Speaker 1: also serve to conserve the water, so it has that 864 00:46:09,200 --> 00:46:11,680 Speaker 1: going forth at any rate. These are again we do 865 00:46:11,800 --> 00:46:14,719 Speaker 1: encourage you to do a Google image search on uh 866 00:46:14,760 --> 00:46:17,759 Speaker 1: Indian step wells and take a look at something. There's 867 00:46:17,880 --> 00:46:21,520 Speaker 1: also some wonderful like top ten step well images. Uh there. 868 00:46:21,600 --> 00:46:26,680 Speaker 1: It makes for some just wonderful architectural photography. We'd love 869 00:46:26,719 --> 00:46:28,520 Speaker 1: to also hear from anyone who has had the chance 870 00:46:28,560 --> 00:46:30,880 Speaker 1: to visit. These are some of the resources I was 871 00:46:30,920 --> 00:46:32,799 Speaker 1: I was looking at pointed out that you know these 872 00:46:32,800 --> 00:46:35,600 Speaker 1: are these have at least in recent years. I don't 873 00:46:35,600 --> 00:46:38,600 Speaker 1: know if it's changed, but in the past it's been 874 00:46:38,600 --> 00:46:42,200 Speaker 1: a situation where these places, despite just how beautiful they are, 875 00:46:42,200 --> 00:46:45,960 Speaker 1: they haven't been a sought out by tourists uh and 876 00:46:45,960 --> 00:46:48,760 Speaker 1: and and sightseers in India. But perhaps that is changing 877 00:46:49,360 --> 00:46:53,680 Speaker 1: again as as more conservation has been directed at them 878 00:46:53,719 --> 00:46:56,319 Speaker 1: and perhaps just more just sort of appreciation for what 879 00:46:56,360 --> 00:46:58,920 Speaker 1: they are. Yeah, all right, well, I think that probably 880 00:46:58,920 --> 00:47:01,680 Speaker 1: does it for today. But the next episode, in part 881 00:47:01,719 --> 00:47:04,640 Speaker 1: two of our exploration of air conditioning, we're gonna get 882 00:47:04,680 --> 00:47:10,640 Speaker 1: more into the modern air conditioner that's based on refrigeration chemistry. Right, 883 00:47:10,719 --> 00:47:15,160 Speaker 1: but we've hopefully we've we've laid the groundwork for those innovations, 884 00:47:15,239 --> 00:47:18,480 Speaker 1: Like like we've shown you what was possible in the 885 00:47:18,600 --> 00:47:22,680 Speaker 1: age before these new technological advancements, and it's pretty impressive, 886 00:47:23,120 --> 00:47:24,960 Speaker 1: you know. I think I think a lot of us 887 00:47:25,000 --> 00:47:26,759 Speaker 1: are going to be surprised because we have we are 888 00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:30,160 Speaker 1: so coddled by modern air conditioning. We think that the 889 00:47:30,160 --> 00:47:33,360 Speaker 1: different that there's basically a distinction between having a C 890 00:47:33,680 --> 00:47:37,040 Speaker 1: and just sweltering, and we don't realize that there are 891 00:47:37,080 --> 00:47:40,000 Speaker 1: all these uh these smaller things that can and have 892 00:47:40,160 --> 00:47:44,399 Speaker 1: been done to help ensure a less sweltering environment. Yeah. 893 00:47:44,400 --> 00:47:46,640 Speaker 1: So so many people now live in an a C 894 00:47:46,920 --> 00:47:49,879 Speaker 1: tamed world. If the a C is cut off, they 895 00:47:49,880 --> 00:47:52,880 Speaker 1: don't have all of the normal coping mechanisms that you 896 00:47:52,920 --> 00:47:55,680 Speaker 1: would have to to get around that heat. It's a 897 00:47:55,719 --> 00:48:00,120 Speaker 1: fundamental softening of our defenses against the evil sun. We 898 00:48:00,160 --> 00:48:03,160 Speaker 1: will return to air conditioning in the next episode of Invention. 899 00:48:03,200 --> 00:48:06,120 Speaker 1: In the meantime, check out past episodes at invention pod 900 00:48:06,239 --> 00:48:09,600 Speaker 1: dot com and indeed let us know you know what, 901 00:48:09,600 --> 00:48:13,200 Speaker 1: what is your relationship with air conditioning and particularly what 902 00:48:13,560 --> 00:48:17,000 Speaker 1: is your relationship with some of these these alternative methods 903 00:48:17,040 --> 00:48:20,040 Speaker 1: of dealing with the heat. Do you still employ some 904 00:48:20,120 --> 00:48:22,800 Speaker 1: of them today? Uh? Perhaps you have. You know, older 905 00:48:22,800 --> 00:48:24,879 Speaker 1: members of your family have told you about how they 906 00:48:24,960 --> 00:48:27,440 Speaker 1: used to do things before air conditioning. We would love 907 00:48:27,440 --> 00:48:30,040 Speaker 1: to hear about any of that. Huge thanks, as always 908 00:48:30,120 --> 00:48:33,600 Speaker 1: to our excellent audio producer Seth Nicholas Johnson. If you 909 00:48:33,600 --> 00:48:36,000 Speaker 1: would like to get in touch with us to send 910 00:48:36,040 --> 00:48:38,560 Speaker 1: feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest a 911 00:48:38,640 --> 00:48:41,799 Speaker 1: topic for the future, to join the Committee to Extinguish 912 00:48:41,800 --> 00:48:44,520 Speaker 1: the Sun, or just to say hello, you can email 913 00:48:44,600 --> 00:48:53,160 Speaker 1: us at contact at invention pod dot com. Invention is 914 00:48:53,160 --> 00:48:56,080 Speaker 1: production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart 915 00:48:56,160 --> 00:48:58,960 Speaker 1: Radio because the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 916 00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:00,280 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.