Air conditioners, both of the portable air conditioner and installation varieties, have changed where we live, the design of homes and office units and improved our standard of living and day to day comfort. Most of us didn’t grow up with them but if asked to give them up now, we would politely decline. Yet there was life before air conditioning.
How did they do it?
A century ago, houses were designed differently. High ceilings, large windows and numerous small vents weren’t just there for aesthetic reasons; they played a valuable role in keeping the house cool without the luxury of air conditioners by the simple principle that hot air rises and stays near the ceiling. If you look at Victorian, houses you’ll see that without exception, they are trimmed by picturesque porches. This had more to do with the weather than you would think. If the house got too hot, you could escape outside and sit on the porch. Many people even slept on day beds on their porches on the hottest nights of the year. People were a lot more controlled by the weather than we are today. In the 21st century, it would be unimaginable to be shunned from your house or office because of the weather. These days we are in charge of the temperatures we relax and work in and it’s not only a great luxury but it also gives us the opportunity to spend our summer days more productively.
Where we now live
The Danakil desert in Ethiopia is recorded to be the hottest place on Earth, and yet the Afar people have lived there for generations without air conditioners, although in recent years many Afarians have moved to the cities. During the hottest season, Afarians migrate to the river to keep cool and live in tents made from sticks and mats. In this way, the weather plays a far more prominent part in the Afarians’ lives than most people are used to and very few people would choose to migrate to the area. The Afarians’ population is also low for a modern group, reaching just over one million.
The hottest part of America, known as the Sun Belt, encompasses Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada and Southern California. Yet, ever since air conditioning was invented, populations in the area have flourished despite the energy-draining heat. Houston in Texas became an important centre of the Space Age and the promise of an air conditioned room after a hot day on the beach has lured many holiday makers. In the early eighties, a third of Americans lived in the more southerly states, now this had changed to more than half of Americans, which also served to change the political nature of the continent.
All in all, air conditioning and refrigeration methods have done as much for the development of modern civilization as cars and computers and unlike the latter they have prevented deaths particularly among the elderly. The price to pay is, of course, the damage to the environment, but as air conditioner units become standardised to limit their negative impact on the environment, we can thank some benevolent deity for this relatively recent invention.
Related Posts
No related posts.