10 interesting facts about air conditioning

25 Jan 10 interesting facts about air conditioning

1. Forget comfort – the first air conditioner, designed by Willis Carrier in 1902, was designed to control the humidity in a New York publishing house. Its effects helped ink to dry faster and smudge free, as well as keeping the paper from expanding and contracting.
2. Do you love catching a summer blockbuster at the movie theater? You can thank air conditioning. Moviemakers released their big pictures during the summer because people sought out the air-conditioned buildings to escape the heat.
3. Queensland wouldn’t be Queensland if it weren’t for AC. In fact, hotter states like QLD, NT and WA can thank air conditioning for their population booms. Without AC, Australia’s economic power would rest squarely in the southern states.
4. All those “40 is the new 20” people can thank AC for prolonged life expectancy and the world changing advances in medicine. Without cool, controllable environments, certain medicines could never have been created and certain illnesses could never have been cured.
5. You wouldn’t be reading this article if it weren’t for air conditioning. That’s right, you can thank AC for the development of computer technology and manufacturing.
6. Air conditioning makes springtime bearable. Allergy sufferers and asthmatics can thank air conditioning for providing them with clean, filtered air indoors.
7. It’s cool to be green. Manufacturing companies are making the switch from the old standard refrigerant, R-22, to R-410A. Removing chlorine from air conditioning refrigerants makes them ozone friendly.
8. High ceilings and open floor plans weren’t just pretty designs for homes. They were made to optimise air flow in a hot building. Now, you can live and work in towering glass buildings (thanks to air conditioning, of course).
9. Before buildings had central air conditioning, industries and even the government took a summer holiday along with school. Think things happen too slowly in Canberra now? Imagine working with 2-3 less months. Yikes!Kids, thank your lucky stars! Even though summer holidays started out as a way to escape the heat, schools kept up the practice even after gaining air conditioning.