Fun facts about air conditioners

Air conditioning has become a staple commodity that most of us take for granted. One thing is for sure, coming in from the hot humid air outside into a cool air-conditioned room can seem heavenly at the end of a hot day at work. While you are enjoying the air conditioning enjoy some fun facts you may not know!

1. You can thank air conditioning for modern medicine. With the ongoing pandemic, we realize that our vaccines would not keep without the subzero freezers, but did you know that many of the medications we use today that fight everything from the common cold to cancer were created in temperature-sensitive laboratories. In other words, if it were not for modern air conditioning we wouldn’t have the life-saving medicines and treatments that millions of people need!
2. Air Conditioning Created for Comfort? – No way! The first air conditioner was created in 1902 by Willis Carrier, an American engineer, to control humidity! On a foggy day waiting for a Pittsburgh train, Carrier stared through the mist and realized that he could dry air by passing it through the water to create fog. It was such a success, he started Carrier Air Conditioning in 1920!
3. Cooling The Hot States – Before AC, hotter regions of the country weren’t the most appealing. States like Florida, Texas, and Arizona were so hot that living and doing business there just didn’t make sense when you could live and work in milder temperatures. The invention of air conditioning allowed for the population and economy to grow in these hotter climates, and now these areas are even vacation destinations. Without the promise of  AC at the end of the day, I’m sure hiking in 100+ degree weather in Arizona wouldn’t sound as enticing.
4. Cooling the White House – Many know that Herbert Hoover was influential in the development of air travel and radio but not many know he was the first president to install air conditioning in the White House in 1929. You would think that fact alone would get a standing ovation from the incoming president who would take over the newly air-conditioned White House but Franklin Roosevelt, who didn’t seem to mind the heat, wasn’t a big fan of the AC system and rarely turned it on. I am betting he stood alone in that aspect!
5. School’s Out For Summer – Before AC, farm kids never had summer off from school, they took spring and fall off so they could plant and harvest. Meanwhile, in the city kids hit the books year-round, in 1842, Detroit’s academic year lasted 260 days! But as the cities got denser, with their miles of concrete sidewalks and street lanes of brick, the cities became sweltering kilns created by what was known as the “urban heat island effect.” Because of this, the upper class started moving to the countryside and that caused a problem for these cities schools whose classrooms were deserted during the summer. That is when legislatures stepped in and argued that the brain, a muscle, could be overstrained in the heat and students should not have to attend due to this strain. By the turn of the century schools everywhere were cutting their school year by as much as 60 days and soon business-minded people seen the opportunity and the summer vacation business ballooned into what we have today!
6. The Summer Blockbuster Movie – You’ve heard of summer blockbusters… Jaws, the first, followed by Jurassic Park, and the list continue to grow today. Before the blockbusters people did not spend much time inside watching movies or playing inside games because of the heat, they spent that time at the rivers, pools, or oceanside keeping themselves cool. Movie theaters were one of the first industries to install air conditioners in their theaters. Since air conditioning wasn’t very common, this worked out for the theaters because they would sell more tickets.
7. Energy – It’s estimated by the Dept of Energy that the amount of energy air conditioners use is about 6% of all the electricity produced in the United States, at an annual cost of about $29 billion to homeowners!

We at WSI hope these little tidbits give you some knowledge