Cool Comfort

Cool Comfort
Author: Marsha Ackermann
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2013-08-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 1588344010

The year 2002 marked the 100th anniversary of the first installation of air-conditioning. During the past century, it has become a staple of American life; 83% of US homes are now air-conditioned. In this engaging social history, Marsha Ackermann explores how the idea of “cooling” became firmly embedded in the social perceptions and expectations of Americans, transforming our definition of comfort and the way we live, work, and play.

Cool Comfort: The Journey of Air Conditioning

Cool Comfort: The Journey of Air Conditioning
Author: Charles Nehme
Publisher: Charles Nehme
Total Pages: 38
Release:
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN:

In the scorching heat of a summer day or the stifling humidity of a tropical night, we find ourselves seeking refuge in the cool embrace of air conditioning. It has become an integral part of our daily lives, offering us comfort, productivity, and improved well-being. As we flip the switch and relish the instant relief it provides, we often overlook the fascinating journey that led to the creation and widespread adoption of this revolutionary technology. "Cool Comfort: The Journey of Air Conditioning" takes you on a captivating expedition through time, exploring the origins, pioneers, and societal impact of air conditioning. This book delves into the historical roots of cooling techniques in ancient civilizations, revealing how the ingenuity of our ancestors laid the foundation for the modern-day luxury we often take for granted. We will meet the brilliant minds who tirelessly worked to overcome challenges, perfecting air conditioning systems to cater to the needs of various industries and human habitats. From Willis Carrier's groundbreaking invention to the cutting-edge technologies of tomorrow, we will uncover how air conditioning transformed industries, shaped architecture, and became an essential part of our modern lifestyle. Beyond the practicalities, this book will also explore the cultural significance of air conditioning and its influence on human behavior and societal norms. We'll confront environmental concerns and ponder the delicate balance between comfort and sustainability, seeking a responsible approach to cooling in an ever-warming world. The chapters within "Cool Comfort" will lead you through a chronicle of human ingenuity, scientific discoveries, and societal shifts that culminated in the modern air conditioning systems that now surround us. Each page invites you to marvel at the wonders of this technology, recognize its challenges, and envision its future possibilities. As you embark on this journey, I hope you will gain a deeper appreciation for the cool comfort we experience every day, and the incredible legacy that led us here. Whether you are a history enthusiast, a technology buff, or someone curious about the forces that shape our world, I invite you to join me in exploring the captivating story of air conditioning. Let us venture forth into the cool oasis of knowledge, celebrating the achievements of the past and embracing the opportunities of the future. Sincerely, Charles Nehme Author, "Cool Comfort: The Journey of Air Conditioning"

After Cooling

After Cooling
Author: Eric Dean Wilson
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2022-07-19
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1982111313

This “ambitious [and] delightful” (The New York Times) work of literary nonfiction interweaves the science and history of the powerful refrigerant (and dangerous greenhouse gas) Freon with a haunting meditation on how to live meaningfully and morally in a rapidly heating world. In After Cooling, Eric Dean Wilson braids together air-conditioning history, climate science, road trips, and philosophy to tell the story of the birth, life, and afterlife of Freon, the refrigerant that ripped a hole larger than the continental United States in the ozone layer. As he traces the refrigerant’s life span from its invention in the 1920s—when it was hailed as a miracle of scientific progress—to efforts in the 1980s to ban the chemical (and the resulting political backlash), Wilson finds himself on a journey through the American heartland, trailing a man who buys up old tanks of Freon stockpiled in attics and basements to destroy what remains of the chemical before it can do further harm. Wilson is at heart an essayist, looking far and wide to tease out what particular forces in American culture—in capitalism, in systemic racism, in our values—combined to lead us into the Freon crisis and then out. “Meticulously researched and engagingly written” (Amitav Ghosh), this “knockout debut” (New York Journal of Books) offers a rare glimpse of environmental hope, suggesting that maybe the vast and terrifying problem of global warming is not beyond our grasp to face.

Adaptive Thermal Comfort: Principles and Practice

Adaptive Thermal Comfort: Principles and Practice
Author: Fergus Nicol
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2012-03-15
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1136336486

The fundamental function of buildings is to provide safe and healthy shelter. For the fortunate they also provide comfort and delight. In the twentieth century comfort became a 'product' produced by machines and run on cheap energy. In a world where fossil fuels are becoming ever scarcer and more expensive, and the climate more extreme, the challenge of designing comfortable buildings today requires a new approach. This timely book is the first in a trilogy from leaders in the field which will provide just that. It explains, in a clear and comprehensible manner, how we stay comfortable by using our bodies, minds, buildings and their systems to adapt to indoor and outdoor conditions which change with the weather and the climate. The book is in two sections. The first introduces the principles on which the theory of adaptive thermal comfort is based. The second explains how to use field studies to measure thermal comfort in practice and to analyze the data gathered. Architects have gradually passed responsibility for building performance to service engineers who are largely trained to see comfort as the ‘product’, designed using simplistic comfort models. The result has contributed to a shift to buildings that use ever more energy. A growing international consensus now calls for low-energy buildings. This means designers must first produce robust, passive structures that provide occupants with many opportunities to make changes to suit their environmental needs. Ventilation using free, natural energy should be preferred and mechanical conditioning only used when the climate demands it. This book outlines the theory of adaptive thermal comfort that is essential to understand and inform such building designs. This book should be required reading for all students, teachers and practitioners of architecture, building engineering and management – for all who have a role in producing, and occupying, twenty-first century adaptive, low-carbon, comfortable buildings.

Ethics and Professional Responsibility for Paralegals

Ethics and Professional Responsibility for Paralegals
Author: Therese A. Cannon
Publisher: Aspen Publishing
Total Pages: 556
Release: 2024-02-02
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1543820557

This time-tested text from distinguished leaders in the field of paralegal ethics offers comprehensive coverage of all the major areas of legal ethics, placing special emphasis on how the rules affect paralegals. This book is written for paralegal students, working paralegals, and lawyers who use their services. The authoritative presentation is combined with clear and readable pedagogy. Each chapter begins with an overview, followed by well-written text in a well-organized format. Key terms are introduced in italics. Review questions and discussion questions reinforce the material. Research projects at the end of each chapter provide ways to enhance and apply what has been learned. In addition, each chapter includes cases that demonstrate how the principles and rules are applied. The book is easily adaptable to courses of different lengths and can be used in substantive courses for additional ethics coverage. New to the Ninth Edition: Updated coverage of the evolving role of nonlawyers in providing legal services. Discussions of areas of growth and change in the legal profession, including the integration of technology, the use of marketing and advertising, greater competitiveness among firms, increased attorney mobility, the development of mega-firms, the impact of a global economy, more complex laws, legal specialization, and virtual work environments. New cases included throughout the text. Professors and students will benefit from: Authors are leading experts in the field, bringing deep knowledge and experience to the text. Written specifically for paralegal students. Comprehensive and up-to-date coverage, in a clear and authoritative text. Well-structured text with review questions, hypotheticals, discussion questions, research projects, and edited cases with questions to reinforce students' understanding of the material.

Managing IT in Construction/Managing Construction for Tomorrow

Managing IT in Construction/Managing Construction for Tomorrow
Author: Attila Dikbas
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 889
Release: 2009-09-15
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1482266660

Managing IT in Construction/Managing Construction for Tomorrow presents new developments in:- Managing IT strategies - Model based management tools including building information modeling- Information and knowledge management- Communication and collaboration - Data acquisition and storage- Visualization and simulation- Architectural design and

Advances in Passive Cooling

Advances in Passive Cooling
Author: Mat Santamouris
Publisher: Earthscan
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2012-05-16
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1849773963

Following a rapid increase in the use of air conditioning in buildings of all types, the energy demand for powering such devices has become a significant cause for concern. Passive cooling is increasingly being thought of as the best alternative to air conditioning.This book offers the latest knowledge and techniques on passive cooling, enabling building professionals to understand the state of the art and employ relevant new strategies. With separate chapters on comfort, urban microclimate, solar control, ventilation, ground cooling and evaporative and radiative cooling, this authoritative text will also be invaluable for architects, engineers and students working on building physics and low-energy design.Advances in Passive Cooling is part of the BEST series, edited by Mat Santamouris. The aim of the series is to present the most current, high quality theoretical and application oriented material in the field of solar energy and energy efficient buildings. Leading international experts cover the strategies and technologies that form the basis of high-performance, sustainable buildings, crucial to enhancing our built and urban environment.

Air-Conditioning in Modern American Architecture, 1890–1970

Air-Conditioning in Modern American Architecture, 1890–1970
Author: Joseph M. Siry
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2021-02-01
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 0271089253

Air-Conditioning in Modern American Architecture, 1890–1970, documents how architects made environmental technologies into resources that helped shape their spatial and formal aesthetic. In doing so, it sheds important new light on the ways in which mechanical engineering has been assimilated into the culture of architecture as one facet of its broader modernist project. Tracing the development and architectural integration of air-conditioning from its origins in the late nineteenth century to the advent of the environmental movement in the early 1970s, Joseph M. Siry shows how the incorporation of mechanical systems into modernism’s discourse of functionality profoundly shaped the work of some of the movement’s leading architects, such as Dankmar Adler, Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Gordon Bunshaft, and Louis Kahn. For them, the modernist ideal of functionality was incompletely realized if it did not wholly assimilate heating, cooling, ventilating, and artificial lighting. Bridging the history of technology and the history of architecture, Siry discusses air-conditioning’s technical and social history and provides case studies of buildings by the master architects who brought this technology into the conceptual and formal project of modernism. A monumental work by a renowned expert in American modernist architecture, this book asks us to see canonical modernist buildings through a mechanical engineering–oriented lens. It will be especially valuable to scholars and students of architecture, modernism, the history of technology, and American history.

Designing Spaces for Natural Ventilation

Designing Spaces for Natural Ventilation
Author: Ulrike Passe
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 374
Release: 2015-03-12
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1136664823

Buildings can breathe naturally, without the use of mechanical systems, if you design the spaces properly. This accessible and thorough guide shows you how in more than 260 color diagrams and photographs illustrating case studies and CFD simulations. You can achieve truly natural ventilation, by considering the building's structure, envelope, energy use, and form, as well as giving the occupants thermal comfort and healthy indoor air. By using scientific and architectural visualization tools included here, you can develop ventilation strategies without an engineering background. Handy sections that summarize the science, explain rules of thumb, and detail the latest research in thermal and fluid dynamics will keep your designs sustainable, energy efficient, and up-to-date.