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by TreeHugger

Keep Cool With Culture, Not Contraptions

2:31 pm in air conditioning, Design & Architecture, lifeedited, urban life by TreeHugger

renoir summer party image Image credit Renoir, Luncheon of the boating party I have been doing some over-the-phone consulting on Graham Hill's Lifeedited project, and the subject of air conditioning is on the table. I asked if the apartment he is renovating was going to be air conditioned, and one of the designers involved said "the program calls for being able to serve dinner for 12, and it's hard to do that in summer without air conditioning." OK, but is that necessarily something you want to do in summer? I remembered a wonderful article by Barbara Flanagan in ID Magazine a couple of years back. (Read the full story on TreeHugger

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by TreeHugger

Design Is The Key To Keeping Cool Without Air Conditioning

10:27 am in air conditioning, Design & Architecture, green design by TreeHugger

cool house without ac image image credit Vince Michael Cameron Tonkinwise has noted "The window air conditioner allows architects to be lazy. We don't have to think about making a building work, because you can just buy a box." In fact most modern homes are uninhabitable without AC; nobody even bothers to think about cross ventilation and window placement, they just turn down the thermostat. Vince Michael of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Read the full story on TreeHugger

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by TreeHugger

Keep Cool Without Air Conditioning With Your Private Elevator Tower

3:39 pm in air conditioning, wayback machine by TreeHugger

no-ac-room.jpg click to enlarge We are always looking for ways to live without air conditioning, but here is one we missed, courtesy of modern mechanix. See our roundup of cheaper ways to keep cool without ac. Follow me on Twitter! @lloydalter...Read the full story on TreeHugger

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How Air Conditioning Changed How and Where We Live

9:11 am in air conditioning, design, Design & Architecture, urban life by TreeHugger

air conditioning image Image credit Jan Tik/Flickr Rebecca Rosen writes in the Atlantic about a subject dear to our hearts- the dramatic effect of air conditioning on our house design, the things that we do, and even our patterns of settlement.
Before air conditioning, in a bygone and surely less comfortable era, people employed all sorts of strategies for keeping cool in the heat. Houses were designed with airflow in mind -- more windows, higher ceilings..... In add...Read the full story on TreeHugger

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by TreeHugger

20 Billion Bucks A Year To Air Condition Troop Tents In Afganistan & Iraq – Nice Carbon Footprint Eh?

6:15 pm in air conditioning, Business & Politics, global warming effects, united states by TreeHugger

tent interior afganistan "New Afghanistan FOB tent." Image credit:Flickr, foqus The 20-billion dollar energy bill for cooling US troop tents in Afghanistan and Iraq each year seems ridiculous until you consider that the R-value of a tent wall is zero and that the fuel for running power generators is imported over goat paths. The Pentagon has figured out how to shave 92% off the energy bill by spraying polyurethane foam on the tents; but, the Majors and Generals are not so fond of it. Who can blame them? Although the Taliban camel can't get his nose under the walls of foamed tents, it's p...Read the full story on TreeHugger

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