KEEP YOUR COOL

According to the International Energy Association, population growth, urbanization and rising income levels, compounded by a warming planet, are driving an unprecedented growth in demand for comfort cooling; from 1.2 billion residential air conditioners in the world today to a projected 4.5 billion by 2050.

The percentage of U.S. households with air conditioning has increased 47% since 1970.

90%

Approximately 91% of homes in the U.S. had central air or wall units in 2019

An ad for Carrier air conditioners from 1940.

In 1902, Willis Carrier invented a machine to keep the air cool in a lithographing and publishing company in Brooklyn, New York. The machine blew air over cold coils and was the first electric air-cooling system in the world. The Carrier Co. has been in business for 120 years, which is pretty cool.

Cool? In 1906, Stuart Cramer created a ventilating device for a textile mill in North Carolina. He was the first to coin the term “air conditioning.”

Air conditioning? In 1914, the first home air-conditioning unit was installed in the Minneapolis mansion of Charles Gates. It was approximately 7 feet high, 6 feet wide and 20 feet long. It must have cost a bundle.

Cost a bundle? The first home air conditioners in the early 1930s cost the equivalent of $120,000 to $600,000 today. To afford that, you had to live on easy street.

Street? The first automobile to offer air conditioning was the 1939 Packard. It didn’t feature dashboard controls, and the unit took up most of the trunk space, but it had to be the coolest ride sold that summer.

thousands.

Thousands? How about millions? More than 1 million air conditioners were sold in 1953. Sales for air conditioners were hot.

Hot? How about global warming? Scientists determined that the Freon-12 used in vehicles’ air-conditioning systems was a major source of ozone depletion. Freon-12 was phased out in the 1990s.

1990s? According to the Pew Research Center the percentage of Americans saying that air conditioning was a necessity (not just a luxury) increased 19 percentage points from 1996 to 2006. The item deemed the most necessary was a car.

American necessity

Percent rating each item as a necessity

1996 2006

Car

What was once a luxury for the wealthy is now a necessity for almost all.

Summer? In 1942, The U.S. built its first “summer peaking” power plant made to handle the growing electrical load of air conditioning. By 1947, compact, low-cost units were sold by the