In the wake of the 2020 ASHRAE Winter Conference and AHR Expo, let us look forward to the next era of innovation in the HVAC industry. A high-level look at advancements in air conditioning and the underlying societal forces that motivated progress reveals much about humans. Initially, comfort drove change. The first intervention used fire for heat as well as cooking and protection. Next, fans were used to cool through convection and evaporation if humans were perspiring.
The first mechanical air conditioner from the early 1900s sent air through water-cooled coils. This was not invented to provide human comfort. Rather, it was designed to control humidity around a printing press to improve the image quality. The same entrepreneurial engineer subsequently invented the centrifugal chiller, adding a central compressor to reduce a unit’s size. By the 1960s, air conditioning units were found in many homes. While several religious groups objected to this degree of comfort, protesting that it wasn’t “God-like,” the desire for comfort prevailed.