The Cool, the Creative and the Innovative
Summertime is upon us in muggy North Florida and it’s hard to imagine a time when air conditioning wasn’t a well assumed convenience. Check out these cool, creative and innovative locations where air conditioning is making its debut.
Football is the most popular sport in the United States. With hundreds of thousands of spectators gathering every game, keeping fans and athletes cool can pose a considerable challenge. The University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona is one of a handful of sports venues to offer an air conditioned stadium. Joining the club of climate-controlled venues is the Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Here temperatures are known to soar past 100 degrees Fahrenheit, but the stadium’s air conditioning system is there to save the day. This structure has a reported average $200,000 electricity bill, much of it coming from the A/C, a not-so-small price to pay to keep 80,000 spectators comfortably chilled.
In addition to producing one of the most luxurious stadiums in the country, The Lone Star State is also home to what is arguably the coolest tree house ever constructed; there’s a sleeping loft, reading nook, kitchen, balcony and more. The heat-humidity index in Dallas can reach as high as 117 degrees, a dangerous number for children playing in an enclosed space. Luckily, the place is kept cool with the help of a small, $88 A/C unit below the structure, where a small fan pushes the air up through a vent into the tree house. It’s like the penthouse of forts, and Barry gives it his stamp of approval.
A century ago air conditioning was a brand new invention – one used more for luxury than for everyday comfort. Today, A/C is everywhere, from stadiums to tree houses. We are even blessed these days with cool air when we attend summer weddings or use portable restrooms. There are even specially designed clothes and beds with built-in cooling systems. The further we advance into technology, the more opportunities are presented to make use of air conditioning.
What do you think would be a creative innovation in air conditioning? Tweet your ideas to @BarineauAC and we will feature your responses online and in social media. And remember, don’t wait for an emergency to get your unit serviced because it’s never cool to come home to a hot house.
