- Playing
- Rethinking Air Conditioning
- From
- KQED
It happens every year. Temperatures get hot, and so we crank up the air conditioning. That means more electricity from the power grid, more greenhouse gas emissions, more global warming and -- with warmer temperatures -- more air conditioning!
There are a few ways to halt this vicious cycle, one of which starts with a makeover for the machine itself.
NOTE: This story is reported from California, but applies across the country: If manufacturers sold three kinds of ACs for the country's three main climates, we'd save billions in electricity bills.
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Piece Description
It happens every year. Temperatures get hot, and so we crank up the air conditioning. That means more electricity from the power grid, more greenhouse gas emissions, more global warming and -- with warmer temperatures -- more air conditioning! There are a few ways to halt this vicious cycle, one of which starts with a makeover for the machine itself. NOTE: This story is reported from California, but applies across the country: If manufacturers sold three kinds of ACs for the country's three main climates, we'd save billions in electricity bills.
Broadcast History
Aired twice during "B" segment of morning edition during local KQED and KQEI broadcasts.
Transcript
Hi there! This is Al?(door opens, talking, continue under track)
Temperatures in Antioch today are supposed to hit 105 degrees. But that will not be a problem for Al Mason, who stands in his very cool living room.
MASON During the summer without the air, it was miserable. [STANDEN What?s it like now?] Oh it?s wonderful.
That?s because Mason just put a ten-thousand dollar AC and heating system in his 1940s bungalow.
Ambi: motor starts up (run under track starting here, don?t really even need to bring it up for more than a second)
Installer Jeff Scalier of the Blue Star Heating and Air Conditioning company takes me outside to show off the motor.
SCALIER This particular unit, I call it the Cadillac. It?s an HDL is the name of the unit, it?s side discharged? [continue under track]
Like the other homes in this shady, tree-lined neighborhood, Mason?s house was designed in an era befo...
Read the full transcript
Timing and Cues
SUGGESTED HOST INTRO: so we crank up the air conditioning. That means more electricity from the power grid, more greenhouse gas emissions, more global warming and -- with warmer temperatures -- more air conditioning!
There are a few ways to halt this vicious cycle, one of which starts with a makeover for the machine itself. From KQED in San Francisco, Amy Standen reports.
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