Back in 1966, there was a buzz going around my community. 

     A new high school was under construction, and it was going to be ultra modern!  In fact, the advanced technology to be employed meant that the new building would be climate controlled.  With air conditioning throughout the entire building, teachers and students would never again have to crank open a window in search of a slight breeze on those hot, humid, north Florida days.

     In fact,  the sophisticated new climate control technology made windows irrelevant.  Since no one would need to open windows for cooling any more, why bother with them at all?  Hence, the brand-new, state-of-the-art high school was windowless.  

     A year later I entered the much-hyped school as a student, and I found it a pretty unpleasant environment. 

     As I recall, it took some getting used to–for students and teachers alike–to be shut into a room together, unable to see beyond the four walls surrounding us.  My visual field extended no more than about 20 feet.  No sunlight, no passing cloud, no tree could be part of my, or my classmates’, environment during most of the school day.  Forget about a daydreaming gaze out the window.  And did a lack of access to the world outside mean we were more focused on our schoolwork?  I doubt it.  

     Thinking back to my high school experience, I am reminded what a great invention was the glass window!  How I take it for granted that when indoors, at least in most buildings, I am also part of the world outdoors because I can see it. 

     With natural light entering the school only here and there through tiny windows in the outside doors, the school had to be lit entirely artificially.  I wasn’t conscious of it at the time, but I now think that the lack of natural light, combined with the unnatural quality of fluorescents at that time, was a spirit dampener.

     But the lack of windows was not my main gripe about my climate controlled school.  It was damn cold in there, especially in the mornings.  With cold air having blown through the empty building all night, the first classes of the day were quite uncomfortable.   Woe to those who forgot to bring a sweater or jacket to school in the morning. 

      But the worst days at Forrest High School were the summer days.  Perhaps the plant manager felt he had to combat the Florida summer heat by making the building even colder than it was during the school year.  For me, attending summer school classes in that ice-cold building meant piling on layers and watching the clock.  I lived for the next break when I could spend a few minutes warming up outside.  During those breaks my spirit lifted, thanks to contact with the real, uncontrolled climate.

     Some years later, I had another, not-so-pleasant experience with climate control technology.    

     In the late 1970s, I worked in an office building in downtown Washington, DC.   Fortunately, the building did have windows.  But, unfortunately, the decision to cool or warm the building was not determined according to the weather outside.  Instead, some building manager had decided well in advance, on a date in late spring when the air conditioning would be switched on, and on a corresponding date in the fall when the heat would be turned on. 

     Of course the weather only sometimes went along with the schedule.  Consequently, we workers often shivered in the air conditioning on cold days, and when it was warm outside, the addition of central heat made us sweat.  Complaints to the building manager were met with a shrug.  The dates for switching on the AC and the heat were immutable and could not be changed.   

     I hope that as we Americans become more conscious about our energy use, we will pay more attention to the heating and cooling of buildings.  Needlessly shivering or sweating is not only uncomfortable, but the waste of energy contributes to global warming.–April Moore

 

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