According to at least a few people I talked to today, only about 10-15% of Cambodians have electricity. Nonetheless, everywhere I go, including NGO's, is excessively air conditioned. I'm probably more sensitive than most because I bask in heat--I only know one other person who actually likes DC in August. But there's something weird about discussing the fact that no one in the country has electricity while everyone in the room is wearing long sleeves to fend off the excessive air conditioning.
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I'm probably more sensitive than most because I bask in heat--I only know one other person who actually likes DC in August.
Well, now you know another.
Sounds like it's Pareto optimal for you to have moved farther south.
Well that at least explains how you could bike to work in DC. Ten minutes in the saddle in that humidity and I could sweat through a suit jacket
“ . . . everywhere I go, including NGO's, is excessively air conditioned.”
Yeah, who would think that those caring, selfless NGO types would be slow to make sacrifices.
only about 10-15% of Cambodians have electricity.
That's the number that are connected to the grid. But almost all Cambodians actually have access to basic electricity services. (Such services are certainly not sufficient to run an air conditioner, however, and yes, your example seems absurd. What are they thinking.)
I also like the DC summer. But I'm from Texas, so I actually don't think it really gets that warm. Don't get me started on winter.
I'm with Mike W. NGOs are sure to get these amenities for, at the very least, the executives on site.
I'll add myself to the list of Texas ex-pats who much prefer August in DC.
I do find most places to be over-cooled in the summer, here or there. I've long thought it might be a result of the absurdity of suit culture (wearing a tie in the Texas summer is ludicrous), or perhaps an indication that people who work in these kinds of places tend to have relatively more body fat than average.
An alternative theory on 'excessive' air conditioning.
When your budget is tight, you're going to get the cheapest variety of whatever's available. So these AC units may be of the variety that either full blast ('excessively') or (fairly frequently) not at all.
It could be for a lure. I imagine westerners beat much the same path through Cambodia for whatever reason they are there. Putting the best face on it makes it more likely to garner investment. They may be Potemkin air conditioners.
"An alternative theory on 'excessive' air conditioning.
When your budget is tight, you're going to get the cheapest variety of whatever's available. So these AC units may be of the variety that either full blast ('excessively') or (fairly frequently) not at all.:"
Kenny, that's so ridiculous, you're really talking about a U$D 30(retail) Thermostat to gain control of a system you're describing...
Njorl, this: "It could be for a lure. I imagine westerners beat much the same path through Cambodia for whatever reason they are there. Putting the best face on it makes it more likely to garner investment. They may be Potemkin air conditioners." would fit with how electricity and "air conditioning" was sold to the U.S. Economy, as well...
re: Columbian Exposition, Chicago 1893
"It attempted to redefine America for itself and the world, and in doing so introduced many themes and artifacts still prevalent in American life: the connection between technology and progress; the predominance of corporations and the professional class in the power structure of the country; the triumph of the consumer culture..."
http://xroads.virginia.edu/%7EMA96/WCE/introduction.html
"The next advance was when Carrier sold his invention to movie-theater operators, with a notable debut in 1925 at the Rivoli on Broadway in New York City."
http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/mvigeant/therm_1/AC_final/bg.htm
Mr Hoffer-
Well, like I said a theory. And i'd like to point out that 30 us dollars is two weeks wages of your average vietnamese citizen based on the cia's PPP per capita figures, so it ain't chump change by some standards. And ngo's (as well as government orgs and large corporations) are very capable at being penny wise and pound foolish.
and as a person who spent sixteen years of schooling in the commonwealth of virginia public education system, and another several years working in a few different government owned offices, I've experienced my share of crappy HVAC systems.
And a primary reason for excessive air conditioning in a tropical or sub-tropical climate might not be for the cold per se, but just to dry things out a bit.
Typical building construction might also make a difference; here in the States, most commerical buildings use continuous forced air in order to keep the airflow fresh and clean. However, we also have air-handling units that can precisely match the outflow temperature to a desired setpoint using the best thermostat control systems available, typically by using heating in the summer and cooling the winter, mixed with unmodified air as necessary. And even one modest-sized office will typically have thermostats in at least two zones driving separate air-handling units, in order to avoid zone issues (south always too warm in summer, north always too cold in winter, that kind of thing).
I highly doubt that in Vietnam, particularly when they're not fully modernized on architectural engineering principles and probably buying the cheapest air-handling equipment the Chinese can make, have a fully modernized level of HVAC sophistication in their commerical construction.
I think it's a Southeast Asian thing. I've never been to Vietnam or Cambodia, but on my trips to Indonesia and Thailand I noticed the same thing -- absolutely frigid temperatures indoors. When I lived in Japan and traveled a half dozen or so times to South Korea, I found indoor temperatures there are comfortable in the summer, but unbearably hot in the winter. Maybe there's some kind of national seasonal phobia in different countries (lots of Japanese start complaining about the cold when it's 50 or so out). Kind of like what I heard once, that in Norse legends hell is a very cold place.
Kenny-
with this: "And ngo's (as well as government orgs and large corporations) are very capable at being penny wise and pound foolish."--no doubt, you hit upon the reality, of the result, of bureauacracies dealing with OPM..
anony-, with this: "most commerical buildings use continuous forced air in order to keep the airflow fresh and clean."--would you say that the 'fresh and clean' is relative, accomplished by dilution(?), moreso than absolute, via filtration and 'sterilization'?
Great boys
4dfaba
Yhanks you
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