Keeping cool, indoors and out and about, has been a high human priority for as long as we’ve been around. Our efforts at conditioning our inside air date back at least to the Roman times. The Persian civilization made good progress toward achieving indoor comfort as well. Before our vehicles had air conditioners, people going outside needed to adapt their clothing to maximize personal comfort. In hot, dry desert climates, people adopted robes, to keep the person under the robes at least less hot. It worked, then and now. They still do that today in the lands of the burning sands. In the tropics, wearing little or no clothing was a popular way to beat the heat. And that works, too. We still do that in the hot, humid tropics, if we can get by with it. But most of us spend our lives in more conservatively dressed circles, where we live and work. Business casual, at best, clothing not optional, that’s the choice we have. That being the case, I guess we’re still going to need air conditioners, at home, at work, and in between.
