Environment & Climate Change
Written by William T. Dowell Wednesday, 22 April 2009 11:21
GENEVA -- Most of us take air conditioners for granted. We know they use up enormous amounts of electricity, cause brown outs and occasionally blackouts, and contribute to global warming, but in the sweltering summer months when you are threatened with heat exhaustion, who really cares? That is all the more reason to marvel at the obvious excitement at the United States Mission to the United Nations here in Geneva this week as it officially launched its new 225-ton “MagLev” chiller. To mark the occasion, waiters wheeled trolleys loaded with fog-generating dry ice and garish green “Chiller”cocktails into a large meeting area for the benefit of a select group of journalists and civil engineering afficionados. What better way to prepare for Earth Day.