In the second of two parts, the author discusses why he feels the
the building industry
needs to re-evaluate the usefulness and cost effectiveness of Return Air Plenums. Do they increase the cost of construction and
decrease the healthiness and safety of our buildings?
The advent of air conditioning a century ago brought us into
a new era, the AC in HVAC. While heat
could be delivered in various forms into a space, cooling came in one medium -
cool air. The more, the better. Somewhere you had cooling coils to create
this new-found luxury, and fans and ducts to deliver the valued commodity to
the place it was needed.
Once the cool air had severed its purpose, it had little value.