wednesday,october 8,2003
news
the university daily kansan
5A
Airconditionerirksneighbors
By Amanda Kim Stairrett
astairrett@kansai.com
Kansai staff writer
Residents of the Oread Neighborhood surrounding GSP-Corbin Hall don't like what they hear.
Especially when the sound is the high-pitched tone of an air conditioner.
"It sounded like an early warning system that would never go off," said Candice Davis, Oread neighborhood president. Davis lives at 947 Louisiana St., across the street from the air-conditioning unit.
The air conditioner was installed two years ago because it required less maintenance and was more efficient and environmentally friendly. The new unit compresses gas to chill the air, which creates the high-pitched sound. The previous unit did not compress gas.
The first unit of this type was installed at the University of Kansas five years ago, James Modig, DCM director, said the high levels of noise were an industry-wide problem for this type of air conditioner.
After Oread residents complained, DCM asked the department of architectural engineering to conduct sound tests in the area. They found the decibel level wasn't the problem, it was the frequency and tone.
Modig said the air conditioner's noise was similar to fingernails being drug across a chalkboard. He said that the manufacturer's options for fixing the problem would be expensive
and would do little good.
Modig handed the project over to an acoustical design class at the University and they formulated a plan for a noise barrier. Engineers at DCM improved the plans and sent the design back to the class. There, students designed a simulator to test how the barrier would work. A barrier was constructed while the air conditioner ran. After construction, the unit was then shut down for the winter.
"It was like heaven," said Davis of the silence.
When the air conditioner was turned on this spring, neighbors were still bothered by the noise.
Modig said he hoped DCM and the department of architectural engineering could work together to end the problem. Although optimistic about resolving the issue, he said it would take time and money.
Z. Gordon Straus/Kansar
"Acoustics is a very difficult thing to manage," he said. "Sometimes science is only as good as the site condition."
He estimated the University had spent nearly $40,000 on the sound barrier already.
"The neighborhood has been very patient and good to work with." Modig said.
Modig said no matter how strong the barrier was, one small imperfection could decrease its effectiveness. He said similar air conditioning units were located at JRP Hall, Memorial Stadium, Summerfield Hall and Hilltop Child Development Center. He
Lawrence resident Candy Davis has lived at the corner of 10th and Louisiana streets, directly behind GSP for five years. For the past three, an air conditioner has been amitting a high pitched noise that, despite the construction of a sound barrier, still annoys Davis and other area residents.
said he heard similar noise complaints from University employees and Lawrence residents who live near those air conditioners Edited by Dave Nobles
Episcopals prepare for church to split
The Associated Press
DALLAS—An insurgent conservative movement that could split the Episcopal Church opened a national rally yesterday with prayers, heartfelt singing and sobering messages about a break with liberals.
The meeting's goal is to shape plans for Episcopalians who oppose their denomination's increasing acceptance of gay
relationships. At its national convention this summer in Minneapolis, the church confirmed the election of a gay bishop living with his partner and voted to recognize that bishops are allowing blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples.
"Our church has embraced schism and heresy," Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh told the 2,674 participants at the meeting, including 799 priests
and 46 of the denomination's 300 bishops.
The Rev. David Roseberry of Christ Church in suburban Plano, Texas said "people are confused and hurt and angry and concerned and grieved."
Canon David C. Anderson, president of the sponsoring American Anglican Council, said his movement welcomes people of all sexual orientations "gay and straight and ex-gay people who
are committed to a biblical moral life," implying that homosexuals are expected to be celibate.
A draft version of a declaration the meeting will issue at its conclusion Thursday said the Episcopal Church is "under God's judgment," and committed participants to withholding money from the national church and dioceses that supported the Minneapolis decisions.
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