Air Conditioning Saves Lives. Scientists Think It Also Might Doom Us All.

 

One of the major reasons we find ourselves in this current climate crisis is because of a near-religious devotion to convenience. For more than a century, scientists have known that burning coal warms the planet, but the finite, energy-dense resource was too convenient a fuel to pass up. Some of the first cars to ever hit the road were clean electric cars, but cars with internal combustion engines were more convenient to mass produce. And so on.

As the planet continues to inch past the 1.5 ºC increase in global temperature—a threshold originally reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as critical to avoiding catastrophic climate impacts—this same dedication to convenience dominates the conversation about how we’re going to keep ourselves cool. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), air conditioners and electric fans already account for 10 percent of global electricity consumption, and that number is only expected to rise as summers reach sweltering temperatures around the world.

Now, a new study published in the journal Nature Reviews Clean Technology argues that air conditioners should be seen as a last-ditch solution, rather than the go-to one. The study’s co-authors—Matthaios Santamouris (from the University of New South Wales) and Konstantina Vasilakopoulou (from RMIT University in Melbourne)—analyzed emerging building materials that could help lower temperatures with minimal energy usage, decreasing the reliance on air conditioners especially on hot days when energy demands are already high.

Among these materials are radiative systems, evaporative systems, and green roofs, as well as solar control systems and smart ventilation technologies. Some of this same tech can also help trap warm air in buildings during the winter.

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