Air Conditioning and the Climate Crisis

At the time of publication, it is mid-July and Ireland is about to get hot – really hot.

No matter what record temperatures are likely to be set in Ireland and around the world this year, we can say with all certainty that this is likely to be the coolest summer that you’ll experience for the rest of your lives.

The arrival of summer also means a mad rush to buy the last available desk fan to keep you cool at night, but more and more Irish people are electing to make the switch to air conditioning – sadly without the necessary information to understand the wider climate implications of this choice.

Find out how keeping cool this summer could directly lead to a hotter future.

Aircon Paradox

Sales of air conditioners are rising rapidly in Europe as we experience hotter and hotter summers year-on-year, and the industry is forecasting an 88.9% growth in sales over the next decade.

This is an understandable response to increasing temperatures, but most people do not understand that this is leading to more heating and yet more record-breaking temperatures.

When coupled with the heat island effect – where the use of man-made materials in urban areas traps heat for longer and increases local temperatures – this could lead to cities being around 3°C warmer than their surroundings.

This compounds the record-breaking temperatures that are becoming more common due to the Climate Crisis, meaning more people are likely to suffer – or die – from heatstroke and other heat-related conditions.

In short – air conditioning will lead to you being hotter, rather than cooler, in the long-term.

Not only does this mean an increased use of fossil fuels to meet the power demands placed on the grid by air conditioning, but it also means that the grid is more likely to fail, with high demand and extreme temperatures causing blackouts.

In 2006 such a blackout during a heatwave led to the deaths of 140 people and left 175,000 people in Queens without power for a week.

The Guardian reports that a small unit cooling a single room, on average, consumes more power than running four fridges – while a central unit cooling a typical house uses more power than 15 fridges.

This level of energy inefficiency coupled with widespread use meant that, in 2019, the US used more electricity for air conditioning alone than the UK used for the whole country for a whole year.

Even when air conditioners are taken out of use they can still have a significantly detrimental impact on worsening the Climate Crisis.

The chemicals used in AC units to cool the air – known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) – are incredibly potent greenhouse gases, and have a warming affect many thousands of times worse than carbon dioxide when released into the atmosphere.

In fact, releasing just a kilogram of HFCs does as much damage as releasing a ton or more of carbon dioxide, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

HFCs are also the fastest-growing class of greenhouse gases – thanks, in part, to increased use of air conditioning.

These refrigerant gases slowly leak into the atmosphere over the life of the air conditioner, but they escape en masse when the air conditioners are thrown away or destroyed. This is often overlooked compared to the relevant convenience of installing an updated unit, but these invisible gases are actively making our world warmer and worsening the Climate Crisis.

This deep-dive from Scientific American offers great insight into this issue, and the importance of addressing it before we run out of time.

Having good insulation in your home will not only save on your energy bills but also help to keep the heat out in the summer and keep the heat in during the winter months. This is a cheap but sure-fire solution.

Meanwhile using better shading and ventilation will help to lower indoor temperatures and ensure a through-flow of cool air.

On a larger scale, removing tarmac from around your home can reduce the heat island effect, while planting more trees can have a major impact on lowering local temperatures.

As with every aspect of the Climate Crisis, we already have the all the solutions – and it typically comes down to doing a lot more with a lot less. The reality is that we don’t need air conditioners in Ireland, and we have cheaper and more effective ways to stay cool that won’t also worsen extreme heat in the years to come.

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