The growing demand for air conditioning

The Guardian - The greenest campaigners against climate change have long suffered from a crippling shortcoming: they too often frame the challenge as a problem of excess consumption. This motivates calls to “degrow” the economy and to curb the population. The claim is that humans consume too many resources, which in the context of climate change means too much energy.

Nowhere has the tension between this proposition and reality become more palpable during this sweltering summer than in the conversation over air conditioning. If the atmosphere were to warm more than 3C above the average temperature in the preindustrial era, a prospect that looks ever more likely given the lackluster efforts to reduce carbon emissions, one in six of the world’s largest cities would suffer at least one heatwave per year lasting more than a month, according to the World Resources Institute. Low-income countries would suffer, on average, 6.9 heatwaves per year. Delhi would suffer at least 140 days with temperatures hitting at least 35C (95F).

Demand for AC around the world will inevitably accelerate as the atmosphere continues to warm. Ninety percent of households in the US and Japan enjoy artificial cooling. But in Indonesia, the share is only 9%. In India, it is 5%. Of the 2.8 billion people living in the hottest parts of the world, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), only 8% currently possess AC.