Air conditioning protects from heat waves but also worsens climate change – Vox

What if the most American symbol of unsustainable consumption isn t the automobile, but the air conditioner? In cool indoor spaces, it s easy to forget that billions of people around the world don t have cooling and that air conditioning is worsening the warming that it s supposed to protect us from.

There are alternatives: We can build public cooling spaces and smarter cities, with fixes like white paint and more greenery. Some experts have hailed heat pump technology as a more efficient option. But as the planet warms and more of its inhabitants have spare income, AC sales are increasing. Ten air conditioners will be sold every second for the next 30 years, according to a United Nations estimate. Access to air conditioning can literally mean life or death for the young, elderly, and those with medical conditions such as compromised immune systems.

The rise of ACs has an enormous cost: Over time, chemicals known as refrigerants leak out of AC units and accelerate climate change.

via www.vox.com

I’d die without A/C. We’d have to invade Mexico to get more beach front real estate. Or move to Peru or Ecuador and live in the foothills of the Andes.