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We should talk more about air-conditioning (www.technologyreview.com)

submitted 3 days ago by misk@sopuli.xyz to c/technology@beehaw.org

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One twisted thing about cooling and climate change: It’s all a vicious cycle. As temperatures rise, the need for cooling technologies increases. In turn, more fossil-fuel power plants are firing up to meet that demand, turning up the temperature of the planet in the process.

“Cooling degree days” are one measure of the need for additional cooling. Basically, you take a preset baseline temperature and figure out how much the temperature exceeds it. Say the baseline (above which you’d likely need to flip on a cooling device) is 21 °C (70 °F). If the average temperature for a day is 26 °C, that’s five cooling degree days on a single day. Repeat that every day for a month, and you wind up with 150 cooling degree days.

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[–] ninjaphysics@beehaw.org 9 points 3 days ago

We might not have them as you see them today, but there is building science that is centuries old that works with the environment to have architectural solutions that don't even rely on electricity to retain heat or cool a space. There's also the more modern passive house design. As someone born and raised in a hot climate like you mentioned, had we created a built environment like this instead of crippling ourselves to use fossil fuels and refrigerants with high global warming potential, we wouldn't be where we are today. I agree that a/c changed the world. That change could have been a much more positive one had we taken a more practical approach!