Cool homes, hot planet: How air conditioning explains the world – The Washington Post.
BERKELEY, Calif.—Increasing wealth in developing countries is driving increased demand for air conditioning. However, this also has a dtrimental effect of increasing the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. One study found that residential electricity use could increase more than 80% by 2100. Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and the National Bureau of Economic Research say that this trend is detrimental because it reverses years of efforts to decrease GHG emissions. The problem, they find, will be most prevalent in warm or tropical countries with large populations. China, for instance, has seen a doubling of air conditioner sales in just the last five years. The study also finds that demand will be huge in India, where there are “more than three times as many cooling degree days per person” than in the United States. The “culprit,” the researchers found, is as incomes rise, people everywhere seek and can afford more comfort. A separate report by Dearman, a technology company that provides cooling and power solutions, finds that due to changing demographics, particularly in Asia, the number of refrigerated vehicles on the road could feasibly reach 15.5 million by 2025, up from less than 3 million in 2013. This rapid expansion in cold transportation is said to also reflect the growth of more affluent lifestyles of urbanized populations in developing countries. However, this report finds that “if this growth in demand occurs without new technologies being introduced, the environmental effects could be devastating.” A conventional diesel-powered transport refrigeration unit can emit up to six times as much NOx and up to 29 times as much particulate matter as a modern diesel heavy goods vehicle (HGV) engine.
