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Cherian George, a journalist and academic, dubbed Singapore the “Air-Conditioned Nation” in a famous essay in 2000, and the name is apt. The country is undeniably built on the technology: Lee Kuan Yew, its first prime minister, credited “the humble air conditioner” (AC) with facilitating his country’s transformation from a patch of malaria-ridden jungle into a modern metropolis.
The whirr of air-conditioning is a constant backdrop to life in Singapore, and when I lived there it soon began to feel essential. I was always conscious of how relieved I was by the blast of cold air that hit me as the doors of the metro train slid open, even when I’d spent no more than five minutes on the street.
Until very recently AC has been an unattainable luxury for large swathes of the world. In the poorest, hottest countries—particularly those in Africa—it still is, and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future (not least because of a lack of access to reliable electricity). But as ACs become cheaper, and incomes rise, that is starting to change dramatically. Growth is now exploding, particularly in India, where up to 14m units are expected to be sold this year, compared to 800,000 units sold in 2011. The Indian government expects half of households there to have a unit by 2037.
That should be welcomed—each of those units will help people lead safer and happier lives, particularly as the world warms further. Air-conditioning (and, more broadly, refrigeration) brings benefits to almost all parts of a society: it helps avert heat-related deaths; protects the supply chains for vital foods and medicines; cools data centres; improves productivity and education; and generally reduces suffering.
In its current form, though, it also guzzles energy, further exacerbating the very warming that it protects against. When the total environmental impact of ACs (including electricity use as well as leaks of the greenhouse gases most units use as refrigerants) is tallied, the total annual emissions exceed those of the aviation industry. Making ACs greener and cheaper is, therefore, a priority: predominantly through providing them with renewable power but also, as
I report this week,
by finding clever engineering tweaks to make them more efficient.
Other, faster, changes will be needed too. More sustainable ways of keeping temperatures down should be explored, from coating roofs in reflective materials to increasing the amount of greenery in cities. AC installation should also be prioritised in public places that many people can access, rather than just in private homes.
Regulatory changes can also have tremendous impact: over 40 years, ever-stricter efficiency standards for domestic fridges in America reduced their electricity consumption by 75%, while also making them 50% cheaper to buy. Making similar standards for air-conditioners stricter and more coherent globally—and improving labelling so that customers understand what they are buying—would go a long way towards spreading their benefits while minimising the harm they might do.
Elsewhere in The Economist:
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Police use of facial recognition in Britain is spreading
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AI doomers are increasingly influential in China. Here’s why
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And Americans’ love affair with big cars is killing them
Thank you for reading Simply Science. Last week’s edition on the growth of digital twins piqued the interest of several readers. Malcolm, who recalls the Volkswagen emissions scandal, worries that it will be “trivially easy” for companies to mis-program digital twins to their advantage, with “life-threateningly erroneous guarantees of performance”. Meanwhile, Bill
, who regularly does research on digital twins, reminded us to stay grounded about the technology. “I'll simply say there’s more hype in the media than substance, similar to AI, blockchain and carbon nanotubes,” he says. “Nonetheless, I remain optimistic over the long run.” As do we. If you have any thoughts or questions on this week’s newsletter, reach us at sciencenewsletter@economist.com. |
