Air conditioning (AC) accounts for 3.2 of all greenhouse gas emissions in 2022, using 7 of the world’s electricity and emitting 2.7 of energy-related CO2 emissions. HFCs, which are a small portion of total greenhouse gas emissions, trap thousands of times as much heat in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. The power needed to keep air conditioners and electric fans running accounts for 20% of global electricity use, which has the potential to drive substantial increases in energy and greenhouse gas emissions.
Air conditioning and refrigeration services are increasing rapidly in developing countries due to improved living standards. Greenhouse gas emissions from air conditioners are expected to climb as economic growth drives efforts to control both temperature and humidity. Research shows that global emissions of HFCs have risen by more than half between 2007 and 2021. The global warming potency of HFC-134a, commonly used in vehicle AC units, is 1300 times that of carbon dioxide. Clamping down on HFCs could avoid a full 0.5°C of future warming.
Although air conditioning is more than just convenience and has a profound impact on where and how we live, it is slowly cooking our planet due to the greenhouse gases our air conditioners release. By 2024, air conditioning causes around 3 of global greenhouse gas emissions, twice as much as the entire aviation industry. Much of the existing cooling equipment uses hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants, which are potent greenhouse gases and use a lot of energy. Air conditioners release roughly 117 million metric tons of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere every year, which is likely to grow as seasons remain.
HFCs represent a small portion of total greenhouse gas emissions but trap thousands of times as much heat in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Some of the big auto companies contribute to global warming through their use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
📹 The Cruel Irony Of Air Conditioning
To learn more, start your googling with this keyword: Refrigerant – a substance used in air conditioners & refrigerators for its ability …
What gases are released by air conditioners?
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are synthetic chemicals released by refrigerators and air conditioners that have been identified as a contributing factor to the depletion of the ozone layer.
Can air conditioning be environmentally friendly?
Gexa Energy offers a multitude of renewable energy plans, incorporating environmentally conscious refrigerants such as R-410A and evaporative cooling techniques to minimize the environmental impact of cooling domestic residences. These environmentally conscious decisions not only benefit the consumer financially but also contribute to the creation of a sustainable future. Select the 100 Green Electricity Plan that aligns with your preferences to reduce expenditure and contribute to a more sustainable future.
What are the side effects of using an air conditioner?
Dr. Radhika Raheja, a dermatologist and hair transplant surgeon at Radical Skin and Hair clinic in Sector 17, Faridabad, explains the common health concerns associated with excessive air conditioning use. These include dry eyes, lethargy, dehydration, dry or itchy skin, headaches, respiratory issues, allergies, asthma, noise pollution, infectious diseases, and indoor pollutants. Dry skin can result from reduced moisture in the air, while dry eyes can worsen if already present. Long-term exposure to AC can lead to a range of health issues.
How much greenhouse gas is produced by air conditioners?
Air conditioners release around 117 million metric tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere annually, with the number expected to increase due to longer hotter seasons and increased demand for heat-reflecting comfort. Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), the primary refrigerant used in AC systems, are a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Leaks from air conditioners can occur during production, installation, or maintenance. Therefore, improvements in air conditioner designs and efficiency are urgently needed.
Do AC units emit harmful gases?
Older air conditioners use R-22 gas as a coolant, which is harmful to the ozone layer and can cause toxic fumes. Manufacturers phased out R-22 in favor of the more environmentally friendly R-410A refrigerant over the last 15 years. New rules call for replacing R410-A with a non-chlorofluorocarbon option by 2025. To prevent gas leakage, it is essential to have a professional HVAC technician inspect your air conditioning system annually to check for leaks or signs of impending trouble.
Are air conditioners still bad for the environment?
Air conditioning is causing alarming energy demand, accounting for around 20% of building electricity consumption and 10% worldwide. It also contributes to nearly 4 of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, with refrigerants and HFCs polluting the atmosphere and contributing to ozone depleting substances. Air conditioner units are also harmful to the environment, as they are difficult to recycle due to their plastic manufacturing. The rise in greenhouse gas emissions and the need for proper air conditioning units are contributing factors to this issue.
Do air conditioners contribute to global warming?
Cooling contributes significantly to global warming due to the use of hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants, which are potent greenhouse gases and energy-intensive. Despite the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol requiring phasedown of hydrofluorocarbons, emissions from refrigeration and air conditioning are expected to double by 2030 and triple by 2050, resulting in a double burden on the planet. The more we cool, the more we heat the planet.
Space cooling demand accounts for nearly 20% of electricity used in buildings and is the fastest-growing use of energy globally, set to triple by 2050. However, this consumption and growth vary significantly by country and within countries, often tied to location, climate conditions, and incomes.
Is having the AC on all day bad for your health?
Air conditioning can have potential health issues, including respiratory issues, skin dryness and irritation, and air-conditioning disease. Respiratory issues, particularly for those with asthma or allergies, can be exacerbated by the dry air. Skin dryness and irritation can occur, especially for those with sensitive skin or eczema. Additionally, excessive time in cool environments, such as offices with central AC systems, can lead to flu-like symptoms.
Why is there no air conditioning in Switzerland?
The protection of the environment is a primary objective, and the potential for alternative energy sources is being investigated as a means of reducing reliance on in-house air conditioning.
Is it OK to use AC everyday?
Excessive use of air conditioning (AC) can lead to health issues such as dehydration, dry skin, and respiratory problems. AC units remove moisture from the air, causing dry skin and dehydration. Despite these drawbacks, AC can provide a comfortable environment by reducing heat and humidity, making it more comfortable for people to work, sleep, or relax. AC units also have filters that trap dust, pollen, and other allergens, improving air quality and preventing respiratory problems, especially for those with allergies or asthma. Additionally, AC can increase productivity by providing a comfortable environment, as high temperatures can decrease productivity.
In conclusion, while AC can provide a comfortable and cool environment, it is important to consider the running costs and potential environmental impact before making a decision. A and A Cooling and Heating LLC can help you make the best decision about your AC system, considering factors such as your needs, budget, and lifestyle.
Does AC increase CO2 in rooms?
The split air conditioner does not filter carbon dioxide (CO₂) and recirculates filtered air within the room when closed. This results in increased CO₂ levels during nights when doors and windows are closed for 6-8 hours.
📹 Can We Solve the Air Conditioning Paradox?
As the Earth warms due to human-caused climate change, billions of people in the developing world will face life-threatening heat …
There was a guy that moved from here in cold northern Sweden to sunny, hot California. When he built his house he built it like we do here with LOTS of insulation. People laughed at him but he saved a ton on air conditioning because once the house was cooled it stayed cool without having to run the AC constantly because the heat outside couldn’t get in.
I live in an arid semi-desert, but because my house is surrounded by huge trees (trees that don’t need lots of irrigation) my house is always cool, so I don’t use air conditioning at home. Trees are natural Air Conditioning devices, and they don’t produce CO2. remove your lawns and flower beds and try surrounding your selves with more trees.
Well, to pump the heat from inside the house to outside has exactly the same effect than prevent it to enter in the first place. That’s not an issue. The issue is the additionnal heat due to the power consumption. Edit: so many likes, thank’s! That surprised me because i was sure people would disagree.
I heard about a group of students in Oregon in a science club that developed polyhedral container units that could be put inside walls and regulate temperature. It has a substance that changes state around the comfortable range of temperature. when it freezes the formation of bonds releases so much heat it warms the building, and when it melts it absorbs so much energy it cools the building, then when it gets cool at night it refreezes, resetting to keep the building cool again. They got special permission to make prototypes and install them in one building.
Air conditioning has one major plus: It can heat the building way more efficiently than traditional heating. Most Air Conditioning systems can reverse the cooling process and heat up your home by cooling the outside. Wich needs only ~10% of the energy than heating up the inside with coal, oil or gas. With that being said: green or regenerative city design, using renewable energy sources and changing to greener coolants are still very important points. Thanks for this awesome article 🙌
While I agree the vicious cycle of air conditioning, the proposed solution are focused on cities that need too cool, but don’t address cities taht also need warm. For example, I live in Buenos Aires, where summer can reach 40°C and winter can reach below 0°C. During winter, the proposed solutions that for cooler buildings won’t help, and they may even be worst, since people will have to use more energy to heat their homes. And I believe, based on statistic energy consumption, people in this city use way more energy during winter than summer.
Your you tube article is outdated about air conditioners: 1) Modern Aircons use newer coolants and very soon may even use Co2 coolants as well. These coolants have only 1-4x times warming capacity of CO2 and not thousands of times as you are saying and through proper disposal they will not contribute anything to global warming as these coolants are buried deep inside earth. 2) The total heat released by aircon does create heat islands in cities but its impact in raising temperature is minuscule compared total atmospheric heat. 3) The only way in which aircons contribute to global warming is by consuming more electricity which uses more energy burning more fossil fuels but with greater use of renewable energy, even these could become redundant.
I Went To School For HVAC So I Feel Compelled To Stick Up For My Technician Brethren/Sistren By Reminding You That We’re Trying Our Best To Combat The Greenhouse Issue By Using Less Harmful Refrigerants In Our AC Units. Our Technology Is Always Evolving, From The Tools We Use (Some Are Now Digitalized) To The Refrigerants We Attain To Replace The Harmful Ones.
1:17 actually the refrigerants don’t trap heat, they bond to upper atmospheric ozone, destroying the ozone layer which leads to increased global temperatures. The ozone layer is concentrated at the Earth’s poles, blocking the Sun’s thermal radiation from making contact with the sensitive polar ice caps. Without the ozone layer, the thermal ice caps will melt more quickly, allowing more heat to stay in the Earth’s atmosphere, etc etc. This is taking too long. You get the point. (ASE certified refrigerant operater from 2009. Sorry if I made a mistake from memory)
1. That is true in general for any device that uses electricity from the net and is not limited to AC in any way. 2. The localized warming might be true (you unfortunately didn’t tell us which of your references that number cam from for easy confirmation and further details) but it can’t contribute global warming because there is no change to the total heat energy in the system (Except for the waste heat from running the AC with electricity of course but again, that’s true for running any electronic device and is not specific to AC). Putting it the way it was presented in the article is misleading IMO. 3. That’s not an issue with AC, that’s a waste management issue and affects all devices with components that are dangerous for the environment and (again) is not specific to AC at all. The improvement suggestions are great and should be implemented IMO but the reasons/issues shown in this article are poor and/or misleading.
If we start a global energy project, perhaps organized by the UN, to supply Thorium fueled nuclear power to the world, including the developing world, we could essentially solve these problem for good. Waste is managable, the energy is completely clean and molten salt reactors are very reliable and safe. Ideally we could fund this project with a form of extra-national tax that is adjusted based on GDP per capita. This way the whole world gets clean, cheap energy that is fair to everyone and doesn’t affect economic competition between countries.
It’s why I use passive cooling AND being smart about how much light and heat enter my house to begin with. Use vegetation like trees and bushes to insulate the house externally from the sun. Use grey or neutral toned color curtains to allow some light in while still filtering out most of the infrared light (heat). Use overhead fans on low to keep air flowing around the house.
Another cool tech is “space cooling” where we literally radiate heat into space. This works by emitting infra red frequencies for which the atmosphere (=air, water vapor, clouds and dust) is transparent. Infra red telescopes use the same trick to look deep into space. Google: “radiating heat into space” and “TED space cooling”
Anhydrous Ammonia (NH3). I work industrial refrigeration in a meat packing plant and NH3 is the refrigerant we use. It IS hazardous, but can be used safely. It binds readily with H2O so is not going to build up in the atmosphere. I believe that it could be made safe for residential use. An added bonus, NH3 is really cheap. As far a the heat transfer thing, we are stuck. There are no reasonable ways to provide cooling with out the heat transfer, especially in areas with high humidity.
love the planting roofs idea so much! and then on the other hand there are water cooling systems large building owners/architects refuse to use to minimize cost and use of freons in regular a.c. units. all they require are existing pumps to bring natural cooled water from basement reservoirs to the solar panel-shaded roof tank to flow down floor by floor to cool the building by evaporative techniques(like swamp coolers). and some of the energy can be recaptured via microturbines in downpipes. it doesn’t have to be a vicious cycle. or at least some passive cooling can help minimize workload of active cooling… more indoor plants and water features also help. heck, in developing countries, one of the better ways to lower neighborhood microbiomes is to spray their sidewalks during the summer. it cools the immediate area outside storefronts by a few degrees for a few hours.
I don’t think the first argument that ACs bringing heat out from a room and leaving it to surroundings results in an increase of temperature on a global level because energy in earth is still the same it has just gone out from ur room it has not been added to the earth it was already present before and is present now also just that it’s now outside the room. Correct me if I’m wrong.
So I have a question when u did your article about air conditioner (A.C.) I see that u went over some of the points that the topics where not explained more in depth likeabout how we need to not let refegerat leak into the atmosphere and that they a re harmful if i recall most states atleast in the us have laws about the proper disposal of ac units witch include pulling a vacuum to make sure u get read of as much refegerat as possible and that they are also banning older refegerat by phasing them out by not allowing the prediction of it as u can see most recently with r22…. also the way that u say they send heat outside is baced of off for most units I am aware of use the transfer of humidity not only heat energy witch makes it easier to trap the heat and cool it down when let outside
The true irony is that you cite problems with air conditioners but ignore those same problems with electric cars (that producing them creates toxic emissions, that they get energy from (usually) carbon emission fuel elsewhere, and they’re disposed of with tons of toxins, some of which could leak out.
1:00, I was confused as to how rooms which have a very low area than a city can increase the outside temperature by a few degrees. Then it dawned on me that this is possible in dense downtown areas with lots of skyscrapers, where the rooms make up most of the city space. That could have been clarified.
0:28 Also because heaters generally burn fossil fuels directly, while ACs, being electric, can be powered by whatever. ACs are also more efficient (>400% in most cases). The main actual problem is the refrigerants. Also, using ACs to heat buildings (usually called Reverse Cycle Air Conditioners or Heat Pumps), will drastically reduce the need to expand the electric grid compared to resistive heating, but finding good heat pumps that aren’t price gouged to the point of just not being worth it in the US is challenging.
thanks for not nagging me about my air conditioner. Much appreciated and it makes me much more receptive to what you’re trying to say. Something I like to do instead of turning the air condition is to sleep with wet clothes (can only do it in my indoor hammock). The freshness lasts all night with only a fan turned on, I live near Cancun so it gets really hot in here and electricity is very expensive.
This article is full of mistakes, and immediately sneaks in some “givens” that aren’t necessarily true at all. Where do you think the HEAT inside your house which AC removes COMES from? Most of it is going to be heat taken from the atmosphere that you’re trying to keep out in the first place. The rest will be waste heat which is going to make it out of the building one way or another, mostly through radiation and conduction. What makes you think that heat would stay magically isolated in the absence of an air conditioner? What about places where grid energy is provided by hydro electric, solar, wind, or nuclear energy? What about places where it’s mandatory to dispose of refrigerant responsibly and has processes and facilities in place to deal with it? It seems like you immediately misinform your audience with a handful of half truths and then go on to implicate those in a total argument for the entire concept of a heat pump.
The problem with a building that uses less A/C is that in humid areas, they will just get humid inside which will require them to also have a dehumidifier installed which still uses a lot of electricity (Those are basically A/C’s except they don’t move the heat outside.) Growing up my parents were frugal and wouldn’t put the A/C on until it reached the high 70’s and even in the low 70’s, the house would get humid and feel awful just from that even if the windows were opened, I could see houses reflecting heat back and not needing much A/C working well in desert areas though.
For those of us that live in areas with yards and rural areas, shade trees on the west side of a house are the perfect and most efficient way of lowering a homes average temperature. They provide all the benefits a tree naturally contributes to the environment, plus they give the structure shade from the sun, in the hot afternoon in the summer, and loose their leaves in the winter, for the wanted sunlight in the winter. Just don’t plant one too close to your house if you live in an area prone to severe storms. They are not as welcomed when they tear through your roof.
making it free to return appliances with refrigerants in them would be a big start to stopping escaping chemicals. It may work in large cities to charge people but as soon as you live in a city where a 20 minute drive puts you in the middle of no where, charging to recycle appliances just puts more appliances in the middle of no where.
Heat is energy, all air-conditioning does is transfer energy from one place to another. Air-conditioning doesn’t create new energy. Therefore, it’s impossible for the running of air-conditioning alone to cause any kind of global warming. It’s the other factors such as electricity generation to run the air-conditioning that’s the real issue. If you run a air-conditioner strictly off solar panels it has no affect on the environment because you are not creating anything that wasn’t already there. You are just simply transferring energy from one place to another.
Yeah, the article is definitely not clear in explaining what causes the earth to heat up in connection with ACs. AC moves the heat from inside to outside, but the cooler air inside now cools the inside walls, which in turn cool the outside walls, ultimately letting the temperature balance out. The only problem is the burning of fossil fuels to achieve this, ACs moving hot air from one place to another don’t raise the earth’s temperature. Think of a ball bouncing on the ground then coming to a stop, heating the ground under it in the process. The ball’s loss of kinetic energy is a lot more apparent to us than the heating of the ground under it, but no energy is lost in the process, it is just converted from kinetic to thermal, and the kinetic aspect of what is happening is just easier to grasp with our senses. In the same vein, an AC directly blowing out hot air onto poor poor cities feels a lot more acute and palpable than the coolness houses/apartments emanate after being cooled down by ACs, but they’re both the exact same amount of energy. Moving hot air from one place to another doesn’t warm the earth – burning fossil fuels to do so does.
As someone who works as system planer, engineering technical equipment for buildings, I can say that most of the people who live in temperate climates don’t actually need air conditioning. Heating and window ventilation enough create a comfortable living climate. In Germany for instance, air conditioning is only common in hotels. Nobody uses them in the private sector, unless you don’t own a passive house. Unfortunately, like everywhere else, we humans are very lazy and therefore want to let everything work automatically. By doing that, we also increase the risk of diseases and allergies, because we are constantly surrounded by perfect air and can no longer bear the slight impurities and temperature differences. Making everything perfectly clean, doesn’t keep you healthy.
Something that electric companies, news articles, and this article never mentioned as an option is nudity: taking off the unnecessary layer of insulation that most people needlessly wear. One of the benefits of a naturist/nudist lifestyle is a great reduction or elimination in the need for air conditioning. I live clothes-free every day and I never use air conditioning at home (I have one, never needed to install it). The most I need is a fan to keep my skin cool through natural evaporation. Compare that to some people, and a lot of businesses, who keep the AC turned so cold people start needing to wear sweaters. A naturist lifestyle greatly reduces energy and resource use from reduced air conditioning, reduced laundry (water + electricity + detergent), and reduced wear & tear on clothing (the textile industry greatly contributes to pollution and energy use). Fears and phobias about nudity are as illogical and irrational as humanity can get, and living clothes-free as much as possible has a great number of benefits, yet people are so afraid to even suggest such an option. It doesn’t make any sense not to.
One problem, air conditioner not heat nor cool … Air conditioner transfer ambient heat from one location to the other, it can’t generate or create heat but using the laws of thermodynamics to move existing heat same as your refrigerator or freezer. Next time learn that u can’t generate moreenergy then It exist or can’t destroy it .. newton laws, their for AC won’t heat more then the heat that is already trap from the inside otherwise no ambient heat will travel and the room will be cold
Let’s use the heat they generate to dry and heat other things. And let’s also use natural ways of cooling large areas like you said. For instance, let’s open up the original airways of the San Cristobal church in San Juan to cool the building the way the Spanish intended hundreds of years ago. I’m trying to figure out a similar system in my garage.
I don’t know how it works in the US, but the cooling gases tend to be recycled in France. The effect of moving heat from one place to another is the basic principle of thermodynamics, there’s no changing it. The walls that release heat at night are a bad idea because towns are already too hot at night, trapping all the heat and releasing it afterwards, hence why Paris during the recent heatwave would not drop below 30°C. As for the electricity that powers them being produced by power plants that emit greenhouse gases, that is a pretty USA-centric view. Not all countries run like that. Scotland has over 100% of its energy needs met with wind power (although admittedly, it uses less air conditioners), France has about 80% nuclear and around 4% hydroelectric, with under 7% in fossil fuels Oh and finally, the US has over 84% of homes equipped with air conditioning compared with other countries like France that have only 4%. And you have way colder regions. So… yeah.
One thing that can help is the old-fashioned ceiling fan. Sometimes they provide enough cooling all by themselves, but they’re also helpful when the air conditioning is running. The fans on many air conditioning systems don’t do a very good job of mixing up the air in the room, so the cold air (it leaves the air conditioner at about 10 C (50 F for you primitives out there…)) settles to the bottom of the room, and only when the entire room is filled with uncomfortably chilly air does the thermostat finally get the message that it’s too cold. A ceiling fan will even out the temperature in the room. Have it blow downwards in the summer for an extra cooling breeze, and upwards in the winter, when you don’t want that extra chill. They take very little energy to operate, especially when compared to air conditioners.
This is a half story, the modern inverter airco is a heatingpump. You can use this in an moderate climate perfectly to heat up your place up to 5 times more efficient than a gas heater. Than if you retract the difference between the cooling and the heating it wil balance out. Its one of the best ways to chance your carbon footprint to zerro by buying solarpanels.
fun fact: when all the energy bosses met during the Reagan administration to discuss whether to act to stop global warming, one of the points put forward by a Reagan advisor to them is that as the planet gets hotter, we will use more energy to cool ourselves and therefore more profit for the energy companies! this was one of the deciding points for them to fund a disinformation campaign against global warming instead of acting to stop it.
How to use less air conditioning that doesn’t require rebuilding whole cities: Dehumidifiers. Humidity has a pretty high impact on what we consider a comfortable range. It takes less energy to reduce the thermal index (what temperature it feels like) of a room by reducing the humidity than it takes to reduce it by decreasing the temperature; as long as the humidity doesn’t go below ~35%-40%. Too low and it can become unhealthy. Same exact thing with reducing the need for electrical heaters – increase the humidity. You just don’t want it to exceed ~50%-60%. Higher than that is fine outdoors, but indoors can also lead to health problems, plus damage to property. The efficiency of dehumidifiers over AC only increases the hotter the outside gets – and the same applies in reverse. The hotter the air, the more water can go into it. When you decrease the temperature, it decreases the amount of room the water has and thus increases the humidity – which is why it’s also called “relative humidity.” Only after you can’t decrease (or increase) the humidity anymore while within a comfortable and healthy range should you consider increasing your AC (or heater). Just remember that as you decrease the temperature it will increase the humidity allowing the dehumidifier to take out even more water. Having a dehumidifier is not only more efficient to decrease the thermal index in your house than an AC, it also indirectly makes the AC more efficient. This is why I actually hate those cool-mist personal cooling fans you see advertised as a “personal room desk-top AC unit.
Tell this to New York City and other cities I like your concept but half the problem that you forget for the lack of cooler air is because of the fact that cities have stripped all the Woodlands if there weren’t cities and they were more Woodlands we would have less of a problem with heat And we wouldn’t even need air-conditioning units. Because trees act as natural breeze makers themselves back when my grandpa was a kid heck even before that when my grandpas cousin was a kid all people Had was fans back in the 1920s and they were less buildings and less people and less Woodlands being taken away and mostly small farms
Late, there is a lot to address here that don’t give the full picture. First; power. Most places use fossil fuels to fuel their powergrid, but some do in fact use hydro and wind. Air conditioners isn’t just a cooling apparatus, but also a heating one in colder climates. In colder climates it pumpes heat from outside to the inside. Whatever can’t be sourced from outside due to too low temperatures it supplements with electricity. Apparantly they have a 1/3 of energy consumption compared to electric ovens for heating. The heat that is pumped out isn’t extreme amounts either as long as the buildings they service have good insulation, which in hotter climates they don’t usually. Not to mention if you follow this logic presented in the article it is just a refrigerator with the size of a house. Same principle. In addition it isn’t specified how many airconditioners are required to warm a city a couple of degrees. Not to mention that there are ways to have cooling by storing snow from winter and cooling it that way as snow is an excellent cheap insulator of heat. Regarding the refrigerants inside the air conditioners. There are strict laws about which chemicals that can be and that being said, some of them are also found in refrigerators and freezers. The problem with developing refrigerants that don’t trap heat is that the efficiency goes down if not useless. Refrigerants main job is to trap heat. Regarding recycling. Everyone needs to get better at that on both a national level and an individual one.
What makes this sad is that people were more concern about the world ending in 2012 because of some rando on the internet saying “according to mayan calanders” but when professionals say climate change is really legit and people just don’t freak out (December in 2019 was the warmest december I ever remember then sudden australia goes into a blaze at the start of 2020) plus the refridgent chemicals? Pfft humans have been doing the same reaction to problems that is “push the problem else where and it will magically go away” plus in terms of energy production, most of it is nuclear, large amounts of water vapor and its relatively clean assuming all precautions are taken
Any licensed service man that replaces your A/C is going to recycle the refrigerants and not just let them leak in the atmosphere. There is no financial incentive otherwise, because they can turn around and sell them back to the next guy. For some of the refrigerants used 15 years ago (like R-22 that can’t be legally manufactured in the US anymore), this means big profits when someone needs more.
11/1/19 I has idea! Make hamster and other small rodent cages attachable to walls, then put a wheel for exercise inside and connect the wheel to a device under the cage that holds ice, ALOT of ice, and when the small rodent, for example, a gerbil, runs on the wheel, it spins the fan and then the fan pushes the cold air from the ice, into the room!
I will tell you a truth about it as I am a certified HVCA technician. the system of the modern conditioning air (slipts, inverters, full house AC with grills) don´t need to take out the heat of the inside because THE SYSTEM CAN NOT DO THAT AS IT IS A CLOSED SYSTEM, and has a valve that drops the temperature of the Freon (the gas used for AC´s refrigeration). So, basically the same air is in the same place, but is heated or refrigerated over and over again (the user fixes the temperature required). The oldest air conditioners that where like a big box had the option of using the fan mode (it meant that you where using a big turbine to enter new air from outside and taking out the stagnant, smelly, full of cigarettes´ smoke of the inside, because the fan and the “split” where part of the same box, having a big hole in the center of it) but that could be done because of the place in which this devices where installed: a wall or a window. That´s why it is not recommended to only use AC and never opening the windows as the oxygen is not renewed. Having a split system makes you pay more because they want you to buy two devices instead of one. The best option would be to return to the old box AC but with inverter systems to pay less in electrical bills due to the lack of peak electric start after the compressor stops for a moment and starts again. FREON IS ETERNAL. IF YOU HAVE TO PUT MORE, YOU HAVE A LEAK IN THE PIPES.
Pumping heat from inside to outside isn’t a problem. The average temperature will remain the same, and no new heat has been introduced. It’s just been displaced. Insulating your house and keeping it cool, is the same as permanently displacing the heat that would have been on the inside to the outside, and has the same impact as an air-conditioner. What I’m saying is, that displacing heat is not one of the issues of the air-conditioner. However the issue of non-green powerplants is, but that’s already a well acknowledged issue, and so is the issue of proper waste disposal. Focusing on the air-conditioner seems useless, when clearly we need to focus on other things behind it, which, by the way, also are much larger issues, and are issues behind many other things as well.
Help me understand, how does moving the heat from inside a house to outside of a house change anything? Isn’t that the same as letting the heat escape at night when it’s cold outside and warm inside? Doesn’t that heat already come from the air or sun where it would have just heated up the ground? It seems like we’re just moving the energy from inside of the house to outside, not really generating heat
A heat pump is just that. A heat pump reverses the flow of refrigerant by the reversing valve. When heating is called for; the flow of refrigerant is reversed and heat is being pulled from outside and put inside. Even when the temperature is 40 degrees outside, still a heat load. All HVACR is moving heat. That’s all it is. So A/C and heating such as the use of a heat pumpdoes not pollute like you think or says it does
As someone who lives in an area where summer daytime temperatures reach 100-105°F (heat indices in the 110-115° range), airflow and fans simply aren’t feasible. If I had the money to live in the mountains all summer, I’d happily do it, but that’ll never happen. Air conditioning saves lives in this climate. How about we stop burning fossil fuels instead of eliminating A/C? Our household uses 100% renewable energy.
Refrigerators and air conditioners are basically like heat pumps, they just transfer/exchange/displace heat from one location to another. They are not generating heat(like exothermic reactions) except for little that happens due to mechanical friction & current flow in compressor and other parts. So, total heat of an isolated system remains the same if it is just transfer. There are many refrigerators and air conditioners, domestic as well as industrial, working around the globe. The heat they pump out rises up, if it is in large scale, it may effect local weather patterns. That’s what seems from the understanding so far. Their effects need to be properly studied and analyzed before any conclusion.
For the alternatives that you guys have ammonia (NH3) is a toxic gas, which is one of the main reasons that those new refrigerants were made on the first place. And water vapour does trap heat in fact it is concidered a green house gas. Please make a article covering better alternative to those refrigerants. Great article anyway
I will keep fixing AC units, and cooling houses. I will keep INSISTING customers improve their building envelope and reduce the AC needed to cool the home. I will keep insisting customers install the system size needed for the ACTUAL structure, not put in a bigger unit than needed because it is wanted.
If you live in a decently modern place most of the power comes from hydro dams, nuclear and maybe solar/wind too. So it’s not really that bad for the environment. Unfortunately there’s natural gas in the mix too though. Ideally if you have room for enough solar panels it makes sense to just run it off solar. When it’s hot and you need it, the sun is also going to be out.
the refrigerate use in modern AC is not the same as was used in the earlier times and while more toxic then freon does not hold on to heat as strongly as it freon does. If we used a closed loop ground water heat pump to move the AC’s heat form the house to the thermal mass of the earth itself the mass of the earth whis is at 40F or 4.444C would then cool the closed loop of water and the cool water would then be used to cool the air in side the house, and in the winter the heat pump would reverse and take that form the ground and heat the house with it. By the way those types of unites do exist and can be installed in single family homes, all it requires is to dig the trench in the lawn and cover a 40 foot closed loop pipe three feet (1 meter) down..
How does moving hot air from inside to outside the house increase the overall temperature of the earth? Ignoring the electricity used and the fossils fuels burned to power the air conditioner from the power grid, shouldn’t the 2nd law of thermodynamics guarantee that the net temperature rise of the earth be zero from moving heat from inside to outside the building? Thoughts?
The air conditioning you are showing are window units and mini splits. Both A/C’s do not use R22. R22 has chlorine chemical mixture in it. Chlorine is the chemical that destroys ozone molecules. The Montreal Protocol requires the USA to rid the usage of R22 systems by January 1st 2020. However, R22 will still be legal for use in Europe after January 1st 2020. Kinda seems a little weird huh? You’re right, central A/C takes away the heat inside the home and puts it outside. Theirs already so much heat that’s already there. So how taking heat out of a home and putting it outside cause any problems?
2:47 Yeah the (older) people of Berlin Germany know how much of an effect that has … as we now got almost got rid of all the green spaces in the city we had in the 80s (was one of the cities with the most green spaces) … all because some people got greedy. So … while this would be a good idea in general. I don’t see it happen.
Yeah, so Developing Countries (which usually have high temperatures throughout the Year because these places usually have Two Seasons (and both are kinda hot, like 31-36ºC), just like Latin America and Middle East) are the ones to blame, while spoiled Rich Countries (just like Germany, UK and USA) have Extreme Winters and still uses a lot of Air Conditioning during the summer (which is only one of the 4 seasons of the Year, which 3 of the Seasons are quite comfortable to live) and cries about Latin America, Asia and Middle East using A/C devices… Good job, 1st World Countries!
1:38 Having a linear mindset is one of the biggest problems. That in the next 31 years a lot will, and can change. That in the next few coming years there will be new technologies that will change everything. This is a big problem with what we use currently, but things will change for the better fairly soon.
Geothermal cooling is a better alternative. Considering the earth at around 15 feet deep is constantly at 20c, this method will not contribute to heating the atmosphere. This is also good for countries that are cold because again, no matter where in the world, at a certain depth, the temperature is only around 20c. Unfortunately it’s not an easy process to do unlike just installing normal air-conditioning.
Fortunately for me, the power grid here is 99.9% Green, Most of which is hydro ** Quebec, Canada ** Btw, what’s your source about the Heat generated by the A/C having a non negligible impact over cities? I’m looking at the description and it’s not obvious, I’m only talking about the heat generated by the A/C, not the CO2 due caused by polluting power infrastructure
Im considering going back to using fans ive had a window ac since 2012 it no longer turns off when my room gets cold enough (have do that manually) & recently it started draing rain water & condensation into my room instead of outdoors but the biggest reason is because it takes up window space & im afraid its gonna fall out the window & crush 1 my cats.
For the Europeans saying this is an American problem for dumping AC units. Get off your high horse. In some states in the South it isn’t illegal where as in states like Minnesota (the Norway of America) it is. You have to remember America is just as big as Europe with different cultures, religions, creeds, politics, laws, traditions, and ethnicities everywhere you go. If you think of States as different countries (as the name state implies) with an overarching federal government (which is what there is) then you’ll understand why there are drastic differences between the states. Even in Central and Eastern Europe people throw away old AC units. This isn’t a wider American problem, it’s a state by state problem. A good book on the subject is “American Nations” by Colin Woodard
I don’t know why some of these points would be done just in response to climate change (of which I do not care) when they’re genuinely good ideas, adding gardens or other planets to buildings is a really cool idea and improves the building’s aesthetic and better building insulation/design just makes sense. But yada yada yada obligatory “you’ll take my AC over my frozen body” or something like that.
I dont think it air conditioning changes a whole lot, my reasoning is this: first i doubt the any readings for air conditioning affecting the heat of a cities,like i dont deny that it doesnt do anything but it think the sun itself generates way more heat on the cement and asphalt then all the air conditioning combined per hour as the cement and asphalt traps the heat and then starts to disperses heat when only the sun it set . The way i see it is an A.C. isnt a heat producer but more of an heat transfer where if it already hot inside it must have came from the outside in the first place so all an A.C. does is move the heat. I wont go into how A.C uses powers and that powers makes more heat as i believe we should aim for more efficient ways of producing power.
Freon is expensive. Now that it’s banned, getting Freon to replace leakage from old (still operating) units is difficult. I’m ASTONISHED that when air conditioners are decommissioned, the Freon is not removed for reuse. I guess it’s not economically practical?? Ditto refrigerators, freezers, and anything else that uses chemical coolant. I’d have thought (hoped?) it’d be economically wise to take such items somewhere the coolant could be extracted. Sigh.
Air conditioning definitely does a lot heating to the planet but it is not even close to what Sun does ( 1KiloWatt per metre square) . So heating by an average air conditioner ( about 2kilowatt) is nothing that much to worry about. We should reduce fossil fuel consumption and if we switch electricity production to solar hydel and wind completely then there is absolutely nothing to worry about air conditioner heating ( its just too small amount as compared to Natural heating cycles)
Hey, Just wanted to address the comment about “as more developing countries get access to air conditioners, the problem will increase”. I would just like to clarify that this is not fair to put the blame on those gaining access to air conditioners rather putting it on the countries and individuals who over use resources to limit their consumption! Thank you.
I think you don’t know what you are talking about. AC is MOVING heat, it not transform electric to heat like resistance furnace. Because of that it very efficient in make things cool and hot, like 300% up to 700% (COP rate). With 1kwh power you can “make” 3kw of cooling or heating (COP 3) If you want earth cooler, use newest AC. They are constantly improve COP rate.
Air-conditioning moves the heat from indoors to the outside. It’s not that bad at all. The heat will eventually get out in cuz our homes are not 100% isolated. In comparison, burning fossil fuel introduces new sources of heat to the whole system. So using green energy sources for the Air-conditioning as well as environment-friendlier liquids inside the Air-conditioners will solve the problem.
I feel like you are ignoring the fact that the cold air AC units produce goes back into the ecosystem at one point, so the only actual heat ACs produce comes from inefficiency, and I doubt that that inefficiency is so dramatic, add to that the fact that they’ll probably get more efficient as time goes by, I think they’re not such a big problem (except for the gasses used, they’re pretty bad for the environment)
I feel like the presence of trees weren’t even touched, as it should be 🙂 It is observable that areas with better green coverage are cooler than other areas. I know, it is not a solution to the problem presented, but it is, first of all, a thing that we should be doing anyways, that is preserving nature, and second, it would at least make the “more heat > more power needed” less intense Thanks for another interesting article, y’all!
When I visited Texas (from the UK) I was horrified by how cold the hotel and conference space I was in was kept! It was 30deg celcius outside in late October and I hadn’t brought any winter clothes, so I was absolutely freezing the whole time. Maybe start by just setting your AC to liveable temperatures?!
I saw a building not too long ago that had two roofs. The second roof was added to protect the original structure beneath it from weather damage. A side effect of doing that though was that the need for AC and heating noticeably decreased as the temperature stayed more constant over time. Utilizing the right type of trees also helps immensely with providing shade to buildings. Basements offer a natural escape from the heat because even a few feet below ground is always 60 degrees year round.
Passive cooling designs are laughably easy to utilize. Earth ships basically proved multiple concepts for sustainability back in the 80’s. The problem is despite having several opportunities to revamp zoning and building codes, states and cities haven’t done it. It drives me absolutely bonkers, because ultimately zoning and building codes are THE crux to solving climate change. But good luck finding a sound byte from any politician admitting such.
It does drive me nuts how much we build structures with the idea that it doesn’t NEED to be built with staying cool in mind, because “we can just air condition it.” We need to build homes to stay cool. Shades above the homes, shades over the windows, where tons of heat enters the home. We USED to have shades over windows, and I have no idea why we stopped that.
When I lived in Italy, we did not have air conditioning, but we did not need it. Old buildings, like the one I liven in, had very thick outer walls, over a meter thick. This kept the heat out, like living in a cave. There were also metal blinds on the outside that could be closed when that side of the building was in the sun. Very comfortable
When I was in my mid 20’s working as a mason. I bought a used green 1985 Toyota pickup truck for $700. Not only did it last me 5 years without needing repairs; I sold it to a junk yard for $150. But that little green pickup truck had an amazingly strange malfunction that I can’t explain. When I’d turn on the heat, it could get so hot that the vents started to melt. And when I’d turn on the AC, it would get so cold that frost would build up on the vents!!! I didn’t complain, nor have it looked at by a mechanic. I just figured something magical was happening and let it ride.
I live in Sweden and we don’t usually have air conditioners in houses here, but it is becoming more popular now that we are getting warmer summers. Though, we don’t seem to use them to the same extent other countries do. When I travel abroad it always surprises me how absolute freezing the temperature is indoors. It feels like walking into a refrigerator – I’m honestly surprised people can manage to live like that.
Living in New Orleans I can’t imagine living without a/c. When its 100 or even 106 degrees, (perhaps dropping to a balmy 90 at night), with 70-80% humidity, getting cool is literally a lifesaving necessity. All I can do is try to keep the thermostat as high as I can stand it (usually 78 degrees) to decrease as much energy use as possible. If someone would come up with something better I’d be right at the front of the line to sign up.
The vastly different climates in the US make solutions work well in some areas, but lousy in others. I grew up near Vancouver (Canada) and open doors and windows were fine for summertime. Most homes don’t have A/C. But the summer temps do go down at night. Humidity is 20-35% during the summer months. This makes the breeze feel nice. Box fans and ceiling fans work well, as do opening skylights and/or tall opening windows. Swimming in the oceans, rivers, lakes, gave a refreshing cool down that keeps your body cool for the rest of the evening. Ocean temperatures in Vancouver in July are colder than Gulf of Mexico water temperatures in January. Living in Houston, not too far from Austin TX, there is no cool breeze during the summer time. The high dew points during summertime (75-80°F or 24-27°C) means it’s sultry outside even after midnight. And the high humidity keeps the temps from falling at night. Typical summertime weather is 95°F/35°C and 50-60% humidity during daytime and 75-80°F/24-27°C at night with the humidity in the 80% range……When you have 80°F weather at midnight with the humidity gauge reading 80-90%, opening a window is the last thing you want to do. The dew points max out around 80°F/27°C here. That means it’s not only 35°C outside, but the humidity is the same as if it were 27°C/100% humidity. This does interesting things like cause condensation on the outside of the windows on your house and car. Sometimes you need to turn on the windshield wipers to clear the condensation.
You glanced over a white paint as it’s “meh whatever”. Meanwhile there are super reflective paints that passively make things cooler than surrounding air, and they’re relatively cheap. Look into two last articles of Tech Ingredients out passive cooling, they explain physics and show demonstration, make this paint and test it. Too bad it’s not easy to apply to already installed roof otherwise I would be planning this thing for a spring project) EDIT corrected website name
As someone working in the building technology, specialized in heating and cooling systems in switzerland, i get the problems with the refrigerants. But here in switzerland it’s very common to not only cool the buildings with refrigerants, but also use them to heat the buildings (taking energy from wind, water or the ground via geothermal probes around 250 meters into the ground). The fact in cooling systems warmer air get’s blown out into the atomosphere doesn’t raise the air, since it’s only transfering the warm air out of the building, so it has no effect on the climate. If there is a heating system, we even use the waste heat to put it back into the geothermal probes during the summer, so increase the longevity of the probes (since only taking the heat out of said probes will cool the ground over an 50 years period, which means a decrease in gained energy from it). Only issue are the refrigerants
I’m Indonesian. And I’m so grateful to live in this city (Batu City, you can look it up on gmaps) unlike any big city like Surabaya or Jakarta (the temperature is extreme there for me). The temperature here is just right (it’s the middle of the noon and peaking about 28⁰C or around 83⁰F, at night it goes down to 18⁰C or around 65⁰F), the air is so fresh because Batu City is in the foot of mount Arjuna. Also we are surrounded by mountains. It’s so rare here to see private house have an AC unit. Mostly we just need a fans.
As a Hvac tech located in Europe i got to say there are so many laws and systems in place that the refrigerant loss to the environment is already close to 0. Also on the power consumption: u need aircon the most when the sun is shining so I think it would be smart to require people to run their ACs on solar. With some exceptions ofc
Thank you Joe. Very clear and well done. Yes I live without air-con. Victoria Australia. Old house (cheap old) . Direction of walls and windows, thick layer of bushy leafy low trees make a huge difference. North facing here = less direct sunlight in summer, more in winter hitting the walls and windows. The hottest temp so far was 46c in 2019. Extraordinary temp – had me lieing on the floor * just there in the floor level breeze, wet towels on. People died of heat injuries that year. Power cuts all over the place.
No mention of heat exchange systems some hotels are using, heat hot water for showers and the hot tub with the heat that comes from A/C. Some skating arenas have a heat exchange system that partially keeps the ice frozen while keeping the arena heated for the public sitting in the stands, the rest of the energy needed comes from electricity.
I do a couple things to keep my house cool in the summer that helps me save some money on electricity and stay cool. 1. For days below 40C, I only use window fans. I have light blocking curtains that stay closed from 8am till about 9pm. Then at night I open up everything and turn on the window fans to pull in air, and it actually gets quite drafty and then night will drop to low-mid 20Cs so this works well for 90% of summer. 2. When it’s 40C-50C is when I’ll finally use my window AC, but only in my bedroom and only when I’m in my bedroom. I keep doing the steps above though to make it less hard for my AC. Personally as long as it’s below 30C I can sleep, but for my husband he needs it 25C or cooler to sleep. Usually he’ll just take a quick cold shower before heading to bed which keeps him cool with all the window fans blowing air through the house. Also don’t underestimate drinking ice waters to cool down! Gets those insides cold too.
The US is in the process of switching residential refrigerators to r600 refrigerant, which has zero climate effects, but it is flammable. It’s basically the same chemical as butane from a bic lighter. If you’ve bought a fridge recently it was probably r600. But you don’t need to worry cause there is a very low amount of this flammable gas inside. Like an ounce or two.
A correction for the early part of the article – where you try to explain where the heating and cooling come from in liquids. As you put heat energy into a substance, whether a liquid, solid, or gas, the temperature rises according to the material’s heat capacity. Some materials heat up easily (low heat capacity), others not so easily. But, the the temperature reaches the point where a solid turns into a liquid, to a liquid into a gas, extra heat is required to affect that change. When you cool these substances again, extra heat must be absorbed to affect the reverse of the previous change. That heat, liberated or absorbed, is what air conditioners, and heat pumps, take advantage of.
I don’t think most people will really comprehend how effective good insulation and windows truly are until they are in a home that has had it done right. We had a home that was built in 1890 damaged by fire. The entire home was smoke and heat damaged to the point that the whole home need new window and wall covering/plaster/drywall. We opted to have all the exterior and interior walls insulated along with the attic and double pane windows at the suggestion of the contractor doing the repairs. And OMG I am in awe at how well the home stays cool in the summer. If you open windows at night and close them during the day that’s all the cooling it’ll ever need. Now granted not every region will be able to do that with no AC at all but it really showed how much it helps. Unfortunately doing those upgrades to existing homes are a huge upfront cost and not a small project.
Another issue to look into is the problem of increased humidity into the home. Refrigerants used in homes and a lot of commercial applications are supposed to be removing some water from the air as well. The evaporator coil needs to be below dew point to do this. When we use unfiltered fresh air, it will add to the humidity in a space. So this will need to be addressed as well in the future.