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If you are reading While you have the curtains drawn facing another heatwave and wondering if it’s finally time to buy an air conditioner, you’re not alone. At the end of June, with temperatures rising above 40 degrees Celsius across Europe, shoppers in France were They literally forced their way in In stores to grab portable fans and air conditioners before they sell out. Such scenes are likely to become more common. like The planet is heating upThe demand for refrigeration is on the rise around the world. International Energy Agency (IEA) He predicts Two-thirds of households could own an air conditioner by 2050.
Politicians, of course, turn air conditioning into a weapon in their lives Wider culture wars. Far-right figure Marine Le Pen pledge To roll out air conditioning throughout France if her party comes to power, while the British Conservative Party He pledged a coup net-zero rules that restrict AC installation in new releases. On the left, the argument is that air conditioning will basically work It benefits the rich Not those who need it most. It would also trap Europe in the same high-energy cooling spiral seen in the United States and Asia. So far, just about 20 percent Of Europeans have an air conditioner at home (and only 4 percent in the United Kingdom), compared to about 90 percent in the United States, where electricity is much cheaper.
In Europe, air conditioning is no longer just about comfort. It helps adults stay productive during extreme temperatures, and it helps children They are concentrated in poorly ventilated schools. It helps people He nodded When the air is still stiflingly warm long after sunset. It can even save lives. One research group estimated Air conditioning prevented nearly 200,000 premature deaths among people over the age of 65 in 2019 alone.
Temperatures in Europe are rising more rapidly than on any other continent, and countries that once enjoyed relatively mild summers are now experiencing increasingly frequent and intense heat waves. Research conducted by Nicole Miranda and colleagues at the University of Oxford suggests Countries such as the UK, Switzerland, Norway and Finland could see some of the largest relative increases in heat exposure and cooling demand if global warming reaches 2°C above pre-industrial levels.
“We will need more cooling to protect people,” says Miranda, a senior lecturer in engineering and director of carbon reduction at the university. “The question is how to save it in an efficient, equitable and smart way. Not by panic buying inefficient, energy-guzzling portable air conditioners.”
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June’s record-breaking heat wave provided a glimpse of what lies ahead. In northern Europe, homes and offices built to retain heat during long winters were turned into ovens. A recent report from the UK Climate Change Committee warns that by mid-century, More than 90 percent Existing homes can overheat during extreme heat waves. Even further south, centuries-old architectural modifications – such as thick stone walls, whitewashed facades, and shutters and small windows designed to block out the sun – have reached their limits. People in Europe are already tired of the extreme heat.
But simply adding more air conditioning isn’t necessarily the answer, at least not in its current form. Because air conditioning is built on a paradox: The machines that keep us cool also heat the planet. The electricity they consume already represents approximately that 3 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, slightly more than the aviation industry. “We expect cooling to become one of the biggest drivers of electricity demand growth worldwide, along with data centres,” says Fabian Voswinkel, energy efficiency policy analyst at the IEA. With new units installed around the world every minute, demand for electricity for space cooling could triple by 2050.
Solar energy It will help cut emissions, but it won’t eliminate air conditioning’s bad reputation. Traditional air conditioners still work on a century-old principle: refrigerants circulate between liquid and gas to pull heat from rooms and dump it outside. Manufacturers continue to improve technology, but many coolants are still problematic. Fluorinated gasesFor example, it has a global warming potential thousands of times greater than carbon dioxide2 If leaked into the atmosphere. Therefore, the European Union introduced A Systems In 2024 to be phased out. “In the next few years, it will no longer be possible to sell air conditioners and heat pumps that use these gases here,” Voswinkel says. but Alternative gases Bringing their own trade-offs: propane is highly flammable, while ammonia is toxic.
