A new United Nations report shows why cleaning the air conditioner is crucial. In fact, the authors found that switching to climate-friendly, energy-efficient air conditioning units could save the world up to 460 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the next 40 years. For context, that’s more or less Eight times the amount of greenhouse gases emitted worldwide in 2018.
“If we deal with improper cooling, we essentially cook ourselves,” Gabrielle Dreyfus, the manager of the efficiency program at the Institute for Government and Sustainable Development, said in a press call.
Cooling technology plays many important roles in our global society. The report estimates that 3.6 billion refrigeration appliances, including refrigerators, freezers and air conditioning units, are being used worldwide. As the climate crisis warms the planet, access to air conditioning will become even more important. In the United States, more people die from heat each year than any other form of extreme weather. The report shows that if cooling units were provided to all who need them, not just those who can afford them, the world would need up to 14 billion units by 2050. But the way they are made now, air conditioners are emitting tons of greenhouse gases that warm the planet
In the 1980s, scientists around the world realized that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), the chemicals used as refrigerants for air conditioners, sprays, coolers, freezers, were depleting the Earth’s ozone layer, which blocks the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun. To remedy that, in 1987, governments teamed up to pass an international treaty called the Montreal Protocol, under which they pledged to stop using harmful refrigerants.
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For the most part, air conditioning producers no longer use CFCs. The problem is that they have been replaced with industrial chemicals called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) that heat the planet up to 11,700 times more than carbon dioxide. That means air conditioning could worsen climate change much, much more, forcing more people to turn to air conditioning and creating an unfortunate feedback loop unless world leaders help break the cycle.
Last year, governments adopted the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, under which they agreed to eliminate the use of HFCs. Doing so could prevent up to 0.7 degrees Fahrenheit (0.4 degrees Celsius) from global warming if it were adopted universally. As of this week, that amendment has been ratified by 100 countries. But 95 countries around the world have not yet done so. Signed in the amendment, including major emitters of greenhouse gases like the United States, India and China.
We have the technology to make air conditioners work more efficiently by switching to more sustainable chemical refrigerants that not only reduce HFCs but also carbon dioxide and black carbon emissions and require less energy. The report estimates that doubling the efficiency of air conditioners by 2050 could save us the use of 1,300 gigawatts of electricity worldwide. It is the equivalent of all coal-fired power generation capacity in 2018 in China and India combined.
Since energy also costs money, energy efficient air conditioning is also a great idea economically. Globally, doubling the energy efficiency of air conditioners could save up to $ 2.9 trillion by 2050. To get there, the report urges all countries to ratify the Kigali Amendment and adopt national plans to change the way they are manufactured. cooling devices.
It also calls on countries to promote the construction of well insulated and energy efficient buildings, as well as the integration of low-tech cooling options such as green roofs and tree shading, to reduce the need for these technologies. That could also lead to cost savings, not only for governments and developers, but also for low-income people. In the USA, low income housing is disproportionately inefficient energyand as a result the poor of color face much higher energy bills.
What is clear is that something needs to change. Cooling technology fulfills a host of important functions worldwide. Protects people from extreme heat, increases the time food stays fresh, and even needs to store vaccines and other medical products. Getting rid of air conditioning is not an option, but given the magnitude of the climate crisis, you are not refusing to clean it either.
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