Welcome to the newest – after summer – episode of Urbcast in English!
Today I will talk about something that is very close to my heart, as well as is an extremely important topic.
Let see: how is air conditioning heating our cities?
On the one hand side, our globe is getting warmer and warmer. The temperature rises especially in our urban areas: cities all over the world.
We seem to have one ally in our fight with the heat. Which is called air conditioning.
WHY DO I TALK ABOUT IT?
Not only because it is one of the most threatening challenges, but also because I got some expertise on this topic while working on my master thesis titled ‘Cool It Down!’ about tackling the urban heat island effect in Singapore.
WHAT ABOUT THE URBAN HEAT ISLAND EFFECT?
Our cities are getting way warmer than the suburban areas. In the case of Singapore, it is 2 x faster than the rest of the world!
We seem to have an ally right?
BUT: Air conditioners soak up a lot of energy, which in turn means more emissions, which in turn means more warming. But that’s the long term effect – a new study has concluded that turning on your AC unit actually sends the mercury skyward on a short time scale as well, making it hotter in the short run
Let’s turn on the AC lower degree… But while AC units remove the warm air from inside your home they are pumping it outside!
The warmer it gets, the more we use air conditioning. The more we use air conditioning, the warmer it gets…
Moreover, AC consumes an insane amount of energy. Air conditioning consumes 60% of all energy in buildings in Singapore!!!
In this episode I was using two books:
1) the first one was my master thesis titled ‘Cool It Down!’ – about tackling the urban heat island effect in Singapore.
2) After Cooling: On Freon, Global Warming, and the Terrible Cost of Comfort by Eric Dean Wilson
What are your thoughts on the air conditioning paradox?
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