Warming to the idea of air-con?

Sleepless nights

I’m guessing the long hot summer has given you a few broken nights as perspiration sticks you to the sheets or a few days of regret for building your home office in the sweltering roof space.

Could air-con bring comfort? More of us seem to think so as sales of domestic units climb by around 5% annually (which leads to a doubling in 14 years). They are already in one in five homes.

And they inspired Times Radio to invite me on air.

Well, if you do shell out the £500 - £1000 on the chilling white box, also get a banner to decorate your house reading ‘I don’t give a damn about climate change’. I feel so strongly because they are montrous consumers of energy. A typical room size unit demands 1000 - 4000 watts. For comparison, a typical kettle demands 3000 watts but air conditioners are switched on for hours not minutes. They are the cooling equivalent of those orange glowing bar heaters from the ‘70’s and so power hungry they could easily add hundreds of pounds to your electricity bill. But the sad truth about energy prices is that, while some people have to save every watt and penny, many people can still afford to waste it. Exhibit A - patio heaters.

The energy demand from air-con now accounts for nearly 10% of UK electricity consumption. Globally, keeping us cool uses more energy than keeping us warm. But the carbon consequences of this driving up power station demand are not the only climate problem. The gases within the units, which are compressed and expanded to cool the air-flow, are normally HFC’s (hydroflourocarbons). These should be sealed within the system but inevitably some can leak and they are absurdly potent greenhouse gases. One of the most commonly used - HFC 404a - has a Global Warming Potential (GWP) 3922 times that of carbon dioxide. That means an escaped kilo of 404a warms the planet 3922 times as much as an escaped kilo of CO2.

There are some medical cases for air-con where a vulnerable individuals health is truly at risk from high temperatures. But for everybody else who is experiencing mild discomfort…boo hoo. On the one side: jeopardising the survival of future generations, on the other: your sweaty back. And what’s so wrong with sweating anyway? It is a fantastically effective natural cooling technique which can be assisted by a fan (average energy demand 50 watts).

We need to mobilise scorn and social condemnation. Indoor air-con should be as despised as indoor smoking - one harms human health, the other planetary health. Is that thought really going to help you sleep at night?

ps - Many of the stats came from Hamilton Air Conditioning