Lost sleep. Low motivation. Feeling irritated. If you had to work indoors or be at home with small children during the record-breaking May heatwave, you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Homes in northern Europe, where the heatwave struck, are built to keep the heat in, not let it out. So many houses or apartments became ovens during the high temperatures, which exceeded 30C in some places - more than 10C above the average for May.
In a report published by the UK’s Climate Change Committee earlier the same month, they recommended that air conditioning be installed in all care homes and hospitals within the next 10 years and in all schools within 25 years. While some sections of the population, such as the chronically ill, disabled or elderly, may need the quick cooling that air conditioning brings, for most healthy people, alternatives will be more than good enough.
There are many reasons to avoid air conditioning. In an average UK home, installation will cost £2,500 (€2,895) per room - an eye watering amount for average earners, and totally out of reach for low earners. The climate impacts are astounding. Air conditioners use more electricity than any other appliance in the home. They consume 10 per cent of global electricity (together with electric fans) and leak potent planet-warming gases into the atmosphere. On the hottest day of the year in some parts of the US and the Middle East, 70 per cent of peak residential electricity demand is for cooling spaces.
