this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2023
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Have central air conditioning in all buildings.
Have a place to swim.
I'm in the US and it was 40C (104F) yesterday, which is normal for my area. I spent the whole day either indoors or in the neighborhood pool, and it was perfectly comfortable.
Both AC and pools have a horrible upkeep cost.
I mean, I bought my window ac at least 10 years ago, the only upkeep is cleaning the filter. no issues. I bought a house with an AC from the 70s or 80s in the wall, also nothing but washing the filters. Sure I'm using electricity, but I wouldn't call that upkeep.
Pretty sure that’s what that commenter meant. Running AC is a huge energy expenditure and is contributing to the long-term problem.
AC is absolutely necessary where I live. We don't have the option of not using it to help the environment. I have my thermostat set to 80°F (26.5°C) most days, but without it we would likely have very a high heat-related death rate.
The best option is to have our grid use as much renewable energy as possible. I have solar panels on my house, which covers about 60-80% of my usage on these hot 104°F (40°C) days.
It's necessary where I live too (inland Los Angeles) and we also keep our thermostat at 80 all summer. The summer power bills really hurt, but we have to. We're unfortunately not in a position for solar financially but I really wish we were!
But it's either this or hospital. Human body can't cool down in very hot and high humidity environments, for example 40 degrees and 90% humidity. My mother was sent to hospital due to heat stroke, AC is life-saving. It would be better if there were better ways.
Right. I don’t think individuals can or should do much beyond setting their AC at reasonable levels.
The responsibility is on governments to heavily invest in renewables so that we don’t continue on our current trajectory. If governments don’t act, the earth will inevitably force some sort of reduction in energy usage and it’ll be far less comfortable than higher taxes.
Exactly. The issue is with the source of electricity, not with the AC itself. Not to mention that leading by example is nice, but it's not always the best course of action. An individual avoiding AC is a drop in the water, and not going to save the planet, while suffering immensely. Hell, even if every single individual stopped using AC at home (which isn't even close to reality), that wouldn't have a significant effect, compared to what corporations, factories, etc. are doing.
In this context, corporations and factories are people. Their energy expenditure is a consequence of providing good and services to consumers.
There’s no “them” to point fingers at here, unfortunately.
The price of electricity in my country (the UK) has gone stupid high right now. We don't have AC in our homes normally in the country. But I bought a 2nd hand portable unit about 7 years ago when my first son was born cos I was afraid of him gettin too hot at night. I have a 2nd son now and we have had some record high temps last month and o could only afford yo keep this AC unit on for a like 2 to 3 hours at night time in just his room and only on the hottest days. Anymore than that and we woild struggle to pay the energy bill that follows.
It's not maintenance cost that's the issue. It's energy cost.