That precious, sanity-saving technology called the air conditioner celebrated its 111th birthday last July 17. (For a fantastically-detailed and engaging history of air-conditioners, check out Poplorica: A Popular History of the Fads, Mavericks, Inventions, and Lore that Shaped Modern America, wherein I found out just how world-changing ACs were.)
Trees right in your house (Image from Architizer)
In a not-so-surprising turn of events, that birthday coincided with New Yorkers turning their ACs on high—not as a tribute to Mr. Willis Carrier, inventor of the technology—but to actually beat the heat. Temperatures have reached a record high of 100 degrees Fahrenheit that week.
The main irony of relying on air conditioning units is that it uses electricity which comes from the burning of fossil fuels. This in turn contributes to carbon buildup in the atmosphere which is what is responsible for all this heat wave. Whether you’ll chalk this up to global warming or not, it’s your call.
And our simple and quick response to all this intense heat is: turn on the AC all the way up. Yes, it’s a vicious cycle which we ourselves perpetuate. What’s so wrong with ACs? They’re just a short-term solution for our immediate comfort.
And yet we can have aircon-less architecture that’s every bit comfortable as a fully air-conditioned one.
Ways of Coping
The thing is, global warming is not just a First World problem. The heat wave in New York became newsworthy only because it brought on an unprecedented energy use in the city (13,322 Megawatts, as reported by Treehugger.) But make no mistake, other parts of the world suffer from increasing temperatures as well, sometimes even worse, and even on a more regular basis. At least First World countries are much better equipped to cope with the heat, what with their temperature-regulated dwellings and buildings. Third World folks on the other hand are simply left to their own devices.
Global warming knows no boundaries. The saddening fact is that it’s often plants and animals that are at the mercy of its consequences. Freak weather, a mix of drought and floods, disappearing coastlines, melting glaciers, that sort of thing. ScienceNow sadly reports that many species aren’t evolving fast enough to cope with climate change. For one, when the heat wave strikes, they can’t just retreat to the nearest air-conditioned room, unlike us lucky humans.
Everyone is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? (with apologies to The Cranberries)
Modern green buildings may be energy efficient and insulated, and that’s fine for all of us. It only becomes a problem when everyone—as in everyone—cranks up their ACs and causes a serious spike in energy use.
Back in college, our sociology professor taught us this concept: the false uniqueness bias. In a nutshell,this is a tendency of people to see themselves as unique in their character or in a given situation. Take for example the simple act of throwing litter on the street. If everyone thinks what’s the harm in a single chocolate wrapper if they’re the only one throwing it away anyway?, that’s not a good thing. What usually happens is that everyone will actually throw their tiny piece of litter, resulting in a sea of waste.
Same thing with people keeping their ACs on high.
Aircon-less Architecture and Turning off the AC
It’s time we reconsider the role of air-conditioning in green buildings. Aircon-less architecture used to be norm back then, and everyone was fine. Whatever happened to having operable windows? And making sure there’s good airflow in the building? Architizer (thanks to an alert by Treehugger) compiled a list of Cool Architectural Alternatives For Living Without Air Conditioning. No doubt many of the elegant aircon-less architecture ideas there have that why-didn’t-we-think-of-it factor in them, so kudos to their list.
Other low-tech, low-energy things we can do:
- -Drink plenty of liquids (Easy on the sugar.)
- -Wear light, loose clothing
- -Take a shower (Keep it short though.)
- -Turn on the electric fan instead
- -Install awnings on windows
Finally…
When the National Climactic Data Center released its report last February, someone noted that people born after February 1985 have never experienced a month that was cooler than the 20th century’s global average. One the one hand, that makes me extremely grateful I was born a little earlier. But on the other hand, what does it matter anyway?—this is no time to be thankful, the world is heating up, and we’re all in this heat mess together.
