Barack Obama, speaking on June 30, 2013 to students in South Africa, warned his audience not to expect too much development. Under current energy trends, he said, “if everybody is raising living standards to the point where everybody has got a car and everybody has got air conditioning, and everybody has got a big house, well, the planet will boil over….” (https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/06/29/remarks-president-obama-young-african-leaders-initiative-town-hall )
That seems to be the outlook of a May 17 article for Bloomberg entitled, “A Billion New Air Conditioners Will Save Lives But Cook the Planet.” (https://phys.org/news/2023-05-billion-air-conditioners-cook-planet.html )
“By one estimate, the world will add 1 billion ACs before the end of the decade,” write the authors. “That’s good for measures of public health and economic productivity; it’s unquestionably bad for the climate.”
If air conditioner efficiencies are not improved, “then the planet will literally be cooked,” said Abhas Jha, a World Bank climate expert, according to the article.
Of course, even a slightly warmer planet wouldn’t be so uncomfortable with billions of new AC units, would it?
