Solar panel air conditioning - Eliminates carbon dioxide emissions
High temperatures have gripped much of the continent this week, resulting in disruption and dozens of deaths. A new analysis by energy think tank Ember found that a typical UK home with rooftop solar panels generated enough electricity to power an air conditioning unit for five hours a day during the heatwave.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that cooling, which is mainly air conditioning but also includes fans, consumed about 2,100 terawatt-hours of energy in 2022. That's about seven percent of the world's electricity from that year.
Some of this electricity comes from fossil fuels, so air conditioning is often seen as a driver of carbon emissions. In 2022, the IEA estimated that space cooling caused about one billion tons of CO2 from electricity use - almost three percent of total CO2 emissions.
While this may not seem significant, experts predict that air conditioning units could triple in the next three decades - reaching a staggering 5.5 billion installations - as climate change continues to raise temperatures.
The EU, which has a low use of air conditioners compared to regions like the US, is projected to have more than 275 million air conditioner units by 2050. The recent heat wave in France, which saw temperatures break records, has sparked political debate.
No matter how energy-efficient an air conditioning unit is, the process of drawing heat from inside a home and releasing it outside contributes to the urban heat island effect. This occurs when heat is trapped between tall buildings and absorbed by the vast amounts of asphalt and concrete found in cities before being released back into the air. This is why larger cities tend to experience more heat stress.
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