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Renewable power -> use as much AC as you want; it's not a problem. More power demand -> more renewable power because it's the cheapest way to get more power.

Renewable power -> use as much AC as you want; it's not a problem. More power demand -> more renewable power because it's the cheapest way to get more power. More renewable power -> all expensive/dirty forms of energy become less attractive. That's a dynamic that's been playing out over the last few decades. Lots of coal plants are closing. Gas plants are getting a lot less attractive as well for the same reasons. 2050 is a year where lots of countries want to be carbon neutral; that's only 29 years from now. Once we are, you can install as much AC as you want/need without having to worry about adding CO2 to the atmosphere. If you have solar on your roof, you can chill your house guilt free right now.

tpm 5y ago
AC is still a huge problem never mind the energy source: Hydrofluorocarbons, currently used as refrigerants, are 1000-9000 times stronger greenhouse gasses than CO2. They will eventually be phased out, but until then will leak into the atmosphere a lot. https://drawdown.org/solutions/refrigerant-management https://drawdown.org/solutions/refrigerant-management
- TeMPOraL 5y ago
  > Hydrofluorocarbons, currently used as refrigerants, are 1000-9000 times stronger greenhouse gasses than CO2. There's also many more times less of them in circulation. Also, arguably, ACs are a drop in the bucket compared to refrigeration (which is roughly the same thing, but in a box). There are options being explored, IIRC propane (aka. R290) turned out to be a great and environmentally-friendly alternative to hydrofluorocarbons.
- jillesvangurp 5y ago
  They are a problem. But they also break down pretty quickly, just like methane. Unlike CO2, which can stay in the atmosphere for hundreds of years. That means they are much less of an issue than that number suggests unless we start mass dumping all of that into the air as opposed to recycling it. That is btw. happening with methane, which is leaking into the air from e.g. melting permafrost in Siberia, intensive farming and soil tilling, etc. Also, some heat pumps use alternate fluids. So, we might clean that up further. But compared to the massive scale with which we are producing CO2 currently, that's a minor issue.
wenc 5y ago
Yes, this is a subtle point that is often forgotten. May think that "more energy use" = "bad", but's an oversimplification. It depends where your energy is coming from. The traditional thinking was that baseload power came from coal and peaking power came from natural gas. This is true for many geographies but not all. There are other mixes. Texas, despite its reputation for fossil fuels, also produces a surprising amount of renewable energy and that has been mix has been growing over the past little while.
psadri 5y ago
I completely agree with this. We need all this to run on renewables. Solar is a good fit because where it’s hot and people need AC there is usually plenty of sunshine as well. I should have clarified that hot -> AC -> more hot dynamic holds until we have enough solar rolled out everywhere it is needed.

tpm 5y ago

AC is still a huge problem never mind the energy source: Hydrofluorocarbons, currently used as refrigerants, are 1000-9000 times stronger greenhouse gasses than CO2. They will eventually be phased out, but until then will leak into the atmosphere a lot. https://drawdown.org/solutions/refrigerant-management https://drawdown.org/solutions/refrigerant-management

TeMPOraL 5y ago
> Hydrofluorocarbons, currently used as refrigerants, are 1000-9000 times stronger greenhouse gasses than CO2. There's also many more times less of them in circulation. Also, arguably, ACs are a drop in the bucket compared to refrigeration (which is roughly the same thing, but in a box). There are options being explored, IIRC propane (aka. R290) turned out to be a great and environmentally-friendly alternative to hydrofluorocarbons.
jillesvangurp 5y ago
They are a problem. But they also break down pretty quickly, just like methane. Unlike CO2, which can stay in the atmosphere for hundreds of years. That means they are much less of an issue than that number suggests unless we start mass dumping all of that into the air as opposed to recycling it. That is btw. happening with methane, which is leaking into the air from e.g. melting permafrost in Siberia, intensive farming and soil tilling, etc. Also, some heat pumps use alternate fluids. So, we might clean that up further. But compared to the massive scale with which we are producing CO2 currently, that's a minor issue.

wenc 5y ago

Yes, this is a subtle point that is often forgotten. May think that "more energy use" = "bad", but's an oversimplification. It depends where your energy is coming from. The traditional thinking was that baseload power came from coal and peaking power came from natural gas. This is true for many geographies but not all. There are other mixes. Texas, despite its reputation for fossil fuels, also produces a surprising amount of renewable energy and that has been mix has been growing over the past little while.

psadri 5y ago

I completely agree with this. We need all this to run on renewables. Solar is a good fit because where it’s hot and people need AC there is usually plenty of sunshine as well. I should have clarified that hot -> AC -> more hot dynamic holds until we have enough solar rolled out everywhere it is needed.