How to stay cool without heating the planet | BBC Ideas

As the world warms and heatwaves become more frequent, we turn up the air con. But that contributes to climate change.

What's the solution?

Video made in partnership with @bbcideas and the University of Oxford.

#BBCIdeas #Heatwave #ClimateChange

[beautifulseattle]

I have an extremely hot side of my house so I decided to plant climbing plants there that grow fast and are heat and sun tolerate...they will absorb the sun and heat and thrive creating natural shade for my home.

[PC_lives]

The demonising of air-conditioning doesn't take into account that modern systems provide very efficient heating in the winter.
The majority of heat pumps installed globally to provide heating in the winter (example Scandinavia) are 'air con' reversible heat pumps or split systems.

[Dorgpoop]

This is easier said than done when your house is over a hundred years old (like 20% of UK housing) and so it was built for insulation in a cooler climate rather than ventilation in a warming one.

[stormthrush]

Ok, I just have to say this. As someone who was a big time AC person for a long time - think setting it to 65 instead of 72 or higher - I have been absolutely _shocked_ as to how well I've done by changing over to fans. And they use, what, like a tenth the power or something?? Either way I wish someone would have told me about it a long time ago, I'm able to do up 92-95ish before the fans really stop keeping up, but even then a mister bottle goes a long way.

[parrotcracker]

Our HVAC system in the house broke down years ago. Never got around to fixing it and realized something... we don't really need it. It's only over 90 degree F for a month. You start to learn tricks to keeping cool. Like not moving as much, opening windows and turning on fans during the night to draw in cool air and closing it during the day to trap it in. If it get's over 100 degrees F I usually turn on the bathtub and sit in the cool water while I stream something on my iPad.

[googledoodle]

I just wash clothes in batches in peak summer and put dripping wet clothes near my window……We don’t have a AC in our house and the windows are huge, can manage to keep my house cool and well ventilated.

[Eddygeek]

I thought this would be a video on how we can actually stay cool but it's not relevant to any of us ordinary people. This should be shown to CEO's of large companies, you know the ones actually heating the planet. This should also be on electrical companies to change what sources they use to generate power, not me with my little appliance which compared to industrial buildings do nothing. Finally in the UK atleast in the town i'm in very few people have Aircon, I have to rely on turning on the cold tap and running water over my wrists to cool me down, so even less relevant.

Overall fantastic journalism, teaches me nothing to actually cool me down, is irrelevant, and aimed at the wrong people who can nothing about it, perfect.

[monkaeyes]

Ive just spent a year in sydney. AC on public transport is worth it. But simply using a ceiling fan with a draft through the room was enough.

[AKSnowbat]

Paint all the roads white - instead of absorbing - holding heat and then warming the nights, it'll reflect thermal energy back.

[BonsaiBlacksmith]

"How to stay cool without heating the planet"- Buried six feet under... - The Misanthrope

[susanpitt]

Try living through a week of 40°C plus, without the airconditioning! I live in Melbourne. Perth is even worse. Elderly people die in their chairs from heat stress in 'retirement villages' with no airconditioning. I agree that building design can make a big difference, but let's not just demonize the AC just yet. Let's move foward, more quickly, with fossil free energy.

[rickenbacker]

Or, you know, transition away from carbon producing energy sources.

[DieNibelungenliad]

Wind towers, wind catchers, wind pumps (to draw underground water up to turn into cool vapours), underground aqueducts (qanats), wells, simple fans turned by windmill, white paint on house exterior, solar chimney, adobe brick construction, thick walls, wooden shutters and long eaves instead of glass to cover windows and give shade, earthen floors, putting the ground floor underground to let the surrounding earth take in the heat, white clay tile roofs or thatched roofs, wall plants, and shallow pools are what we need to cool our homes without electric power. Evaporative cooling, convection, and radiative cooling are the keys.

[danielwhyatt]

This was a very good short vid that covered the bases quite well.
We drastically need to start rethinking things around the world, and should’ve been doing so decades ago.

[rosemariebredahl]

Yes! White paint, less mid-day outdoor labor, Etc .. 👍

[garyhill]

So all we need to do is redesign every skyscraper ever and demolish every house and build them Mediterranean style. Seems easy enough. Pretty much the only useful advice was ceiling fans instead of Aircon and plant more plants.

[dibya]

#Save Bangladeshi Hindus# save all minorities in Bangladesh 🙏🙏

[petercallaway]

No mention of heat pumps. When run as air conditioners they are twice as efficient as standard a/c. This is in addition to being 3-4 times more efficient than oil for heating in the winter. Get with it BBC.

[jimjam]

Went to Kos last summer and they mounted solar heat collectors on the rooftops wherever you look. Nice warm showers in the evening after a swim in the outdoor pool. We didn't have aircon.

[noahkirkpatrick]

I believe we should start building partially underground.