How to keep cool while the world gets hotter

The warmer it gets, the more people use air conditioning—but the more people use air conditioning, the warmer it gets. Is there any way out of this trap?

00:00: What’s the cooling conundrum?
01:05: The pros and cons of AC
03:28: How to reinvent air conditioning
05:02: Can buildings be redesigned to keep cool?
07:30: Scalable, affordable cooling solutions
10:24: Policy interventions for cooling

[susanfarley]

After higher and higher electric bills, years ago I planted strategically placed deciduous trees to shade my house. Now the trees are shading my house so much in the summer it his knocked off at least $100 off my electric bill. I did google earth to look at my property and even though I could see all my neighbors houses around me, you could not see my house at all.
I have ridden a bike for years. I don't even own a car. That saves a lot of money and it's a non polluting

[mackster]

My university had a great cooling system. The had a little leak/pond next to the building. Air was circulated through tubes under the lake directly into the building. The vents were powered with solar panels.
Side effect: Was a excellent air quality in the university and no noise.

[LeemeSeeYaJAZZhands]

Our house is 168 years old, about 100 years before residential AC became common. Our front porch is south facing with tall windows. This design allows light/heat in during the winter and keeps the windows shaded in the summer then the mid day sun is at a higher angle in the sky. The ceilings are tall, which allows for the hottest air to stay above sitting/standing height. Attic fans draw cool air from the basement through the house and purge hot air. We can keep the entire house cool with 3 window AC units on the 2nd floor. It’s really shocking how little air conditioning is needed when a house is designed to stay cool.

[iceberg]

Wow. The energy spent on ac in the US equals the total energy used by Africa?!

[jarjarbinks]

In a lot of old southern neighborhoods you might sometimes find shotgun houses. They’re long and narrow houses designed in such a way that if you opened up the front windows, doors, and back windows you could theoretically shoot a bullet through the front of the house and it would fly out the back without hitting any obstacles. This design helped airflow pass through the house and was often used before the air conditioner became widespread

[suf]

it is the developing world which is in fact suffering...Why would the richer nations pay anything to mitigate this disaster brought upon humanity by them? their people can afford anything, but it is us who are suffocating...

[glennsode]

Learning from this video is that simply we needed more plants/ trees around. Thank you for sharing.

[astridmackaay]

Using sunshades on the window and a few trees did it for the livingroom. Bedroom was harder, so I still have something like a fan in there.

There are also some more subtle cultural shifts that could be done. Like changing the standards for "professional clothing". If office workers - especially men - weren't forced to wear 2-3 layers of long clothing during the summer, temperatures in the office (and also in vehicles) could be allowed to go up to 26-27 °C which would cut down on AC usage quite a bit. (And as a bonus, the offices wouldn't be too cold for women whose standards for professional clothing is already a lot lighter.)

[EcoHouseThailand]

The cheapest form of energy is the type you don't have to pay for! So insulation before installation. I designed my house from the ground up to run off-grid from solar. The first job was to ensure that the house was as energy efficient as possible and used the smallest amount of energy possible. If you want to run air-con from batteries you have to design a house that requires only the smallest most efficient air con units. A tightly sealed thermal envelop means that you are not having to constantly cool warm air leaking into the house. When aircon is not used the house is cooled passively via stack effect ventilation: hot air is drawn up and vented at the top of the building.

[votemonty]

"The planet isn't going anywhere...WE ARE!" ~George Carlin, Philosopher

[sumansengupta]

We Indians had this old habit of using earthen pots to store water. Almost certainly earthen pots cooled water to the extent that you don't catch cold drinking it. We need to fuse traditional ways of cooling with more modern means on huge scales of economies.

[kendelion]

I live in an apartment building facing south. Summer sun is just a few inches inside my window while winter it’s inside half the house. Makes summer cooler and winter warmer

[DerDudelino]

I always wondered why we don't outfit literally every larger building with a ton of solar panels that generate enough energy for air conditioning - that should be doable. When you think about a city like LA where you have about 250 sun days a year, solar should power major parts of the entire city.

[politickery]

There's two types of geothermal power systems.
Deep geothermal can provide the heat necessary to power steam generators for electricity.
Shallow geothermal can provide a year-round temperature of 55 degrees F to provide cooling in summer or take the edge off a few of the most bitterly cold days in winter.
I can't believe that a single building being built in Austin, Texas nowadays isn't required by code to take advantage of the shallow geothermal.

[harishg]

Best known ways to cool ourselves is
1. Take bath twice a day
2. Plant more trees near your home
3. Eat fruits and veggies with high water content,
4. Drink more water throughout the day,
5. Use of wet curtains on the windows when hot air blows from outside.
These are some of the ways to keep us cool without harming the environment.

[ideatorx]

Last summer in Vancouver Canada it registered on my car 48*C I had to move from my house into my basement with three fans going full speed because my air conditioner literally failed in that kind of heat. I've never experienced anything like it, ever.

[mattnorton]

Highly recommend watching Kiss the ground on Netflix. Grassland is one of the best carbon sinks for removing CO2 out of the atmosphere. By utilising ruminants and grassland we can reverse the effects of desertification and create huge carbon sinks.

[santyanavaya]

If you can’t plant trees near your home, bring it inside the house, plant it on your balcony or hallway.

[vandemataram]

More open spaces definitely helps to keep environment cooler. Reduce vehicular usage. Plant more trees. Remote work must be a policy world wide. Reduce / ban environmental unfriendly products.