Ars TechnicaAccepting a 2°-warmer world means running a lot more air conditioning
The need for air conditioning will skyrocket, with Africa and Europe hit hardest.
DeterioratedStucco@arstechnica
Which, obviously, will mean more CO2 emissions.
Which, obviously, will mean more CO2 emissions.
Revezd@SoftwareTheron @arstechnica unless we manage to crank up sustainable energy considerably. There seems to be good progress in some countries.
@Revezd @arstechnica
Right. But we absolutely have to make people understand that you can't carbon your way out of a carbon crisis.
Right. But we absolutely have to make people understand that you can't carbon your way out of a carbon crisis.
@Revezd @arstechnica
I hear people say "I've never used anything I learned in school in the real world".
That needs to change.
I hear people say "I've never used anything I learned in school in the real world".
That needs to change.
@SoftwareTheron @arstechnica yes, its important to tackle the issue in various ways
Wonderboyfrommars@SoftwareTheron @arstechnica use of air conditioning must be combined with renewable energy e.g. photovoltaic systems on the roofs. There is no other way
Snazzy_monde_sam@arstechnica absolutely
User01@arstechnica
While it will be a whole lot hotter and that will suck the heat isn't even the worst part. Whole ecosystems will be in total free fall worse than they are today. It's going to be tough when there isn't enough food for everyone due to massive crop failure. So when can we stop using fossils fuels? Just curious.
While it will be a whole lot hotter and that will suck the heat isn't even the worst part. Whole ecosystems will be in total free fall worse than they are today. It's going to be tough when there isn't enough food for everyone due to massive crop failure. So when can we stop using fossils fuels? Just curious.
the_enid@arstechnica well, maybe this will provoke some action on trying to prevent as much heating as possible? Then again, I don’t know if I’m happy with the notion that humanity acted because it feared a shortage of AC
Felix 🇨🇦 🇩🇪 🇺🇦@arstechnica We already reach temperature levels where it is dangerous if you don't have access to AC
Phil Haigh@arstechnica and temperatures go up even more. AC just moves heat around. Additional heat is a by-product. The primary by-product. This is madness.
@arstechnica we cannot “accept” a rise of two degrees. It is planetary suicide. For mankind at least.
@arstechnica the rest of the planet neither knows nor cares. We deserve everything we get.
Adam Trickett 
@arstechnica Or we could just have properly built houses that don't heat up in summer and cool down in winter...!
Needing heating and cool just means your house isn't properly built - which I accept is a problem for many older properties, but we've known how to build passiv houses for more than a decade, so we've no excuse!
Anton Piatek@drajt @arstechnica not sure though that rebuilding all of Europe is the answer here though...
@sldrant @arstechnica average age of a house at demolition is surprisingly low, 60 years in the UK, and we've known about global warming for decades and known how to build better homes as long, so we did have the time, but I agree that now it's too late to fix, but it's still not a reason not to demand better homes rather than the tat that is mostly built.
@sldrant @arstechnica plenty of houses can also be upgraded to passiv or near passiv standard. Once done they are cheaper to run and better placed to withstand temperature extremes and geopolitics forcing energy prices up.
While I accept there is a significant capital cost up front, it can be managed by government intervention and will be cheaper in the long run.
@drajt @arstechnica I mean, I've added extra loft insulation, the walls are done (at least nobody is prepared to do anything more to them). Not sure how much more I can do but it still takes a lot to heat in winter. Next step is solar pv and heatpumps, neither are trivial jobs/prices
@sldrant @arstechnica I agree it's capital intensive, but check out SuperHomes. We went to the house of a retired IBM bod in Winchester, he calculated that it would be better long term to upgrade his house to Passiv standard than buy an annuity from his pension. The network is actual house owners who share ideas and open their homes every now and then.
We've put in PV and done what we can with new glazing and insulation, but our house is listed & over 200 years old, so will always need heating.