The price of air conditioning
Dr Heiko Aydt and Dr Jimeno Fonseca spoke on German radio WRD5 about the price of air conditioning and how they are attempting to alleviate urban heating through science.
By 2050 we will have three times as many air-conditioner (AC) units around the world. This means that from now until 2050, 10 AC units will be installed every second, said Dr Jimeno Fonseca. Together with Dr Heiko Aydt, he spoke to German radio station WRD5 presenter Lena Bodewein about the box that changed the world – the air-conditioner in the programme “Neugier genügt”.
AC good for cooling the indoor environment but they consume a lot of energy, explained Dr Aydt. Because of the inefficiency of the AC, they generate waste heat that heats up the urban environment. The warmer it gets outside, the more energy you need to cool the indoors. This is a vicious circle, especially for a country like Singapore, which is in the tropics.
Any energy that is generated, consumed and released is transformed into heat, but these researchers are thinking out of the AC box, using urban planning and alternative energy-related technologies to help us adapt and mitigate urban heating.
There is already new technology to make traditional air conditioning more efficient, for example, hybrid cooling systems and district cooling, which are studied in the Future Cities Laboratory (FCL), said Dr Fonseca. While promising, these technologies require operators to understand their life cycle for effective operation and maintenance.
Beside technology, Dr Aydt mentioned that as part of the work of the Cooling Singapore project, the team devises ways of cooling the urban environment and improving outdoor thermal comfort without relying so much on AC. We can design the urban environment in such a way that it facilitates natural airflow; provides shading, whether by natural means like trees or built measures.