Keeping cool saves thousands of lives yearly, but at a cost of worsening global warming, experts say
Cooling from air conditioning saves lives — more than 5,000 a year in the United States alone — but it also heats up the planet and taxes our electrical grid,…
Air conditioning units installed in record-breaking heat in Tempe, Arizona save lives, with over 5,000 deaths prevented in the U.S. each year, according to scientists. However, the cooling technology exacerbates global warming and strains electrical grids. As the planet continues to warm, heat waves are increasingly impacting every continent, and United Nations officials estimate that approximately 500,000 people die each year due to heat-related causes.
Air conditioning is becoming more essential and widespread, with the study published in Nature Health revealing that it saved nearly 58,000 lives in the U.S. between 2010 and 2020. The demand for electricity from cooling is projected to triple globally, according to the International Energy Agency and the United Nations Environment Programme.
Most of the electricity used for cooling is generated by burning fossil fuels, which the United Nations projects will increase greenhouse gas emissions from air conditioning use from 4.5 billion to 7.2 billion tons within the next 25 years. This surge in emissions is nearly equal to the carbon pollution currently emitted by the United States and Europe combined.
Despite the undeniable effectiveness of air conditioning in saving lives, climate scientists caution that its role in accelerating global warming is far from ideal. Kai Chen, an epidemiology professor at Yale School of Public Health and the senior author of the recent study, stated that "air conditioning leads to more carbon emissions...and this then accelerates the climate warming problem."
Meanwhile, cooling centers in Athens, Greece, use hand fans and air conditioning to help residents cope with heat waves during the summer of 2026.
Written by urgent.news from Associated Press's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
