Recent heat waves in Germany and across Europe have reignited the debate on expanding the use of air conditioning. As climate engineers, we welcome the much-needed discussion on protecting people from extreme heat, but we believe the current debate requires a more nuanced perspective.
In our new statement, we outline why air conditioning can provide short-term relief while also creating long-term challenges for energy infrastructure, urban climate, and decarbonization efforts. At the same time, we highlight which measures we believe should be prioritized to make rising temperatures more bearable, without promoting unnecessary technologies that are already causing many of today’s problems.
Read our full statement (in German) from Monika Schulz, Jochen Lam und Vera-Maria Wieder
here >