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We should talk more about air-conditioning
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this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2025
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It is a vicious cycle, yes, but I think it changed the world. Without A/C we would not have SOCAL, Florida, Texas, etc. or India or others.
All of those areas where populated long before A/C was a thing
Of course, but there would not be millions/billions of people at that latitude without A/C
We might not have them as you see them today, but there is building science that is centuries old that works with the environment to have architectural solutions that don't even rely on electricity to retain heat or cool a space. There's also the more modern passive house design. As someone born and raised in a hot climate like you mentioned, had we created a built environment like this instead of crippling ourselves to use fossil fuels and refrigerants with high global warming potential, we wouldn't be where we are today. I agree that a/c changed the world. That change could have been a much more positive one had we taken a more practical approach!
I could do without a few of those