0:00

When you're on-the-go, it's easy

0:02

to forget to stay hydrated. So

0:04

make the most of every sip with smart water

0:06

made with 100% Vapor distilled

0:08

water. With a a balance pH for

0:11

hydration. You can see I

0:13

mean unique blend of electrolytes creates

0:15

piece that is distinctly fresh and

0:18

pure all-in-one package

0:20

know with a refreshing new label design

0:23

because water shouldn't just hydrate

0:25

it should taste good to uncap

0:27

unconventional taste with smart

0:38

it's rico daily i'm adam forecasters

0:41

it finally

0:43

summers the

0:47

time to sit back relax as

0:49

dull soothing harm of your

0:51

air conditioner

0:54

you might have a cheap window unit or snc

0:57

smart see the next your phone

1:00

but , know kind of environmental impact

1:02

your air conditioner has has

1:04

out that as you crank up your air inside

1:07

your ac unit could be polluting the air

1:09

outside which honestly

1:11

feels pretty unfair especially

1:14

since we need to cool air to escape the heat

1:16

from warming climate

1:19

so how we call ourselves

1:21

as the planet gets hotter all around us

1:24

without making that problem worse

1:28

it's quite paradox and mere

1:31

are fine i'm a reporter i box

1:33

has been looking into

1:45

roughly two billion air conditioners in

1:47

the world according to the international energy agency

1:49

about half of them are the united states and china

1:52

and you know we're talking about air conditioners that are used

1:54

to cool spaces that people live in but we

1:56

also use things like refrigeration

1:59

things like keeping food cold but also for industrial

2:01

processes that we need really strict

2:03

temperature regulations you know lot medical facilities

2:05

also need very strict temperature regulation as

2:07

well so artificial cooling not

2:10

just about comfort it's about how we run our modern

2:12

economy and of course as the outdoor

2:14

temperatures get more severe more

2:16

extreme and hotter that demand

2:18

will continue to grow

2:23

air conditioners provide lot of useful

2:25

services by yeah they do a com

2:27

at cost to the environment you're one the big

2:29

things of course of their big energy users

2:32

keeping a place cool during the

2:34

hottest times of years demands lot of energy

2:36

and if that energy is coming from fossil fuels

2:38

are dirty energy sources that can have

2:40

net negative impact on the environment than

2:43

the air conditioners themselves many of them

2:45

use refrigerants that are also

2:47

very potent heat trapping gases

2:50

and those air conditioners are not well designed

2:52

be can leak that refrigerant das

2:54

and i can actually contribute to climate change

2:56

and that can actually be a ,

2:58

more powerful effect than you would get with

3:00

just c o two by itself so

3:03

there's sort of two pronged threat from

3:05

air conditioners by of course

3:08

were in an era of climate change average

3:10

temperatures are rising and so

3:12

air conditioners are increasingly becoming even more

3:14

necessary which is why it's

3:16

really hard to sort of tamp down on their

3:18

downsides while making sure that they're more accessible

3:21

and that they can help us deal with

3:23

some of the unavoidable impacts of climate change

3:30

right you describes a bit of paradox year we

3:33

need air conditioners to stay cool they

3:36

also lead to at the emission of

3:38

greenhouse gases which heat up the earth more

3:40

which means we need more air conditioner

3:43

so how bad is sarah

3:46

since the dawn of industrial revolution your the plan

3:48

has heated up by roughly two degrees

3:50

fahrenheit about one point one degree celsius

3:53

on average now that's a small

3:55

shift in the overall average temperatures but that's pushing

3:58

heat waves and other times extreme topic much

4:00

greater extremes and so we're seeing heat waves

4:02

now much more frequently than

4:04

we would have seen in world without climate

4:06

change gear just last month we saw massive

4:09

heatwave over india pakistan that's

4:11

region of world that's home to about one point five

4:13

billion people

4:14

that could give you a bit of a visceral example

4:16

we no longer need hot water systems

4:18

here in delhi because the pipes a heating

4:21

up so much that when you turn the

4:23

cold water on it it's too

4:25

hot it's hot we saw he

4:27

waves and in texas

4:29

people in texas are being urged to turn

4:31

up there thermostats because the power

4:33

grid may not be able to handle

4:35

the demand

4:36

we office or heat and places that are

4:38

we don't typically get extreme heat last

4:40

summer you may recall we saw a massive heatwave

4:42

in the pacific northwest

4:44

we are talking an extremely dangerous

4:46

heat wave and the reason for that is a folks

4:48

the pacific northwest and british columbia

4:50

canada are not used to this type of

4:52

he they do not have air conditioning

4:55

and this is a historic

4:57

he don't this

4:58

is part the country that's not used

5:00

to ninety degree one hundred degree fahrenheit

5:03

temperatures and yet they were starting

5:05

to get afflicted and so as the climate changes

5:07

were pushing not just a greater extremes but we're also

5:09

introducing seats in the areas where

5:11

people previously have not cope with it before

5:14

and so for them you know that has

5:16

much greater impact and that will increase

5:19

the demand and need for artificial

5:21

cooling like air conditioning

5:23

and as the recording this i believe there is

5:25

another heatwave kicking off in the american

5:28

west just how much more common

5:30

are she waves now

5:31

well he wave that used to occur about once

5:34

every fifty years once every half century or now about

5:36

five times as frequent while and they

5:38

pushed towards higher and higher temperatures

5:40

and so in recent years scientists have been

5:43

a little bit more forthright in open about talking

5:45

about attribution of climate change related

5:48

events these days particularly with heat

5:50

waves that's one the places

5:52

where we see the strongest signal of climate change

5:54

that's as the average goes up the extremes

5:56

also go well i think we

5:58

can all agree that it's very going to

6:00

be sweaty but the other

6:02

impacts of heat exposure are far

6:05

more serious can

6:06

hawk little bit about what kinds

6:08

of a sex human beings going

6:10

feel as it's getting hotter

6:12

you know we talk about air conditioning often in context

6:14

of comfort and you know oftentimes is a luxury

6:17

but we know that there are

6:19

upper limits to how much seat humans can tolerate

6:21

but if you're less healthy if you're older a very

6:23

young that whore and skits much

6:25

lower and so at much lower threshold

6:27

he'd starts to have very damaging effects

6:30

he can lead to heat stroke organ failure

6:32

directly but even before it reaches

6:34

extremes we see damage from heat in other

6:36

areas and then other things like pollution

6:38

things like ozone for instance ozone is

6:40

a long irritant and it's

6:42

forms more readily on hotter days and

6:45

things like dost and all the other kinds like atmospheric

6:47

phenomenon that crap pollution close to the ground

6:50

those all get more severe so you see the sort of

6:52

like synergy effect with heat

6:54

that normally does he'd affect you directly but

6:56

has all these other ways of exacerbating other

6:58

kinds of environmental hazards

7:01

though what you said a few minutes ago there

7:03

are two billion air conditioners

7:05

globally which is a lot

7:08

the way more people in world why is that gap

7:10

so big

7:11

one the big things that you know air conditioner requires

7:14

energy not everybody has access to that kind

7:16

energy certainly they are have access to air conditioners

7:18

and maybe they may not be able to afford electricity

7:20

takes to run them and you know of

7:22

course as that cooling demand increases

7:24

it also pushes greenhouse gases

7:26

up as still drawing on dirty energy and so

7:28

the people who contributed least the climate change

7:30

stand suffer the most are but

7:32

also see other kinds dimensions on were that varies

7:34

you know obviously varies with income if you have

7:36

you can afford air conditioning you're more likely to have

7:38

and and use it but it also varies by geography

7:41

you know i talked about the up pacific northwest heatwave

7:43

seattle in united states is one of

7:45

metro regions with the lowest penetration of

7:47

air conditioning and so this is a

7:49

part a country that just was not prepared

7:52

for extreme he because in historically haven't dealt

7:54

with it but now they have to their now

7:56

in a world where extreme heat is possibility

7:59

and when extreme heat heard it tends to more

8:01

dangerous because they have less infrastructure and

8:03

less resources to cope with it and

8:05

then another dimensions of course racial or

8:07

in new york city for instance about half

8:09

of heat related fatalities are

8:11

occurred in the black residents in new york city

8:13

despite the fact that about by block residents

8:16

only twenty two percent of population so yes

8:18

yes disparate impact on

8:20

racial dimensions on income

8:22

dimensions and also in terms of geography

8:25

gotta say this is extremely depressing

8:27

there is there anything we can be hopeful

8:29

about one

8:30

the biggest most impactful things you can do

8:32

is to use more efficient air conditioners

8:34

back in cool more with less energy that

8:37

use less refrigerant or maybe

8:39

even know refrigerant that

8:41

can cause global warming you know there's

8:43

an international treaty right now working to

8:46

phase out the use of these hydrofluorocarbons

8:48

which are commonly used as refrigerant gases

8:51

you know there thousands of times more powerful than c

8:53

o two in terms of trapping heat but there

8:55

are other chemicals you can use as well they don't

8:57

have that same problem but i can also deliver

8:59

cooling and or some other kinds technologies

9:01

you can use as well one the big things course has

9:03

to use cleaner energy to make sure that you're drawing

9:05

on renewables are nuclear or anything that

9:07

doesn't emits greenhouse gases

9:09

as it burns and that helps reduce

9:12

the contribution to the problem that

9:14

air conditioning is making but

9:16

you know you can also use things like potentially

9:19

heat pumps you there's been lot more discussion about he

9:21

pumps in recent months and the

9:23

context of you know sitting in winter to

9:25

avoid burning natural gas but

9:27

he pumps basically like reversible air conditioners

9:29

and so they can also be used for cooling

9:31

okay heat pumps i've heard about

9:33

these and

9:34

i know that are good but d just explain little

9:36

bit more about how they were they

9:38

have a bit of a higher up front cost and

9:40

in united states there's not as much familiarity

9:43

with installers and contractors terms of working

9:45

with them but it's a technology

9:47

that potentially could make big dent because tend

9:49

to be little bit more efficient and because

9:51

can used for heating and cooling they have

9:54

little bit more versatility and know

9:56

of the our government has also started

9:58

to realize that this is a huge deal you the way house

10:00

just this month announced that was going

10:02

to invoke the defense production act to

10:05

build more heat pumps to essentially use

10:07

this technology as a way to help reduce

10:09

our overall energy demand and cope

10:12

with you know some of the a heating and cooling

10:14

me that we have that are being pushed to greater

10:16

extremes in this country and so the

10:19

challenge now is to make sure that we have you

10:21

know other kinds of strategies as well things

10:23

like a better insulation better

10:25

restructuring of indoor spaces using

10:27

taking advantage of passive cooling shade

10:29

and also you using our outdoor spaces effectively

10:32

things like planting trees in certain

10:34

neighborhoods use painting rooftops whites

10:36

so it requires like i'm more sort

10:39

of integrated and cohesive strategy to help

10:41

mitigate the heat that we're going to be seeing in coming

10:43

years

10:44

sounds like of a crisis in in one that is going

10:46

to be getting worse what's the government doing

10:48

about it how are different regulatory

10:50

agencies helping

10:52

people get access to the cooling technology

10:54

whether that's an ac unit or a heat pump

10:56

or even just more say

11:00

well the us federal government does offer

11:02

energy assistance both in the winter

11:04

and summer to help offset heating and

11:06

cooling bills for , income

11:08

folks but generally though

11:10

cooling has been kind of neglected as as need

11:12

you know in a lot jurisdictions a lot of parts

11:14

of country for instance there are rules

11:17

that say that and rental property can't let

11:19

temperature drop below certain level like every

11:21

apartment for instance has minimum temperature less

11:23

required they're very few jurisdictions

11:26

that have a maximum temperature for and

11:28

said so like there are there's no requirement

11:30

and many apartment buildings have calling for air conditioning

11:32

even when temperatures get above one hundred

11:34

degrees fahrenheit there is no requirement

11:36

for cooling and federal public housing many

11:38

buildings like you know prisons and other kinds

11:40

congregate living facilities don't

11:43

have requirements for cooling and backing

11:45

get very dangerous particularly some of hotter

11:47

parts of country we have already vulnerable

11:49

people congested in this environment

11:51

and so there's been this sort of neglect

11:54

of cooling as an urgent public health

11:56

need for us for very long

11:58

time for instance has not had has not the know

12:00

standard for workplace heat exposure

12:03

we'd have your standards for things like chemical exposure

12:05

another kinds of hazards through the it's

12:07

occupational safety health administration for

12:10

osha and just last year

12:12

they started the rulemaking process for coming

12:14

with national standard for heat now

12:16

there are a couple states that have standards for he

12:18

but there's nothing that's across the board and so

12:20

this is one of those places where the government

12:22

kind playing catch up but it's really

12:24

important because we see that people work

12:26

in restaurants or work and kitchens

12:28

people work in factories you know they're facing

12:31

dangerous levels extreme heat even

12:33

when they're indoors and sometimes even places that

12:35

are air conditioned because the air conditioning can't keep

12:37

up with all the heat that's been produced by the equipment

12:39

that they're working on

12:40

what about individual level mean i do

12:43

not want to contribute global warming any

12:45

more than i already have but who may i

12:47

have to be also the i run hot so

12:49

if i don't have an air conditioner in the summer i'm very

12:51

uncomfortable that seems like the sort

12:53

of a mild complain what can

12:55

i do better

12:56

i mean i think it's worth thinking about how you use

12:58

energy i mean i think there is a distinction between using

13:01

air conditioning for a luxury

13:03

and vs using it as a necessity there's

13:05

lot of low hanging fruit here terms of improving

13:07

our energy efficiency so things

13:09

simple things like you know are pulling down

13:11

the blinds blinds highest parts of day making

13:14

sure that they are concerned only running when someone's actually

13:16

home i mean i'm walked

13:18

by outdoor mall where you have in middle the

13:20

summer like all the stores with their doors wide

13:23

open blasting cold air into the street and that

13:25

suspected really immensely wasteful way

13:27

to use energy and so certainly

13:29

there are ways that we can do that certainly especially certainly

13:31

this a covert era where everybody's working remotely

13:33

there's lot of like offices that still being

13:35

air conditioned and cool that are mostly empty

13:37

and so in those circumstances there's

13:39

lot of opportunities for reducing overall energy

13:41

demand i think maybe ah

13:43

in some instances we might want to expand our

13:45

window of comfort l other temperatures

13:48

inside our homes become a little bit higher

13:50

than were may be used to then over time

13:52

maybe we'll get acclimated to it but

13:54

at same time you know we want to make sure that air conditioning

13:56

is available when we start getting dangerous

13:59

levels of heat you know we start getting into triple

14:01

digits and when start getting into their dot

14:03

very high levels of humidity that

14:05

are associated with really bad health outcomes so

14:07

we will have be a little bit more strategic about how we

14:09

use calling to make sure it's still available

14:12

at the times that we actually need it You

14:15

can help maybe, perhaps Lobby, your local

14:17

lawmakers for stricter, building codes for

14:20

more energy, efficient team, perhaps talk to your

14:22

utility. There's some utilities that are deploying

14:24

things called demand-response. We're basically,

14:26

during some of of hottest times of day, you

14:28

yield to control your thermostat to your utility,

14:31

bill, turn it down. And in exchange, I'll

14:33

give you a on your power bill,

14:35

for instance. And so there are are that, you know,

14:37

you can communicate with that,

14:39

your energy providers and basically

14:41

work. And it's more of a cohesive And

14:43

then essentially in aggregate,

14:46

you, your neighbors all together, will

14:48

help, you know, smooth out the power, over the

14:50

grid and maybe make it it more reliable and make

14:52

cooling more accessible for everyone.

14:59

Thank you. My

15:02

pleasure, thanks for having me. Today's

15:05

episode was produced and mixed by

15:07

so people on I'm adam marcus

15:10

to Thanks for listening.