https://xcancel.com/nytopinion/status/1829879853165765055
https://archive.ph/lxKBc
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/31/opinion/heat-wave-air-conditioning-climate-change.html

  • gay_king_prince_charles [she/her, he/him]
    ·
    29 days ago

    Degrowth will result in less comfort. I swear, Americans will call themselves socialists but become wannabe suburban feudal lords once told they will need to deal with living in 85-90 degree heat. Your level of comfort will and should decrease if you live in the West.

    • TheLepidopterists [he/him]
      ·
      29 days ago

      85-90 degree heat

      It's 2024, these temperatures in summer would be a delight, but that's not what we have to deal with. We're seeing months straight of highs in the high 90s, sometimes breaking triple digits (which will only become more common).

      • gay_king_prince_charles [she/her, he/him]
        ·
        29 days ago

        There's a big difference between using AC to go from 100 to 85-90 than using AC to go from 85-90 to 65. I should elaborate that AC is fine to protect against full on this-is-fine. I'm against people using AC to go from uncomfortable heat to ~60, not people going from dangerous heat to uncomfortable heat.

        • waluigiblunts [he/him]
          ·
          29 days ago

          Why is it acceptable for people to heat from -40°F to 70°F (a 110°F difference) but not acceptable for people to cool from 110°F to 80°F (a 30°F difference)? Do you also argue that people in blizzards should only heat just above freezing?

      • gay_king_prince_charles [she/her, he/him]
        ·
        28 days ago

        Because air conditioning uses 14% of all energy produced in the US and so much of that is people wanting to have their homes at 65 degrees or so. The same mindset of wanting to be a tiny king in a giant house is the same mindset that causes Americans to cool and heat their houses an absurd degree. Degrowth will create a less comfortable life, because the American standard of living is unsustainable. The point isn't making Americans suffer for the sake of making Americans suffer, but rather them suffering is necessary for a better world.

          • gay_king_prince_charles [she/her, he/him]
            ·
            26 days ago

            That includes price buildings yes. It's not just residential consumption. We'd need to drop American energy consumption by at least half I'd guess because you can't cleanly change the entire power grid out in a decade. You'd need way less cooling, almost no EVs and individual transport, elimination of the advertising industry, greatly reduced mining among other things. US electricity consumption is split near-evenly between residential, commercial, and industrial and the plurality of residential energy consumption goes to heating and cooling. The electricity consumption of AC is nowhere near negligible and needs to be reduced one way or another.