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]
    ·
    2 months 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]
        ·
        2 months 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.