turn down your AC (please)

Less use of air conditioners would be better for us all

A strict no-air-conditioning ban was enforced for 87,000 Taiwanese students taking the college entrance examinations this week despite temperatures in many areas reaching 34 to 36 degrees Celsius.

Although this long-term practice is being promoted as a pragmatic means to ensure fairness, since air conditioning is not available at all exam locations, rather than for environmental reasons, it nevertheless offers a good opportunity for the country to reconsider its addiction to air conditioning. If students can manage without A/C in the heat of examinations, could not the rest of the population go cold turkey once in a while? Perhaps the date of these annual examinations could be appropriated as a “National Turn Off Air Conditioning Day.”

If not 'Off,' then 'Down,' since air conditioners consume energy and contribute to climate change in proportion to each degree they are set below ambient temperature.

This means that on hot summer days, air conditioning set to the low 20s can account for more than 50 percent of household energy consumption. This, in turn, means 50 percent of energy costs for the individuals concerned, an increased burden on the country's resources, and an increased threat to the earth's future well-being.

Some cling to the notion that leaving their air conditioning running all day while they are at work so that they can return to cool homes actually saves on energy. This is nonsense, and since most air conditioning units can be programmed to come on at a selected time, it is quite possible to have them cool the home 10 minutes before returning rather than running for 10 hours.

Pursuit of environmentally friendly A/C starts in the store, when energy-efficiency ratings should be considered in addition to price tags. Despite recent technological developments resulting from increased awareness about greenhouse-gas emissions and climate change, air conditioning continues to present a threat to the environment and personal health, just as it has since its invention.

The first commercial A/C units used toxic or inflammable gases such as ammonia and propane. From the 1920s these were replaced with chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gases that were safer for people, but were later found to be harmful to the earth's ozone layer, which in turn increased the risk of skin cancer, reduced marine plankton and so forth.

Vehicle A/C systems can be a cause of sinusitis in some people, while poorly maintained air conditioning may lead to the proliferation of micro-organisms such as Legionella pneumophila, the cause of Legionnaires' disease. Old and inefficient units can also generate sound levels equivalent to living beside an airport and can contribute to hearing loss.

This latter situation is not a problem of new high-tech machines, of course, which operate at a low hum.

They do, however, present a sizable contribution to man-made climate change. Cooling agents such as CFCs and their modern replacements are greenhouse gases with far more global-warming potential than carbon dioxide should they leak into the atmosphere.

There is also the vicious cycle whereby people run their AC units to offset the effects of hot, humid weather, although this increases the likelihood of hot, humid weather.

So for National Turn Off/Down Air Conditioning Day — indeed, for every day — individual citizens can make a real contribution by running their units only when necessary and only to create comfortably cool temperatures, not chilly Arctic ones. Doors and windows should be kept closed whenever possible, and A/C filters should be cleaned often and replaced when necessary.

Other equipment, from the humble light bulb to stereos, computers and televisions should be used only when necessary, since not only do they consume energy themselves — and therefore contribute to greenhouse gas emission — but A/C systems must work even harder to deal with the heat they produce.

These common sense actions relating to air conditioners are just the tip of the iceberg. Individuals can make real savings to their own budgets and to the planet's health in just about every area of their daily lives. Clothes dry just as well hung on a line as thrown in a machine, and locally produced food is just as tasty, and generally much fresher, than imported food.

Eating less meat is not just good for the heart and arteries but, since the methane emitted by meat production accounts for as much global warming as all forms of transportation, also good for the environment. Carbon dioxide produced by cars, trucks and airplanes is just as significant, so walking, cycling, taking public transportation or even carpooling are all positive contributions to reducing the impact of climate change.

All of which is to say that while governments have a major role in finding ways to reduce the onset and impacts of climate change, it is everyone's responsibility to minimize his or her own contribution to the problem.