The International Energy Agency (IEA) has released a report titled "Sustainable, Affordable Cooling Can Save Tens of Thousands of Lives Each Year.", a collaborative effort between Yale University and the IEA, conducted in conjunction with the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change reports.

The report highlights the rapid increase in energy demand for space cooling, which has surpassed the overall energy demand in buildings over the past decade. Factors such as climate change, rising incomes, and population growth are driving the growth of residential air conditioning (AC) ownership.

However, only around 15% of the 3.5 billion people living in hot climates owned AC in 2021, with even lower ownership rates in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, with higher risk of heat stress, and adverse impact on health, thermal comfort and labour productivity. In fact, between 2002-2004 and 2019-2021, heat-related deaths amongst people aged 65 or older increased by 61%.

Effective cooling was able to save lives, with the average annual number of heat-related deaths prevented by AC tripling over the same period. Nevertheless, the swift surge in air conditioning (AC) usage is placing significant strain on the power grid and exacerbating the detrimental consequences of space cooling, including increased greenhouse gas emissions, local air pollution, power outages, urban heat island effects, energy poverty, and physiological adaptation to heat.

In response to these challenges, the report thoroughly explores potential solutions in both technical advancements and policy implementations. The objective is to guarantee that households with lower incomes are not overlooked and to ensure that the expansion of space cooling does not compromise the well-being of the climate and public health.

Original source