We should talk more about air-conditioning

Another piece of this whole thing: It’s not just about how much total electricity we need to run air conditioners but about when that demand tends to come. As we’ve covered in this newsletter before, your air-conditioning habits aren’t unique. Cooling devices tend to flip on around the same time—when it’s hot. In some parts of the US, for example, air conditioners can represent more than 70% of residential energy demand at times when the grid is most stressed.

The good news is that we’re seeing innovations in cooling technology. Some companies are building cooling systems that include an energy storage component, so they can charge up when energy is plentiful and demand is low. Then they can start cooling when it’s most needed, without sucking as much energy from the grid during peak hours.

We’ve also covered alternatives to air conditioners called desiccant cooling systems, which use special moisture-sucking materials to help cool spaces and deal with humidity more efficiently than standard options.

And in my latest story, I dug into new developments in heat exchanger technology. Heat exchangers are a crucial component of air conditioners, but you can really find them everywhere—in heat pumps, refrigerators, and, yes, the cooling systems in large buildings and large electronics installations, including data centers.

We’ve been building heat exchangers basically the same way for nearly a century. These components basically move heat around, and there are a few known ways to do so with devices that are relatively straightforward to manufacture. Now, though, one team of researchers has 3D-printed a heat exchanger that outperforms some standard designs and rivals others. This is still a long way from solving our looming air-conditioning crisis, but the details are fascinating—I hope you’ll give it a read. 

We need more innovation in cooling technology to help meet global demand efficiently so we don’t stay stuck in this cycle. And we’ll need policy and public support to make sure that these technologies make a difference and that everyone has access to them too. 

This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here.