Losing Our Cool: Uncomfortable Truths About Our Air-Conditioned World (and Finding New Ways to Get Through the Summer) Book

Highly recommended. Seriously, read this book.

I read this book and write this review with the perpetual sound of the neighbor's air conditioner going on and off. Even on nights when the temperature is 65 with low humidity, every 15 minutes or so the compressor turns on, and the whining drone takes away the very occasional peaceful quiet one gets in a city neighborhood. I have never once seen the windows in the house open. The people who live there are very nice, have great kids, and like to entertain. But I pretty much don't approve of their environmental choices. (Two luxury SUVs... can't cope with it.)

We have created a world in which central air conditioning controls our choices and our future. We have built cities in the desert and the swamp but have no interest in actually inhabiting those environments. By using more energy to run air conditioners and drive cars, we warm up the planet, which in turn requires us to use more energy. We rely on vast buildings full of powerful servers to give us our information and run our economy, all of which must be kept cool to keep processors running efficiently. Saying "turn off the air conditioner" just isn't possible. It's how the world runs.

This is a grim book, but I think the message is really important. It makes it clear that on a macro level, there is absolutely no way to keep this up forever. For instance, we would have to build 8000 nuclear power plants worldwide to support future energy needs. We still have no idea how to actually deal with the radioactive waste this creates other than by sweeping it under the carpet more or less. And when natural water temperatures (such as in rivers or lakes) grow too hot during heat waves, nuclear plants must be shut down because they can't be cooled properly. This is of course peak time for air conditioner use as well.

On a micro level, it is clear that individuals can make choices for their own households about how to live and what energy to use. There are energy efficient solutions--but they require new thought patterns, such as not leaving the air conditioner on without a break from April to October no matter how efficient it is. But as a society, we have to realize that we have made a series of unsustainable choices. There doesn't seem to be a way to solve them, but sooner or later hard truths will be forced upon us.