It seems like the green movement's ultimate aim is to eliminate air conditioning altogether. In fact, environmentalists have written books about eliminating air conditioning. So what would a world without air conditioning look like?
No Air Would Start a Northern Migration
If there was no air conditioning, the sunbelt would quickly depopulate. No one wants to sweat out a Texas summer the way our forefathers had to. It was General
Phillip Sheridan in the 19th century who said if he owned hell and Texas, he would rent out Texas and live in hell. Hell is exactly what sunbelt summers would feel like without air conditioning.
No matter how expensive the green lobby and regulators make our industry, it will continue to exist.
An old proverb about the Carolina low country before the days of air conditioning was, “In the spring a heaven. In the summer, a hell. In the fall, a hospital.” This would apply across the southeast and southwest United States.
No Air Would See Productivity Plummet
Productivity would suffer dramatically. People do not work as well when it’s hot
and miserable. They slow down. We might even change the way we work, opting for Spanish style midday siestas so that little to nothing gets done in the afternoons.
No Air Would Mean Security Bars on Every Window
If the outdoor ambient is in the triple digits and there’s no air conditioning, windows will stay open to draw the precious relief of a summer breeze. It is hard
No Air Would Reduce Home Affordability
Without air conditioning, building designs would change. We would build thicker walls with more mass. We would design buildings to be open to summer wind patterns. Homes would cost more and more people would be priced out of the home ownership market.
No Air Would Mean the Nation is Less Healthy
The greens love to talk about the risk of death from rising global temperatures. The truth is, more people die from cold temperatures than hot. Well, at least they
No Air Would Turn Hospital Stays Into Nightmares
Imagine being sick in a hospital without air conditioning. Disease would flourish. People would sweat from heat, not just fevers. The indoor environment would be less sanitary since windows would need to be open for fresh air.
No Refrigeration Would Reduce Food Options
If there would be no air conditioning, there would be no refrigeration. Food would have to be sourced locally so it could get to market quickly. The fresh produce found year-round in every grocery store would disappear. Meat producing animals
would need to be slaughtered locally just before sale or else salted and preserved like our ancestors would do.The farm-to-table concept nominally utilized by trendy restaurants would become true: local farm to table with choices limited by the season and location, and affect every household.
No Air Would See An End to Computers
Integrated circuits and computer chips are manufactured in clean room environments. This requires air conditioning. Special air conditioning systems are used to cool many mainframe and mini-computer systems. All of this goes away if air conditioning goes away.
No Air Would Mean the End of Many Pharmaceuticals
Much of the biotech world requires special air conditioning in the production of pharmaceuticals and refrigeration in the storage and preservation of them. Take away air conditioning and you take away much more than clean air.
No Air? No Way!
Air conditioning is here to stay. Environmental zealots who live in bi-coastal areas with moderate summer temperatures may advocate for the elimination of air conditioning and regulators may try to make it difficult and more expensive for manufacturers, but air conditioning and refrigeration will never go away because of all of the consequences listed above. This means that air conditioning technicians and contractors will always have a future. No matter how expensive the green lobby and regulators make our industry, it will continue to exist. As long as contractors maintain margins, the burden of an increasing cost structure will be borne by the public while the profits are reaped by the industry.
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