2020-05-06 · index of AC electricity (2050 vs 2020)
Cooling demand will triple by 2050
Air conditioning saves lives in heat — and can warm the planet if grids stay dirty.
As heatwaves intensify, air conditioning is shifting from comfort to lifeline — and global cooling demand could triple by 2050. The IEA's projection adds two more units of AC electricity for every one used in 2020. Whether that warms the planet depends on how fast grids clean up.
1 cell = 0.3 index of AC electricity (2050 vs 2020) (0.1% of AC electricity demand index) · 1,000 cells
Context
Air conditioning occupies rare ground: it saves lives in heat waves, yet the electricity behind it can add to warming when grids stay dirty. That feedback is why the grid mix, more than the machines themselves, decides whether cooling stays a health tool or becomes a climate problem.
The grid splits AC electricity into two bands: the 2020 baseline (33%) and the additional demand projected for 2050 (67%). Read together, two of every three units of AC electricity expected in 2050 would be demand that does not exist today.
Source: the IEA's The Future of Cooling, with 2020 as the baseline year and demand measured as an index — 100 today, 300 in the 2050 tripling. The projection covers the whole world rather than any single market.
IEA Future of Cooling: demand could triple — grid shows 200 index points of growth on 100 baseline.
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Credit this grid as Inagrid — https://inagrid.com/e/2020-05-06-ac-energy