AIR CONDITIONING


Sponsored by


20


Is a fundamental ch conditioning drivin


Gboyega Obafemi, managing director UK & Ireland, Johnson Controls Hitachi Air Conditioning Europe SAS, considers how a changing world is aff ecting demand.


A


ccording to research by scientists from Germany and the United States published


at the end of last year, rising temperatures due to greenhouse gas emissions will fundamentally change electricity consumption patterns across Europe, and the majority of countries will see a shift in temperature-driven peak demand from winter to summer by the end of this century. “There now is ample evidence that when it’s hot outside, air quality suff ers, people are more stressed, aggressive, violent and less productive, mortality and crime rates rise. The main adaptation mechanism available to humans to combat high outdoor temperatures is a cooled indoor


built environment, which in most settings requires the consumption of signifi cant amounts of electricity,” says Max Auff hammer, from the University of California, So our demand for air


conditioning looks set to increase as temperatures rise and this demand will put pressure on electricity grids as we strive to maintain productivity levels.


More power stations


Energy experts expect most of the world will have air conditioning in their homes, workplaces and cars within 20 years, requiring thousands of power stations to be built, potentially accelerating climate change. According to Lucas Davis, energy economist at the


University of California in Berkeley: “The growth in air conditioning has been staggering. China is the sweet spot. The number of households that have it has doubled in fi ve years. Every year, 60 million more units are being sold there, eight times as many as are sold annually in the United States.”


Increasing UK demand Here in the UK, we are becoming increasingly reliant on air conditioning for offi ces, businesses, hospitals and on the high street. The improved insulation found in new buildings traps heat, meaning that air conditioning is also increasingly being specifi ed and installed in new and redeveloped multi-unit residential properties


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96