AIR CONDITIONING
T he study linked extreme heat with reduced cognitive performance among young adults in non-air-conditioned buildings. The Harvard r esearch found that students living in dormitories w ithout air conditioning during a heat wave p erformed significantly worse in cognitive t ests compared with students who lived in air conditioned dorms. It is a small step to conclude that there would likely be similar reductions in actual exam performance, which could seriously a ffect the life chances of those affected. It is well known that extreme heat can have m ajor implications for public health. Here in E urope, the heat wave of 2003 resulted in more than 30,000 premature deaths, according to United National Environment Programme (UNEP), mainly among elderly people. This is a staggering t oll. Indeed the summer of 2003 is ranked among t he ten deadliest natural disasters in Europe over t he last 100 years, and the worst over the past half century.
The predictions are for more – and worse – events of this kind. Deaths due to extreme weather in Europe are forecast to increase fifty- fold from the current average of around 3,000 per y ear to 152,000 a year by the end of this century, according to a recent European Commission
r eport*. That is within the next 80 years. T hese are sobering projections, and it should give us all pause for thought.
S ome pressing questions immediately spring to mind. As heat waves increase in frequency and intensity, will current design conditions typically applied to air conditioning in the UK be adequate to cope with the new normal? Are today’s buildin g s tandards, with high insulation levels and low air leakage rates, appropriate for the new age we are e ntering?
And, to begin where we started, is the current tendency to skimp on air conditioning due to “budgetary constraints”, treating it as an after- t hought in terms of a building’s overall priorities, s ustainable?
B uildings are for people, to work and live in. The average person spends 90per cent of his or her life indoors. In the future, if misguided attempts to save on capital cost render buildings unfit for human occupation – perhaps for two, t hree, four months a year as a result of extreme t emperatures – then they are not fit for purpose, and not worth having.
Given the new climatological reality we face, and the potential consequences for public health, we need a new approach.
Air conditioning, instead of being viewed as s imply “comfort cooling” and a line on the budget to be shaved to spare someone’s blushes, should be considered as vital life support.
It should be considered as important as a clean water supply, and minimum standards enforced with the same stringency as building fire r egulations.
There is now a strong case for mandatory
maximum temperatures in buildings, enforceable under health and safety law. This would compel b uilding developers to provide appropriate air conditioning at the design stage, and require owners to maintain and service it to agreed s tandards.
Recent developments around Indoor Air
Quality, new filtration standards and the latest WELL standard for healthy buildings could all play a part in this new approach, perhaps incorporated in a new overarching mandatory standard for all n ew buildings.
In the past, air conditioning may have been a “nice to have”, an add-on that increased rental values for up-market commercial buildings. Today, with exceptional summer temperatures anticipated to become the new normal, it is no longer a luxury. It is a necessity of life.
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