🧃Chill Out (But Not Really)

Welcome to The Strawman, the daily climate newsletter that’s sweating the small stuff — mostly because the big stuff (like AC units by the billions) is already blowing hot air across the planet.

Everyone’s freaking out about data centers lately, but if you really want to see where the grid’s pressure points are, just look out your window on a hot summer night. It’s not just ChatGPT and YouTube videos demanding more juice — it’s you, your neighbor, and roughly 6 billion future air-conditioning units all trying to cool down at the exact same time.

Hot Air & Hard Truths

Let’s set the scene with a stat: air-conditioning ate up 7% of global electricity in 2022. And as temperatures rise, so will that figure. Thanks to something called “cooling degree days” — a metric that combines heat intensity with duration — we know the planet is demanding more cooling, more often. In 2024, global cooling degree days were up 6% over the year before and 20% above the long-term average.

The brutal twist? More cooling means more energy, which means more fossil fuels (for now), which just makes it... hotter. That’s the vicious feedback loop we’re trapped in. Countries like the US, China, and India are seeing the sharpest increases, and electricity demand is peaking exactly when the grid can least handle it — on sweltering nights when everyone’s AC flips on in unison.

The Cooling Conundrum

We had fewer than 2 billion AC units worldwide in 2016. By 2050, that number could triple. On one hand, that’s good — it tracks with rising incomes and better quality of life. On the other, it’s a ticking grid time bomb. Unlike heating, cooling demand isn’t evenly spread. It spikes. Hard.

The issue isn’t just how much power ACs use — it’s when they use it. In some US regions, ACs alone can account for over 70% of household electricity use during peak hours. That’s a massive strain on infrastructure we’re already trying to green.

Luckily, there’s hope in innovation. Some companies are building AC units with energy storage baked in, so they can “pre-cool” when electricity is abundant and go quiet during crunch time. Others are exploring desiccant cooling systems that deal with humidity using moisture-sucking materials instead of brute-force compressors.

3D Prints & Degree Days

In the latest twist, researchers are reinventing one of the most underappreciated components in the cooling world: the heat exchanger. It’s the bit that moves heat from one place to another — crucial for ACs, fridges, heat pumps, and even data centers.

Until now, we’ve built heat exchangers basically the same way for nearly a century. But a new design, made with 3D printing, is outperforming conventional setups. It’s still early days, but if scalable, it could radically boost cooling efficiency — meaning less power needed to stay comfortable.

Still, tech alone won’t fix the crisis. We need smarter policy, wider deployment, and a real push to make efficient cooling tech accessible to everyone — not just those in wealthy, air-conditioned countries.

Takeaway

Data centers might hog headlines, but it’s the humble AC quietly tipping the climate scale. And unless we rethink how we cool, we’ll be stuck in a vicious, sweltering loop.