Title: Air conditioning energy: AC saves lives and causes less climate change than heating.
Headings: Hot and Bothered
Hot and Bothered
Air conditioning isn’t bad for you or even (relatively) for the planet.
By Daniel Engber
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Content: They have no cogent answer. It may be true that America is overcooled, but then again it’s also overheated. No one writes op-eds to make the latter point. Advertisement
This week’s essay in the Times tries to fuel the anti-cooling dogma, but its energy is wasted. There’s no logic here, only specious and confusing claims backed up with shoddy science. “ As infants we learn to associate warmth with the safety of our parents’ arms,” author Kate Murphy writes. “ Our subconscious equates cold with vulnerability, which partly explains why people can be so miserable when they are chilled.” That must be why we’re so averse to eating ice cream: It makes us feel unsafe. This hot air goes on for several paragraphs.