is aircon hurting our earth?

Question

i was taught in the 80s that aircon contributed to the emission of gasses that contribute to the green house effect. i would just like to know if the current technology has improved this? if not, is not using aircon something that we should really think about? the earthy is already warming up at an alarming rate. if these luxuries that we have invented for our benefit are hurting us in the long run, shouldn't we do something about them?

Answer 1

Air conditioning uses up a lot of energy so it should be used sparingly.

It contributes to greenhouse gas emissions indirectly by the increased demand on the power plants which in turn produce more green house gases.

Answer 2

aircon uses lots of electricity which in turn increases the load on power plants which may be generating the electricity by burning fossil fuels so this increases greenhouse gases and actually heats up the atmosphere. If you use PV panels (solar) to generate electricity for your A/c then you are ok.
Also the cooling gases can contain CFC , this can be avoided by using non-CFC coolants.

Answer 3

I too believe man made global warming is a lot of hot air.

However, air conditioners used to use freon, and those were supposedly responsible for thinning of the ozone later, a vital layer of the atmosphere that protects us from harmful cosmic and solar radiation.

However, in the 90s most of the world banned these substances, and modern AC uses a substitute that is much safer for the ozone, although still not free of harm.

There's a real good article on this on Wikipedia, which I've linked below

Answer 4

Your question is moot, there is no such thing as the "greenhouse effect" this is pure science fiction and has absolutely no merit. The whole idea has become a huge political ploy to garner votes from naive sheep who believe the rubbish they are being force fed in schools. Wake up, the earth has been warming for thousands of years.....I don't think many SUV's were responsible for the end of the last ice age. Natural cycle and not a human made problem.

Answer 5

Air- cons with CFC will damage the ozone layer. CFC is a type of gas that will cause ozone depletion. Nowadays, government encourage us to buy air-cons which are ozone- friendly.