2023-07-10 07:52:46
In France, more than one million air conditioners are sold every year. Adobestock; Charlotte Paroielle/ Le Figaro
LE + ECO – Faced with the recurrence of heat episodes, it is very tempting to have air conditioning installed at home, at the risk of contributing to global warming. Le Figaro explored the different possibilities.
Each year, more and more households have air conditioning installed to withstand the intense heat waves, which now affect regions that have been relatively spared until now. According to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) named “The future of refreshment”, the number of air conditioners in the world could increase from 1.6 to 5.6 billion units by 2050. In France, more than one million units are sold every year. Behind these impressive figures arises the question of the consequences of air conditioning on the environment. First, because these devices consume a lot of electricity, but also because they contribute massively to the rise in temperatures by releasing hot air into the atmosphere.
Cécile de Munck and Aude Lemonsu, meteorologists at Météo France, recently explained in the program Envoyé Spécial that if the number of air conditioners doubled by 2030 in Paris, the temperature would naturally increase by 2°C in the capital. “The more a district is equipped with air conditioning, the greater the impact on the outside temperature will be.“says Cécile de Munck. The CNRS researcher points out that this even risks “further degrade the comfort and thermal stress conditions of people who are not equipped“. But for her, the conclusion is therefore notnot that households that are not equipped equip themselves with it” more “insofar as it is a vicious circle, we must find lasting solutions».
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