Essay by Eric Worrall
“We cannot air condition our way out of climate change” according to UNSW author Professor Mat Santamouris.
“We Cannot Air-Condition Our Way Out of Climate Change,” Cooling Study Finds
A new global review argues passive cooling technology must become central to climate adaptation.
Published: July 6, 2026
Original story from the University of New South Wales, SydneyAs temperatures rise around the world, air conditioning is saving lives. But a growing reliance on it is also placing unprecedented pressure on electricity grids, increasing greenhouse gas emissions and making cities even hotter.
A global review led by UNSW Sydney’s Professor Mat Santamouris AM – an expert in innovative heat mitigation technologies and strategies for cities– argues that keeping buildings cool without relying solely on air conditioning will be critical for adapting to climate change.
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Prof. Santamouris says passive cooling should no longer be viewed as a niche architectural feature, but as essential infrastructure for a warming world.
“Air conditioning saves lives and will remain essential during extreme heat,” he says. “But we cannot air-condition our way out of climate change. If every building depends entirely on mechanical cooling, we create enormous pressure on electricity systems while adding even more heat to our cities.”
Demand for cooling is soaring
The review highlights the rapid growth in cooling demand worldwide. Global electricity consumption for cooling has reached almost 10 per cent of total electricity use, with around 10 new air conditioners sold every second. By 2050, the number of residential air-conditioning units is projected to increase to almost 5.6 billion worldwide.
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Read more: https://www.technologynetworks.com/tn/news/we-cannot-air-condition-our-way-out-of-climate-change-cooling-study-finds-414335
The abstract of the study;
- Review Article
- Published: 02 July 2026
Passive cooling for the built environment
Nature Reviews Clean Technology (2026) Cite this article
Abstract
Passive cooling technologies reduce heat and solar gains in buildings and public spaces while dissipating excess heat. This approach could reduce impacts of mechanical air conditioning, which has environmental impacts and consumes electricity, contributing to peak demand and grid stress. In this Review, we discuss advances in passive cooling technologies, focusing on smart solar control, ventilation, and radiative, evaporative and hybrid dissipation systems. These technologies are at different stages of development and deployment, ranging from technologically mature approaches such as ventilative cooling and solar control to emerging materials for passive and radiative cooling. Each technology has benefits and trade-offs. Ventilative, radiative and evaporative cooling have low energy use, but their effectiveness is dependent on climate, timing and air quality. Solar control improves thermal comfort, requires maintenance or has design constraints. Implementation of these technologies can reduce cooling-related energy consumption and provide thermal comfort in communities where access to affordable cooling is limited. However, increasing temperatures and humidity changes could challenge their effectiveness. Policies are needed to encourage uptake of passive cooling approaches in communities that currently rely on mechanical cooling and enable uptake for those that lack cooling access.
Read more: https://www.nature.com/articles/s44359-026-00177-y
I don’t know why Professor Santamouris is so dismissive of existing efforts to adapt buildings to conditions.
Buildings have been designed to enhance comfort ever since there are buildings. Ancient buildings in the Persian Gulf were designed with primitive but surprisingly effective passive air conditioners. My grandpa explained how a building he constructed in the 1940s, he put all the insulation in the living area, so the living area would be slow to warm in the summer heat, but the bedrooms would cool quickly after nightfall.
But if an air conditioner is cheaper than retrofitting some exotic passive environmental technology, why not use the air conditioner?
If power is in short supply, just build a few more coal plants. Or nuclear plants if you are feeling all precious about CO2 emissions. Only nations and states which place impediments in the path of energy providers have to worry about electricity shortages or high prices.
“We cannot heat our way out of climate change,” Charles II lamented at the 1683 Frost Fair on the Thames as he stood on the foot-thick ice.
Turns out he was right. So is Mat Santamouris but not in the way he thinks he is. Humans didn’t cause the Little Ice Age and they didn’t cause the 1-ish ⁰C warming that brought the planet out of the harsh Little Ice Age starting in the mid-1800s. Heating and air conditioning don’t “fix” or change natural climate cycles but they do a heckuva good job of adapting to them and helping humans flourish.
I was inclined to comment to this idiot professor with:
Bam, zoom, to the moon…as the lack of oxygen would resolve this utter nonsense he publishes.
On the other hand it would be preferable to send him straight into the sun with an AC and a couple of solar panels to “cool off his mind”.
Having an AC or not is a choice everyone makes for himself, and it seems so that the only purpose of all this BS is just to deprive you of it.
An I am shure, had electricity and ACs existed waay back in the past no passive cooling system they now want to forcefeed you would ever have been invented. Why? Because it’s not that efficient nor versatile. ACs run in reverse as so beloved heat pumps, just an note on the side.
GET LOST YOU LEFTIST ECOTARDS…you sicken the entire planet.
Leftys always fancy themselves at the top like Mughal Emperors-
Yakhchāl – Wikipedia
Statistics isn’t exactly their best subject which makes them useful idiots for any sharp operator and his cronies with the usual predictable outcome. Why dilettantes navel gazers and stinkers in residence should always be kept to the absolute bare minimum.
No question there is value in passive solar design—-not to save the planet, but to improve the choice between comfort and money spent.
Key components
1. Good thermal mass within the house as a buffer against temperature extremes
2. Roof eaves over windows to block summer sun, but allow lower-angled winter sun to heat house.
3. Good insulation.
4. Plant decidous trees on the south to block summer sun, evergreen trees to the north and west to block coldest winds in winter
I live in hot New Mexico, in an adobe house with these features, including a Moroccan-style cooling tower. I open windows at night in summer. Only need the AC now and then. Saves money big time over years.
I believe there are many caves and cave systems around the world that you can move into to avoid the temperature fluctuations and stay at a nice 57 deg F.
The average high temperature in Sydney is quite mild, unlike most of the United States of America. They don’t need AC nearly as much as I do. He can move to Houston and try to survive without AC.