Grahame E. Maisey, PE, and Beverly Milestone, LEED AP

Sustainable air conditioning leads to sustainability

View the full story , including all images and figures, in our monthly digital edition When the temperature rises above 100 F in the summer, air conditioning systems stretch the electrical grids beyond their limits, while cars and trucks choke the air in towns and cities. Politicians and energy companies want to build a “more robust” electrical grid and build “safe nuclear” and “clean coal” power plants, costing trillions of dollars and creating more greenhouse gases. Let us envision a world 20 years in the future when most homes and buildings are electricity generators rather than users, and most public and private transport runs on clean electricity. The electrical grid redistributes surplus electricity from sustainable buildings to energy-intensive buildings and public transport during the day, and recharges electric cars and trucks at night. This vision has buildings using little electricity, and most buildings producing more electricity than they use during hot weather.