A new analysis from energy think tank Ember found that a typical UK home with rooftop solar panels generated enough electricity to run an air conditioning unit for five hours a day during a recent heatwave. This suggests solar-powered cooling could reduce reliance on fossil fuel electricity, which currently causes about one billion tons of CO2 emissions annually from space cooling alone, according to the IEA. The IEA estimates cooling consumed about 2,100 terawatt-hours in 2022, roughly seven percent of global electricity. With air conditioning units projected to triple to 5.5 billion installations in the next three decades, pairing them with solar panels could help offset rising emissions. The EU alone may have over 275 million units by 2050. The article also notes that even efficient AC units contribute to urban heat island effects by releasing heat into cities. Solar-powered systems address the electricity side but do not solve that local heat trapping issue.
