The heat extremes generated by climate change are likely to raise global demand for air conditioning by 72 per cent, according to Michael Sivak of the University of Michigan.
Sivak has been researching whether air conditioning creates more energy demand than central heating.
In an article in American Scientist, he said investment in air conditioning technology in the developing world could lead to an “unprecedented increase” in energy demand.
The US uses, he said, uses more energy to keep cool than all the other countries in the world combined.
"But this distinction might not remain true for long,” he says. “Several developing countries rank both among the most populous and hottest areas of the world. As personal incomes rise in those countries, their use of air conditioning will likely go up.”
In just one Indian city, metropolitan Mumbai, he calculates there could be a potential demand for cooling that is about a quarter of the current demand of the entire US.
Sivak estimates 87 per cent of US households now have air conditioning and it takes 185 billion kilowatt hours of energy annually to keep American homes cool.
But other countries are catching up, for example, 50 million air conditioning units were sold in China in 2010 alone.
