8countries may exceed US in air-conditioning use

 

The United States uses more energy for air conditioning (AC) than all other countries combined, but that distinction might not remain true for long.

 

 

 

 

Several developing countries rank among both the most populated and hottest areas in the world.

 

As personal incomes rise in those countries, air-conditioning use is also likely to go up, which in turn could lead to an unprecedented increase in energy demand.

 

 

A new study by Michael Sivak, research professor and director of Sustainable Worldwide Transportation at the U-M Transportation Research Institute shows that if the rest of the world adopts the same AC usage patterns found in the US, 8 nations (India, China, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Brazil and the Philippines) have the potential to surpass the American yardstick of high air-conditioning use.

 

 

The top three, India, China and Indonesia, could surpass the US by factors of 14, 5 and 3, respectively. Meanwhile future demand in all countries of the world has the potential to exceed demand in the US by a factor of 50.