Cooling Outdoors, Heating the Planet

Outdoor air conditioning expands demand so much that efficiency gains can’t meaningfully reduce emissions. Cooling parks, tracks, and open stadiums exemplifies a maladaptive path where comfort infrastructure drives higher energy use and deeper climate risk. — It challenges 'efficiency will save us' narratives and argues for passive design and demand restraint in adaptation policy.

Sources

Europe's crusade against air conditioning is insane

Noah Smith 2025.08.23 55% relevant

Both address cooling policy choices under climate change: the existing idea critiques maladaptive outdoor AC expansion in the Gulf, while this article argues Europe’s refusal to adopt indoor AC is its own maladaptation that raises heat deaths; together they frame cooling design and adoption as a governance tradeoff rather than a moral taboo.

The Gulf World That Air Conditioning Wrought

Marianne Dhenin 2025.08.05 100% relevant

Urban geographer Deen Sharp’s critique that 'trying to cool a park' defeats efficiency gains amid Qatar’s and the UAE’s outdoor AC projects.