The Filipino obsession with the cold is one of our more interesting ticks that we really need to figure out if we, as a people, intend to make a global contribution to fighting climate change by reducing greenhouse emissions through controlling or rationalizing our wasteful and inefficient aircon usage habits.
What does the air conditioner have to do with greenhouse gas emissions, one may ask?
Well, grasshopper, did you know that aircons do not run on magic, but on electricity, which in this country, is still generated mostly by coal or fossil fuel fired power plants? So, the more we unnecessarily run the aircon compressors in order to super cool rooms, the more we use electricity, which generates more emissions, which becomes our contribution to global warming.
In other words, an air conditioner that is set to cool the space at 24C uses less energy than one that is set at 16C. So, if all air conditioners in the country were set to 24C instead of 16 or the lowest temperature setting, as it usually is in many homes and offices, we would consume a whole lot less electricity, which means a proportional reduction in GHG emissions.
For a country that doesn’t really contribute much to combating climate change, because we rely on foreign aid and funds for our climate actions, an entire population choosing to reduce unnecessary aircon usage by setting it to a more reasonable temperature could already be a significant contribution.
I could be mistaken, but it seems that there are so many Filipino homes and offices that set their aircons to the lowest possible temperature, but at the same time, the occupants of the rooms don sweatshirts and hoodies, or use thick blankets when sleeping because it is too cold. If you come to think of it, the people who do that are wasting energy, producing unnecessary emissions, and wasting their money on a bloated electricity bill.
Every time I see office workers wearing thick clothes under the heat of our tropical sun, I always assume that they came from offices where the temperature is set to arctic. Why office managers do that, I do not know, because it costs extra to get an office that cold. Maybe they like to make their workers feel rich or first-worldly when they need to wear hoodies or blazers while at work.
When it comes to homes, there are many bedrooms where thick blankets are necessary because the AC is set too low. Maybe it is time for parents, or the head of the households, to ban thick blankets from their homes and tell their housemates to adjust the AC settings instead, instead of always going for uncomfortably cold rooms. By doing so, aside lowering the electricity bill, they’d also be doing their part to save the planet.
If you ask me, an aircon setting of twenty-four degrees should be enough for most applications and that is what we should be going for in our homes and offices. While it may be comforting, or give a luxe feeling when entering a super chilled room after sweating under our tropical heat, a comfortable temperature setting for the AC also means that there is less thermal shock upon entering or leaving the air-conditioned rooms. At the same time, electricity bills are lower, along with living a lifestyle that results in less significant impacts on the environment and the planet.
It may be tempting to go for lower temperatures when turning on the AC these days, especially as we endure the heat of this El Niño fueled dry summer, but maybe we should give it a little more thought, as the more we make our rooms cooler than necessary, the more future summers could be hotter and wet seasons even wetter, as climate change kicks us back even harder for our human activities, tendencies, and habits that are actually making things worse.
The fight against climate change may seem like one that is too formidable for individuals to contribute to, and we could just be counting on government to do all the heavy lifting while we wait and complain that not enough is being done, while the planet is burning. However, if we look at the “little” ways that we can contribute, and multiply it by an entire population, in our case, the Philippines, then our collective decision to contribute by choosing to set our thermostats slightly differently could make a big difference, which is one that our children and grandchildren could thank us for.
We don’t have to join protest movements and get arrested ala Greta Thunberg to make a difference. As she fights for our planet in her own way, we can still do our part. Simple adjustments like choosing to set our thermostats to a higher temp than we were used to, if done collectively, can still make an impact. If 1-2 degrees C is all our planet needs, it makes sense for us to make that adjustment in our homes, as our contribution to achieving that goal.*
