Is Your Air Conditioner Bad for the Environment?
Air conditioners are a useful convenience in the summer months, but they can also negatively impact the environment by causing air pollution. Ditching your air conditioner altogether may be nearly impossible, but thankfully, there are some ways you can reduce the risks of pollution when using them. It’s helpful to start by understanding the different ways that air conditioners can cause air pollution. Thermal Pollution Air conditioners are effective cooling devices because they take the extra heat out of your home. The problem occurs when that heat is released outdoors. This causes the temperature outside to rise. So, the more air conditioners in use, the warmer the outdoor air becomes. Warmer air outside feeds the need for people to rely on air conditioners to keep them comfortable inside and creates a vicious cycle. The effects of our reliance on air conditioners can lead to something called the urban heat island effect. This occurs when a city or other neighborhood that has a lot of tall buildings and concrete becomes much warmer than the more rural areas that surround it. All the air conditioners running in those huge buildings on full blast is part of the reason urban areas are so...
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