The world has about 3.5 billion cooling appliances (fridges and air conditioners). That number is projected to grow to about 9.5 billion cooling appliances by 2050. If we actually want to deliver cooling for all, with no one left behind, if we want to address all the challenges and the problems of heatwaves and people dying from heat, if we want to address the issue of cold chains, if we want to address the issue of vaccines, that number could actually grow to about 14 billion units.
The world uses 3,600TWh of energy for cooling load today and will grow to about 9,500TWh by 2050. More efficient cooling technologies which we are aware of today might enable cooling with 7,500TWh. If we do cooling for all then we would use 19,000TWh. Even with best-case technology, somewhere around 15,000TWh.
Renewable power including hydroelectric power and biofuels is below.
All of the IEA [International Energy Agency] projections of renewable energy could be used for cooling alone by 2050.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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