Coal Use Jumps To Help Air Conditioning

Air conditioning and AI server farms are driving electricity up at a level that could not have been imagined just a few years ago. Renewable energy production has not grown fast enough to handle the demand, particularly in several nations where renewable development has lagged. That has forced renewed use of fossil fuels, particularly coal.

The New York Times reports, “Keeping cool in higher temperatures accounted for the entire 1% increase in global coal consumption last year as heat waves hit India and China, the International Energy Agency said this week.” Attempts to build substantially more efficient air conditioners have failed.

Coal Use Remains High

The IEA reports, “For context, global electricity use in 2022 was around 29,000 TWh. That means AC uses around 7% of the world’s electricity.4 That’s nearly 20% of electricity use in buildings.”

For the moment, coal use must rise. According to the IEA, “Coal still supplies just over a third of global electricity generation even though it is the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel.”

This creates a negative cycle. Coal use heats the planet, and air conditioning cools part of it.

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