| Wednesday, 12 June 2024 |
Staggering insights about climate change and its impact on business, tech, finance and politics. Subscribe here
Good morning [%first_name |Dear Reader%],
For the most part of March, April, and May, my morning workplace ritual was to go around increasing the air-conditioner temperature from 16°C to 24°C. And every time I picked up the AC remote muttering “it’s so cold” under my breath, I’d hear someone—the early birds at The Ken office in Bengaluru—mutter sotto voce, “it was stuffy” or “too hot”.
This should tell you two things:
1) That the AC we use in the office is old. A newer model won’t go below 18°C because globally, ACs are being preset to higher temperatures to limit rising energy usage for cooling. India, which became the first country to draw up a cooling action plan, “advises” OEMs to preset ACs to 24°C.
2) That sometimes I pull rank and cause discomfort to my colleagues. But if you’ve been reading Green Margins editions on air conditioning, you surely understand my itch.
The world has just seen its 12 hottest months on record, on the trot. While parts of southern India have cooled thanks to the monsoon, northern and western India is still burning. I hear of ACs sputtering, or not being effective in this heat, or just straight out catching fire.
Are our ACs even designed for such high ambient temperatures?
I checked my Daikin ACs, bought in late 2022, and they are “designed” for 36°C. A colleague bought one last month and the “max rated temperature” for that LG model is 52°C. That’s better than 36°C for sure, especially when the ambient daytime temperature is consistently crossing 40°C in many parts of India and even 50°C in some places, but it’s still not good enough.
We need a step change in ACs, and a massive one at that.
| India’s energy use for cooling is expected to see a huge jump in the next few years. Source: India Cooling Action Plan |
Cooling is hot, but also up for disruption
As you can see from the chart above, India’s space-cooling demand is on a tear.
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The Ken has proven naysayers wrong by successfully running a digital news publication on a pure-subscription business model in India. They have shown that discerning readers are willing to pay for well-researched, well-written, in-dept news articles.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
Executive Chairperson, Biocon Limited
As a designer, it’s easy to get lost in the craft of building products. As a business owner however, keeping up with a rapidly changing landscape is key to saying relevant. The Ken doesn’t just help me stay on top of what’s happening in India(and beyond), but makes it fun to do so.
Rahul Gonsalves
Co-founder and CEO, Obvious Ventures
I enjoy reading The Ken because it is informative, the articles are well researched, well written, without the spin and bias. I admire The Ken team for their dedication to getting closer to the true picture.
Hari Buggana
Chairman and MD, InvAscent
Transparent, Honest, Detailed. To me, The Ken has been this since the day I subscribed to them. The research that they put into each story and the way it is presented is thoroughly interesting. Personally, I’ve always had a great time interacting with the publication and reading the stories.
Harshil Mathur
CEO and Co-Founder, Razorpay