Air conditioners may cool off your home, but they’re also helping to heat up the planet, according to a new United Nations report that’s calling for more energy-efficient cooling devices.
Adopting more energy-efficient air conditioning could prevent the release of up to 460 billion tons of emissions over 40 years, the UN report found.
As climate change causes warmer temperatures, more people will use cooling devices more frequently, according to the report. Buildings tripled the demand for air conditioning between 1990 and 2016, the UN found.
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are used as refrigerants in some air conditioners, and may be released into the air during manufacturing and disposal, or if the unit has a leak. HFCs don’t deplete the ozone layer, as some previously used refrigerants did, but they are greenhouse gases that are more potent than carbon dioxide, according to a 2017 study. The units themselves also take a lot of power to run, making them double-trouble for the Earth.
The U.N. report recommends a number of ways to reduce the damage from HFCs.
Better building design would make air conditioning use less frequent, for example. The report’s authors also recommend countries adopt performance standards, to push manufacturers to make more efficient devices. Widely recognized labels, such as Energy Star in the U.S., would help people identify more eco-friendly options. If Aair conditioners were made twice as efficient by 2050, it could save 1,300 gigawatts of electricity worldwide. That would add up to a global cost savings of $2.9 trillion.
There’s a precedent for the universal cooperation it will take to reduce HFC use. In 1987, governments around the world agreed to the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty aimed at phasing out ozone-damaging chlorofluorocarbons. The treaty’s recent Kigali Amendment is a plan to do the same with HFCs.
If HFC use continues unchecked, emissions could increase global temperatures by 0.3 to 0.5 degrees Celsius (0.54 to 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100. While some states, such as California, are working on phasing out these refrigerants, the U.S. hasn’t signed on to the Kigali Amendment.
Recently, we've entered an exciting collaboration with Maple Media, creating a bundle of 17 apps worth having on your phone. From relaxed fun to serious productivity boosts, these apps cover all your bases and provide a fun boost to your phone. Normally, the bundle is $9.99 per month (far lower than the cost of using the apps individually), but for your first 7 days you can get access to the bundle for free. View the full Digital Trends App Bundle for a complete list of the apps, or read on for a summarized take.
What's happened? This week, China's Quality Certification Center released information about a battery (EB-BS04898ABY) with a maximum capacity of 4,855mAh. That's the same capacity as was previously seen in the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, and fans have taken this certification to mean the Galaxy S26 Ultra will not see a capacity increase after all.
The Samsung Galaxy Ultra models have had the same battery capacity for the last five years.
What's happened? Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy Tab S10 Lite, a budget-friendly alternative to the Galaxy Tab S10. The device has been rumored for months, but this is the first time Samsung has officially acknowledged its existence.
The Galaxy Tab S10 Lite will have a 10.9-inch display and a peak brightness of 600 nits — a bit on the lower side, versus the iPad Pro's maximum brightness of 1,600 nits.