Four minutes of air conditioning

For five months of the year, temperatures in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, climb above 35 degrees Celsius.

南苏丹首都朱巴一年中有五个月的气温攀升至 35 摄氏度以上。

These temperatures are punishing for anyone, but particularly here, where air conditioning cannot offer any relief.

这样的温度对任何人来说都是一种折磨，尤其是在这里，空调无法提供任何缓解。

While people in richer parts of the world can switch on their ACs, for billions in energy-poor countries, there is little electricity available to power a fan or an air conditioner.

虽然世界上较富裕地区的人们可以打开空调，但能源匮乏国家的数十亿人却几乎没有电力来驱动风扇或空调。

We can see this by comparing how much electricity people use at home on a typical day with how much power an air conditioner requires.

我们可以通过比较人们一天中的家庭用电量和空调所需的电量来看到这一点。

1 Let’s consider a typical single-room air conditioner that uses around 1,000 watt-hours of electricity in an hour.

1 让我们考虑一下典型的单间空调，每小时消耗约 1,000 瓦时的电量。

2

2

In at least 45 countries, the average residential electricity use per person for an entire day is less than the electricity that is required to power an air conditioner for one hour.

在至少 45 个国家，居民一整天的平均用电量低于空调一小时所需的电量。

3 In the chart, I’ve shown how long the average person could run an air conditioner for across a selection of these countries.

3 在图表中，我显示了这些国家/地区中普通人可以运行空调的时间。

In India, the daily electricity budget is sufficient for only 44 minutes of AC.

在印度，每日电力预算仅够使用 44 分钟的空调。

In Nigeria, just 13 minutes; and in South Sudan, just 4.

在尼日利亚，只需13分钟；而在南苏丹，只有 4 个。

4

4

As a consequence, most people in some of the world’s hottest countries do not use AC.

因此，世界上一些最热国家的大多数人都不使用空调。

The most recent data from the International Energy Agency suggests that just 5% of households in India, 6% in South Africa, and 16% in Brazil had air conditioning.

国际能源署的最新数据显示，印度只有 5%、南非有 6%、巴西有 16% 的家庭拥有空调。

5 In the very poorest countries, almost no one has it.

5 在最贫穷的国家，几乎没有人拥有它。

An electric fan uses around 50 watt-hours of electricity per hour.

电风扇每小时耗电量约为 50 瓦时。

The chart below shows how long the average person could run one for across another set of countries.

下图显示了在另一组国家中普通人可以运行多长时间。

The average Nigerian could run a fan for around 4 hours (although they would have no other power to spare for lighting, phone charging, or cooking).

尼日利亚人平均可以运行风扇约 4 小时（尽管他们没有其他电力用于照明、手机充电或做饭）。

The average in Haiti is about 2.5 hours.

海地的平均时间约为 2.5 小时。

But in the world’s most energy-poor countries, the average person cannot switch on a fan for even just an hour.

但在世界上能源最匮乏的国家，普通人甚至无法打开风扇一个小时。

Extreme heat makes it harder to sleep, learn, and work.

酷热使睡眠、学习和工作变得更加困难。

It raises the risk of both acute and chronic illnesses, including heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease.

它会增加患急性和慢性疾病的风险，包括心脏病、中风和肾脏疾病。

Because the heat impacts people’s productivity, it traps people in poverty.

由于高温影响人们的生产力，使人们陷入贫困。

6

6

In colder countries, we wouldn’t accept people freezing in their homes.

在寒冷的国家，我们不会接受人们被冻在家里。

The opposite is also true: we shouldn’t accept people working and living in oppressive heat without ways to cool themselves down.

反之亦然：我们不应该接受人们在闷热的天气下工作和生活，却没有办法让自己冷静下来。

Air conditioning can be a truly life-saving solution for some people and make life much less miserable for billions.

对于某些人来说，空调可以成为真正拯救生命的解决方案，并让数十亿人的生活不再那么悲惨。

If they are to become available for billions, the world needs more and cheaper power and an end to global poverty .

如果要为数十亿人提供电力，世界就需要更多、更便宜的电力并消除全球贫困。

Many thanks to Max Roser and Edouard Mathieu for editorial feedback and comments on this article.

非常感谢 Max Roser 和 Edouard Mathieu 对本文的编辑反馈和评论。

The world will need to adapt to increased temperatures.

世界将需要适应气温升高。

What can societies do to save lives?

社会可以做些什么来拯救生命？

Access to electricity and clean cooking fuels are vital for a good standard of living and good health.

获得电力和清洁烹饪燃料对于良好的生活水平和健康至关重要。

Demand is set to triple by 2050.

到 2050 年，需求将增加两倍。

Can it be met in an energy-efficient way?

可以通过节能的方式来实现吗？

To calculate daily residential electricity consumption per person, I’ve used electricity consumption data from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

为了计算每人每日住宅用电量，我使用了国际能源署（IEA）的用电量数据。

It gives an estimate of residential electricity used annually for each country.

它估算了每个国家每年的住宅用电量。

By dividing by population, we get an estimate of the average use per person (and then dividing by 365 gives us the daily value).

通过除以人口，我们可以估算出每人的平均使用量（然后除以 365 得出每日价值）。

Note that underneath this average, there can be very large inequalities, with many people having no electricity at all, and those that do, consuming much more than this average value.

请注意，低于这个平均值，可能会存在非常大的不平等，许多人根本没有电，而那些有电的人的消耗量远远超过这个平均值。

Without more data on the complete distribution of consumption, this still gives us some insight into the depth of energy poverty in many countries.

尽管没有更多有关消费完整分布的数据，但这仍然能让我们了解许多国家能源贫困的深度。

This varies depending on the efficiency of the AC unit and local conditions such as humidity.

这取决于空调装置的效率和湿度等当地条件。

In very humid conditions, air conditioners are less efficient and often use more electricity.

在非常潮湿的条件下，空调的效率较低，而且通常会消耗更多的电量。

In drier climates, they likely use less.

在干燥的气候下，他们的用量可能会减少。

A plausible range is anywhere from 600 to over 1,600 watt-hours.

合理的范围是 600 到 1,600 瓦时以上。

In these calculations, I’ve used 1000 watt-hours everywhere for consistency.

在这些计算中，为了保持一致性，我在各处都使用了 1000 瓦时。

I say “at least 45 countries” here because a number of low-income countries do not have data, and are likely to be well below the 1,000 Wh threshold.

我在这里说“至少 45 个国家”，是因为许多低收入国家没有数据，并且很可能远低于 1,000 Wh 的门槛。

Many people live with family or friends, so they might be able to share this electricity “budget”.

许多人与家人或朋友住在一起，因此他们也许能够分享这份电力“预算”。

But electricity is also needed for other things: lights, phone charging, a refrigerator, a television, or an oven.

但其他东西也需要电：灯、手机充电、冰箱、电视或烤箱。

Even in a household with two or three people, running an AC unit for even a few hours a day would be far greater than their current electricity consumption for the day.

即使是两三个人的家庭，空调每天运行几个小时也远远大于他们当前一天的用电量。

This latest data is for the year 2018.

此最新数据为 2018 年。

Rates are likely to have increased slightly since then, but probably not more than a few percentage points.

此后利率可能会略有上升，但可能不会超过几个百分点。

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帕克，R.

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(2020).

（2020）。

Heat and learning.

热度和学习。

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美国经济杂志：经济政策。

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(2017).

（2017）。

Nighttime temperature and human sleep loss in a changing climate.

气候变化下的夜间温度和人类睡眠不足。

Science advances.

科学进步。

Minor, K., Bjerre-Nielsen, A., Jonasdottir, S.

Minor, K.、Bjerre-Nielsen, A.、Jonasdottir, S.

S., Lehmann, S., & Obradovich, N.

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(2022).

（2022）。

Rising temperatures erode human sleep globally.

气温上升侵蚀了全球人类的睡眠。

One Earth.

一个地球。

Our articles and data visualizations rely on work from many different people and organizations.

我们的文章和数据可视化依赖于许多不同的人和组织的工作。

When citing this article, please also cite the underlying data sources.

引用本文时，请同时注明底层数据来源。

This article can be cited as:

这篇文章可以引用为：

We are a live site and we keep our work maintained.

我们是一个活跃的网站，我们会保持我们的工作。

So our articles are often changed, including the data.

所以我们的文章经常改，包括数据。

You can browse previous versions of this work here.

您可以在此处浏览此作品的先前版本。