As U.K. hit with more extreme heat, demand grows for air conditioning where none existed
CBC
Sweat streams down Rob Bushprnr's face as he struggles under the morning sun to bend the copper piping in a North London backyard that will soon be attached to a brand new air conditioner.
According to government and market research company estimates, less than five per cent of homes in the U.K. have air conditioning. But as temperatures rise in the country's second serious heat wave of the summer, so does demand for the cooling units, Bushprnr says.
"People keep calling all the time," he said.
Bushprnr has been installing AC units in London for eight years but said in the last three years there has been a sharp increase in demand. He has gone from installing one unit a day to as many as three or four.
Bushprnr moved from Albania to England 10 years ago. He said he has never seen it as warm as he has in recent years.
"The weather is changing," he said. "We feel like we are not in England, we are in Europe."
On Thursday, a four-day extreme heat warning came into effect for southern and central England and parts of Wales. In July, a heat wave shattered records for the U.K. when temperatures rose above 40 C for the first time in its history.
The heat combined with very little precipitation has also strained water resources and pushed officials to declare a drought in parts of England. Millions of people may face some form of water rationing or bans and some shops have stopped selling disposable barbecues because tinder dry conditions have made them too much of a fire risk.
The soaring temperatures have punished green spaces like soccer pitches and parks, but it has been good for the air conditioning business.
"For the past month I've been doing overtime like crazy," said Amanza Mattison, an electrician working in Bushprnr's crew. "Definitely the market is getting bigger and bigger as we speak."
The market may be growing, but it remains relatively small.
PHOTOS | Typically rainy Britain enduring 2nd heatwave:
"Ideally many people will cope without air conditioning," said Tadj Oreszczyn a professor of Energy and Environment at University College London. "Air conditioning costs you money and it's bad for the environment over the longer term."
The U.K.'s infrastructure and energy demands for heating far outweigh those for cooling and Oreszczyn says projections expect it to stay that way for the next two decades unless there is an unpredicted climate tipping point.
