Environmental and Behavioral Factors Affecting Residential Air Conditioning Use in Athens and London

The recent extremely hot summers in Europe have seen a rapidly expanding market in mechanical cooling in dwellings, especially in big cities. Along with urban climate factors, a number of behavioral factors are further contributing to a significant rise in cooling demand across the EU including countries with a more moderate climate, such as the UK. This chapter investigates environmental and behavioral factors affecting residential air conditioning use in two large EU cities with different climates – Athens and London. This scoping study analyses carbon and health implications of increasing cooling demand, and identifies important physical attributes and occupants’ behavioral patterns that affect air conditioning use, as well as, typical operational temperatures and schedules. The high satisfaction with domestic air conditioning units highlighted in both studies suggests that in the foreseeable future with changing climate the UK may experience a similar increase in market penetration of domestic air conditioning as has occurred in Greece over the last 20 years. This might have a major impact on the summer electricity load and domestic sector carbon emissions in the UK, which already accounts for almost 30% of the UK building stock emission.