Hannah Klein

The list of why air conditioners harm the environment is long: high energy consumption, the use of greenhouse gases as refrigerants, its contribution to the urban heat island effect, and the list goes on. Demand for air conditioning is expected to triple by 2050 as the climate crisis continues. In this degree project, I explore the possibilities of air cooling without the use of refrigerants. Evaporative air cooling is a water-powered cooling technology that has been used for thousands of years. Through the lens of two different scenarios, in the home and in the city, I examine the right to coolness from different perspectives and challenge norms around how we cool the air surrounding us.