{"628683":{"#nid":"628683","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"Qatar\u2019s Outdoor Air Conditioning Is Not the Real Climate Villain","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/spp.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/valerie-thomas\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EValerie\u0026nbsp;Thomas\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, the Anderson Interface Professor of Natural Systems\u0026nbsp;with a joint appointment in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the School of Public Policy, was recently quoted in an\u0026nbsp;article entitled\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/slate.com\/technology\/2019\/11\/qatar-outdoor-air-conditioning-climate-change-emissions.html\u0022\u003E\u0026ldquo;Qatar\u0026rsquo;s Outdoor Air Conditioning Is Not the Real Climate Villain\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;for\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003ESlate\u003C\/em\u003E, November 4.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHere\u0026#39;s an excerpt:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cblockquote\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003EClimate change is coming for everyone, but it\u0026rsquo;s coming much faster for some of us. People living in low-income communities are\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/climate-indicators\/understanding-connections-between-climate-change-and-human-health\u0022\u003Emore likely to be affected\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;by storms and floods exacerbated by climate change. Low-lying portions of island nations like the Maldives are projected to be uninhabitable by\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/4\/4\/eaap9741\u0022\u003E2100\u003C\/a\u003E, and researchers worry that the combination of high temperatures and humidity levels in South Asia and the Persian Gulf could make those regions\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theprint.in\/environment\/global-heatwave-the-human-body-is-already-close-to-its-thermal-limits\/268509\/amp\/?__twitter_impression=true\u0022\u003Evirtually unlivable\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EQatar, in particular, has recently been the subject of interest in Western media. A recent Washington Post piece\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/graphics\/2019\/world\/climate-environment\/climate-change-qatar-air-conditioning-outdoors\/\u0022\u003Ereported\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;that Qataris have taken to air conditioning outside spaces, like restaurant patios and sports stadiums built for the 2022 World Cup. Air conditioning, the author wrote, is a \u0026ldquo;vicious cycle\u0026rdquo;\u0026mdash;the energy required to run AC outdoors requires emissions, which in turn feeds climate change.\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gq.com\/story\/qatar-outdoor-air-conditioning\u0022\u003EGQ\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;picked up the news, calling it \u0026ldquo;environmental lunacy.\u0026rdquo; One\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/cfishman\/status\/1184874156598288384\u0022\u003Epopular tweet\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;linking to the piece says that by running air conditioning, Qataris are \u0026ldquo;making the heat worse as they try to cool off.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/slate.com\/technology\/2019\/11\/qatar-outdoor-air-conditioning-climate-change-emissions.html\u0022\u003ERead the full story here.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/spp.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EThe School of Public Policy\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;is a unit of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"34559","created_gmt":"2019-11-06 19:55:44","changed_gmt":"2019-11-06 19:55:44","author":"pdemerritt3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","publication":"research collaboration","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"https:\/\/slate.com\/technology\/2019\/11\/qatar-outdoor-air-conditioning-climate-change-emissions.html","dateline":{"date":"2019-11-06T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2019-11-06T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"604216":{"id":"604216","type":"image","title":"Valerie Thomas","body":null,"created":"1522076193","gmt_created":"2018-03-26 14:56:33","changed":"1522076193","gmt_changed":"2018-03-26 14:56:33","alt":"Valerie Thomas","file":{"fid":"230317","name":"valeriethomas.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/valeriethomas_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/valeriethomas_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":48938,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/valeriethomas_0.jpg?itok=N4wJ1GEQ"}}},"media_ids":["604216"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1289","name":"School of Public Policy"}],"categories":[{"id":"151","name":"Policy, Social Sciences, and Liberal Arts"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1135","name":"valerie thomas"},{"id":"167078","name":"School of Public Policy"},{"id":"831","name":"climate change"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}