Name: 炎炎夏日怎麼消暑同時保護地球？跟著 BBC 一起探究吧！ (How to stay cool...without warming the planet ? | BBC Ideas)
Uploaded: 2025-09-26T21:01:10.000Z
Duration: 5 min 18 s

情態助動詞 B1

If you want to understand the bind the world faces adapting to climate change, there may be no better example than that of the simple air conditioner.

如果你想了解世界在適應氣候變遷時所面臨的困境，或許沒有比「冷氣機」更好的例子了。

As the world warms and heat waves become more frequent and more dangerous, people turn up the AC.

隨著全球氣溫升高，熱浪變得更頻繁、更危險，人們就會打開冷氣。

程度副詞

It's very effective at cooling buildings and the people inside them.

它在冷卻建築物以及其中的人方面非常有效。

But air conditioners are also power-hungry appliances with a small unit in a single room using more electricity than four fridges.

但冷氣同時也是耗能怪獸──單單一台房間用的小冷氣，耗電量就比四台冰箱還多。

There are currently around 1.6 billion air conditioners in the world and that number is expected to triple by 2050,

目前全世界大約有 16 億台冷氣機，預計到 2050 年會增加三倍。

where 10 new units will be installed every second for the next three decades.

換算下來，未來 30 年內，每秒就會有 10 台新冷氣被安裝。

At that point, emissions from powering all that air conditioning could be as high as 2 billion tonnes of CO2 a year, about the same as India produces now.

到那時，為冷氣供電所排放的二氧化碳可能高達每年 20 億噸，大約等於現在整個印度的排放量。

This is the ever-accelerating feedback loop of air conditioning.

這就是冷氣所造成的「加速循環」。

冷氣增加，氣溫又被推得更高。

And while this cycle continues, people will suffer from the ill effects of extreme heat.

而在這個循環持續時，人們仍會承受極端高溫帶來的傷害。

It isn't only about the immediate danger of death or illness during a heat wave either.

這不僅僅是熱浪期間死亡或生病的直接風險。

Higher temperatures can make air quality worse and chronic conditions flare up.

高溫還會使空氣品質惡化，讓慢性病更加嚴重。

Some studies suggest our thinking and decision-making is more sluggish when it's hotter.

有些研究指出，當天氣更熱時，我們的思考與決策會變得遲鈍。

Extreme heat can leave people poorer too, as working hours shrink and infrastructure like roads and power become unreliable.

極端高溫還可能讓人更貧困，因為工時縮短，基礎建設如道路與電力也變得不可靠。

One way to address the problem is to simply build a better air conditioner.

解決問題的一種方式，就是單純造出更好的冷氣機。

There are UN-backed initiatives to improve the efficiency of AC so it uses less power and produces fewer pollutants.

聯合國正推動一些計畫，以提升冷氣效率，讓它耗能更少、污染更低。

But rather than betting on new or better tech, it's also possible to change our approach to cooling and comfort.

但除了寄望於新技術或更好的科技，我們也能改變對「降溫」與「舒適」的理解方式。

Humanity lived without air conditioning for much of its history.

人類在大部分的歷史裡，其實是沒有冷氣的。

Some of the most charming aspects of ancient cities,

from Mediterranean courtyards to narrow city streets,

從地中海的庭院到狹窄的街道，

are actually ingeniously engineered cooling measures that either block out direct sunlight or use cool stones and plants to keep the nearby air pleasant throughout baking afternoons.

其實都是巧妙設計的降溫措施，要嘛是遮擋陽光，要嘛是利用石材與植物來保持午後的涼爽。

The picturesque white villages of southern Spain have partly been painted that way because light colours absorb less heat.

西班牙南部那些白色小村莊，部分原因就是因為淺色更不容易吸熱。

This often went alongside ways of living that were adapted to the hot weather.

這往往還會搭配與高溫相適應的生活方式。

Taking a siesta meant avoiding work during the hottest periods of the day.

例如午休時間，避開一天最熱的時段工作。

Those who traditionally lived in the desert wore looser, lighter clothing, like robes.

而傳統生活在沙漠中的人，會穿著寬鬆輕便的長袍。

Placing a wet towel on the head or neck is common in India.

在印度，將濕毛巾放在頭上或脖子上很常見。

Simply ensuring you know of a cool place to move to during intense heat, like a basement or shaded room, can also help.

甚至只要確保在高溫時知道哪裡有涼快的地方可去，例如地下室或陰涼房間，也能幫上忙。

Our predecessors also developed some clever cooling technologies.

我們的祖先也發明過一些聰明的降溫技術。

Step wells, an ancient technique that builds small pools of water into a structure,

「階梯井」──將小水池建在建築內部，

often deep underground to cool adjacent areas, have long been common in India.

通常在地下深處，用來讓周邊保持涼爽，在印度行之有年。

While across the Middle East, striking towers called wind catchers that direct cool air towards buildings have been used for centuries.

在中東，則有高聳的「風塔」，可以將冷空氣引入建築，使用了好幾個世紀。

More recently, people have relied on electric fans to circulate cool air, which use very little electricity.

近代以來，人們則依靠電風扇來循環空氣，它耗電量非常低。

Including efficient ceiling fans in buildings would go a long way to reducing the quantity of air conditioning used.

在建築中安裝高效吊扇，能大幅減少冷氣的使用量。

Many of these approaches are called passive cooling measures because they don't consume energy,

這些方法大多被稱為「被動降溫」，因為它們不耗能。

but in a sense, air conditioning created a different kind of passivity.

但某種程度上，冷氣反而創造了另一種「被動性」。

It allowed people to design frighteningly inefficient buildings and cities full of sealed, all-glass skyscrapers and concrete surfaces and simply cool them down with AC.

它讓人們敢於設計極度低效的建築與城市──全是玻璃的封閉摩天大樓、滿是混凝土的空間──再用冷氣硬把它們降溫。

Reversing this mistake for a warming world requires an active approach.

在氣候升溫的今天，要扭轉這個錯誤就需要「主動」的方法。

Designing buildings, cities and reconfiguring our daily lives to ensure we can deal with overheating before it happens and treat air conditioning as a last resort.

從建築設計到城市規劃，再到我們的日常生活方式，都要能在過熱發生前做好準備，把冷氣當作最後的選擇。

Fortunately, greener, more carefully built spaces for living should have other benefits,

幸運的是，更綠意、更精心規劃的生活空間會帶來其他好處。

from the savings that come with efficient homes to the health and well-being effects of plentiful green space and safer outdoor temperatures in towns and cities.

從節能省錢的房子，到城市中更多綠地帶來的健康與幸福感，還有更安全的戶外溫度。

Like the climate crisis itself, cooling is a global challenge.

就像氣候危機本身一樣，降溫也是一個全球性挑戰。

An Oxford University study showed that if average global temperatures missed the 1.5 degree target set by the Paris Agreement and hit 2 degrees,

牛津大學的一項研究顯示，如果全球均溫突破巴黎協定設定的 1.5 度目標，升到 2 度，

nations already facing heatwaves, like those in Central Africa, will see the most extreme temperatures.

那些已經常受熱浪侵襲的國家，例如中非，將面臨最極端的高溫。

But northern countries could see the biggest jump in the number of uncomfortably hot days, days when people will need additional cooling.

但北方國家可能會迎來「最明顯增加」的酷熱天數──人們需要更多的降溫措施。

In Switzerland and the UK, for instance, that number will go up by 30%, the biggest increase globally.

例如在瑞士與英國，酷熱天數將增加 30%，是全球最大的增幅。

The researchers warned that these countries are dangerously unprepared, with their homes and cities built with a very different climate in mind.

研究人員警告，這些國家極度缺乏準備，因為它們的建築與城市設計完全是基於不同的氣候條件。

In the UK, homes are built like greenhouses, one of the lead researchers said.

一位主要研究員說，英國的房子簡直就像「溫室」。

Air conditioning is incredibly convenient, but it would be a disaster for the climate if it continues to be the worldwide remedy for rising temperatures.

冷氣雖然非常方便，但如果它繼續成為全球面對升溫的唯一解方，那將會是氣候上的一場災難。

The goal must be to turn air conditioning into a technology of last resort, using the clever green solutions of the past and adapting the way we live and work in a hotter world.

我們的目標應該是把冷氣變成「最後手段」，善用過去聰明的綠色解法，並調整我們在炎熱世界中的生活與工作方式。