As summer arrives, people are turning on air conditioners in most of the U.S. But if you're like me, you always feel a little guilty about that. Past generations managed without air conditioning ' do I really need it' And how bad is it to use all this electricity for cooling in a warming world' If I leave my air conditioner off, I get too hot. But if everyone turns on their air conditioner at the same time, electricity demand spikes, which can force power grid operators to activate some of the most expensive, and dirtiest, power plants. Sometimes those spikes can ask too much of the grid and lead to brownouts or blackouts. Research I recently published with a team of scholars makes me feel a little better, though. We have found that it is possible to coordinate the operation of large numbers of home air-conditioning units, balancing supply and demand on the power grid ' and without making people endure high temperatures inside their homes. Studies along these lines, using remote...
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