Air Conditioning Saves More Lives Than Climate Policies Ever Will
As summer begins, let’s give thanks to a life-saving American invention: air conditioning.
by I & I Editorial Board June 10, 2026, 8:19 AM
Do you know who Willis Havilland Carrier is? No? Maybe you should. He’s the engineer who, way back in 1902, invented what we now call air conditioning. His invention has been cooling American houses and businesses ever since. [some emphasis, links added]
But it’s also done something even more important: Saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
Think that’s hyperbole? It isn’t.
As America prepares for yet another long, hot summer, most of us will stay indoors to work and relax. Why? When the torrid weather arrives, we simply turn on our air conditioning and immediately feel cool air filling our rooms, making us comfortable.
But comfort is a bonus to AC’s real impact: saving lives.
Heat is a killer, as we’ve noted before. Here in the U.S., where air conditioning is found in nearly 90% of all homes and virtually all office buildings, deaths from excessive heat are relatively rare.
In 2024, there were 2,394 deaths from excessive heat in the U.S.
https://climatechangedispatch.com/air-conditioning-saves-lives-europe-heat-deaths/
