Is aircon the answer to a heating world? 6 Minute English

Hard words

The longest, least common words in this video. Say them slowly before you start.

• uncomfortable
• civilisation
• conditioning
• climatology
• detrimental
• sustainable
• distributes
• electricity

Transcript: 94 sentences

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1. 0:00 Hi Neil.
2. 0:01 Hi Georgie.
3. 0:02 So, Neil, we've just had a really hot summer in the UK.
4. 0:05 Did you have air conditioning in your house?
5. 0:08 I didn't have air conditioning in my house.
6. 0:10 I wish I had, because it was really hot and I couldn't sleep.
7. 0:15 No, I had one of those big fans, which didn't always do its job.
8. 0:18 But there is a really serious side to this.
9. 0:21 Heat records continue to be broken around the world.
10. 0:24 You may be feeling that summers are getting too hot.
11. 0:27 Have you been using air conditioning more to cope?
12. 0:30 If so, you're not alone.
13. 0:32 Experts are predicting that ten new air conditioning units will be installed every second for the next 30 years.
14. 0:39 Today on 6 Minute English, we're talking about this and whether air conditioning really is the best way to cope with a warming world.
15. 0:48 OK.
16. 0:48 As always, Neil, we'll start with a quiz question.
17. 0:51 So, modern air conditioning was invented in 1902, but what was it originally used for?
18. 0:58 Is it: a) to protect people in hospitals, b) to dry ink, or c) to clean air?
19. 1:05 Well, I have absolutely no idea, Georgie.
20. 1:08 I'm going to guess and say c) clean air.
21. 1:11 OK, Neil, we'll find out the answer at the end of the programme.
22. 1:15 OK.
23. 1:15 Georgie, we've been talking about how uncomfortable the hot weather can make you feel in the summer.
24. 1:21 Is air conditioning all about comfort, though?
25. 1:24 No, it's not just about comfort.
26. 1:26 Summer heat can be a real health issue as well.
27. 1:29 It's thought that across Europe, over 30,000 people died as a result of this summer's heat.
28. 1:35 Dr Radhika Khosla, an expert in climatology, told BBC World Service's The Climate Question how important air conditioning can be: Actually, air conditioning is life-saving.
29. 1:47 You know, in Singapore, when Lee Kuan Yew was asked what made civilisation possible in the tropics, he said it was air conditioning.
30. 1:56 And there are so many large parts of the world where we would not be able to inhabit if we did not have air conditioning.
31. 2:02 So, Radhika is saying that air conditioning is life-saving.
32. 2:06 It literally stops people from dying.
33. 2:09 Yes, and she makes the point that there are many parts of the world that we would not be able to inhabit - that means live in - without this technology.
34. 2:17 OK Georgie.
35. 2:18 So, it sounds like air conditioning has a lot of good things about it.
36. 2:22 Is it all positive, though?
37. 2:24 No.
38. 2:25 There are some serious downsides.
39. 2:26 So, one big problem with air conditioning is the amount of energy it uses.
40. 2:31 Let's hear more from Radhika talking to The Climate Question: When air conditioning becomes the first, go-to solution for how we deal
41. 2:39 with the increased, prolonged and extreme heat that we're going to face and are facing, it places stresses across the system that are not able to be met.
42. 2:50 So, you know, we're going to see the grid collapse.
43. 2:52 We're going to see emissions rise.
44. 2:54 We're going to see all kinds of other impacts that actually are quite detrimental.
45. 2:59 And we reach a vicious cycle, because then you're in a world where it's getting warmer.
46. 3:04 We're using air conditioning to be able to protect ourselves.
47. 3:08 That's leading to more emissions and more energy use.
48. 3:10 That is then making the world warmer.
49. 3:12 And then we need more air conditioning.
50. 3:14 We heard about the grid.
51. 3:15 The grid is the network that distributes electricity across towns, cities and countries.
52. 3:21 If people are trying to use more electricity than it can cope with, then the grid can collapse - you get power cuts, which is when you can't get any electricity.
53. 3:31 We heard that air conditioning creates emissions, which can lead the world to warm up, which means we then need more air conditioning.
54. 3:39 This makes the world even warmer and so on.
55. 3:42 And Radhika calls this a vicious cycle.
56. 3:45 A vicious cycle, or a vicious circle, is where a solution to a problem actually makes it worse, which means you have to do more and that makes the problem even worse still.
57. 3:56 OK.
58. 3:56 Well, that sounds like a bit of a problem.
59. 3:58 What are the solutions?
60. 4:00 Well, Radhika says that there are some things we should try first before using air conditioning, which will still be important.
61. 4:07 Here she is again talking to The Climate Question.
62. 4:11 So, one of the most important things is to do passive cooling first.
63. 4:15 Now, passive cooling is when we take steps to provide thermal comfort that are not energy intensive.
64. 4:24 Some of the most important ones are first to cut solar gain, which is through things like shading.
65. 4:30 Passive cooling is where you cool your house down without using a lot of energy.
66. 4:35 Yes, heat from the sun can be blocked by shading, which could be with trees, curtains or blinds.
67. 4:41 OK Georgie.
68. 4:42 So, passive cooling and shading - that sounds really easy.
69. 4:45 Is it that simple?
70. 4:47 No, that's not all we have to do.
71. 4:48 Radhika also talks about the importance of using sustainable energy to power the air conditioning that we still will need.
72. 4:56 OK Georgie.
73. 4:57 It's time, I think, for you to give the answer to the question you asked us.
74. 5:01 Yes, Neil.
75. 5:02 I asked you what modern air conditioning was used for when it was first invented in 1902.
76. 5:07 And I had a wild guess.
77. 5:10 I said c) to clean air.
78. 5:12 But you know what?
79. 5:13 I'm feeling pretty confident now.
80. 5:15 Sadly, you are incorrect.
81. 5:17 The correct answer was b) to dry ink.
82. 5:19 It was invented by Willis Carrier at a printing company in Brooklyn, New York.
83. 5:24 OK.
84. 5:25 Let's recap the vocabulary we learned in this programme, starting with 'life-saving', which describes something that stops people from dying.
85. 5:33 If it's possible to inhabit somewhere, that means it's possible to live there.
86. 5:37 The grid is the system or network that distributes electricity across towns, cities, and countries.
87. 5:44 A 'vicious cycle' is where a solution to a problem also makes it worse, meaning the problem just keeps getting even worse as you try to fix it.
88. 5:52 'Passive cooling' is where you make a building cooler without using a lot of power.
89. 5:58 And 'shading' is blocking the sun's light and heat.
90. 6:01 Once again, our six minutes are up.
91. 6:03 Test what you've learned with the worksheet on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.
92. 6:07 Thank you for joining us.
93. 6:08 Goodbye.
94. 6:09 Goodbye!

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