How marvellous this is

A problem we have which is actually solvable. Easily solvable too, we just stop doing something we’re already doing which prevents the solution:

Britain must prepare for global heating far in excess of the level scientists have pegged as the limit of safety, the government’s climate advisers have warned, as current plans to protect against extreme weather are inadequate.

Heatwaves will occur in at least four of every five years in England by 2050, and time spent in drought will double. The number of days of peak wildfire conditions in July will nearly treble for the UK, while floods will increase in frequency throughout the year, with some peak river flows increasing by 40%.

Campaigners warned that the impacts foreseen by the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) scientists would make the UK “look very different, very quickly”, within 25 years.

Existing buildings and infrastructure should be upgraded to withstand temperatures of at least 2C higher than normal by 2050, instead of the 1.5C nations are hoping to keep as a limit, the committee said. Any new constructions intended to last decades should be prepared for 4C above preindustrial levels – a level at which the world will face global devastation.

Right you are then, the solution is simple:

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan must reform planning rules to make it easier for sweltering new-build homes to have air conditioning installed, experts and campaigners have said.

…

But experts have now warned that the real danger could be an effective ban on installing air conditioning in highly insulated new-build developments.

Easy, eh? If we stop banning people from installing air conditioning then houses will be more resistant to higher temperatures. We’re done. Done just by not doing the silly thing we’re already doing.

Of course the Climate Change Committee will tell us that we shouldn’t solve such a problem that way. But then there’s an awful lot from that source that we can solve simply by not being silly….

Tim Worstall