Posted on December 27, 2007 in Latest News
A study conducted at Harvard suggests that global warming could increase mortality rate in U.S. Global warming can cause extreme cold and extremely hot temperature.
What the study found?
The researchers studied weather data and death rates of 50 US cities between 1989 and 2000.They found that a two-day cold snap increased death rates by 1.6 percent, where as during similar periods of extremely hot weather the death rate increased by 5.7 percent.
But the authors conclude that: “Our findings suggest that decreases in cold weather as a result of global warming are unlikely to result in decreases in cold-related mortality in the US. Heat-related mortality, in contrast, may increase, particularly if global warming is associated with increased variance of summer temperature.”
Lead study author Dr. Mercedes Medina-Ramon said: “We saw that the effects of cold temperatures are not as big as the effects of hot temperatures.” This shows that relatively milder winters linked to global warming have lesser effects on health than extreme summers. The researchers tell that this is because of the use of central heating in all most all the houses of U.S., whereas the use of air-conditioning is less.
Adding to it the study concludes that, “Making air conditioning universally available may reduce heat-related mortality but would, on the other hand, have a perverse effect by enhancing global warming through carbon dioxide emissions from electricity consumption.”
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