Make Air Conditioners Suck Less The Biden EPA is right to cut hydrofluorocarbon emissions. But sustainable air conditioning requires more than just better window units. Spencer Platt/Getty Images The tell-tale signs of spring are upon us. I’m not talking about the explosion of tulips, or the clouds of pollen, or even that odd feeling the sun causes when it hits your skin—warmth, is it? No, the true signal of spring’s arrival is a feeling deeper than any of those obvious reminders. It’s standing up too fast and hearing the pop in your knee, or lifting a package and triggering a twinge in your lower back, and remembering that a far greater ordeal is ahead of you: The time has come to lug that 70-pound chunk of steel out of storage and reintroduce your home to the wonders, and horrors, of the air conditioner. And this year, pondering the damage the units might wreak upon our bodies as we wedge them into window frames, it’s harder than ever not to wonder about the damage they’ve been doing to our planet.