Keeping it Cool: How Passive and Sustainable Cooling Are Taking on Hotter American Summers

Publisher: Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), August 19, 2025.

The stakes

Cites heat-death statistics rising from 1,156 in 2020 to 2,394 in 2024, and AC’s 14.3% share of US electricity use / up to 8.6% of power-sector GHG emissions.

The technology

Covers Lawrence Livermore National Lab’s salt-based radiative cooling panels — surfaces cooled up to 18°F below ambient — a DOE national-lab passive daytime radiative cooling (PDRC) example.

The funding angle

Notes DOE Building America program and community technical-assistance grants exist, but explicitly flags 2025 federal cuts to climate-related assistance programs under the current administration — a real constraint for grant-seeking strategy.

Why it matters for this archive

The strongest single source connecting the “no-AC cooling” journalism trend to concrete grant/funding context relevant to a small New Mexico nonprofit’s demonstration-project pitch strategy — pairs directly with the SARE LED grants source and the MIT Technology Review piece. See Promoting passive thermal technology.