No I don't think of air conditioning as waste, but I get what you are saying. Do you think of heating as waste? Or only the part that keeps the pipes from freezing - all excess above that being waste? Air conditioning (making it warmer or cooler) could be considered waste if want to define it that way - homo sapiens has certainly survived without either. Beyond survival how does one define waste? Refrigeration is also waste if you want to go to extremes.
I am biased but no, honestly I choose not to define air conditioning as waste. I would say the difference in energy used to stay comfortable between an energy efficient building and the same buiding not as efficient as waste.
Thuja - I have only lurked on a few threads but yes there are some strong opinions about from some very smart and folks who disagree with the idea that it is possible to keep our civilization functioning. I really think it is possible it could go either way. But I don't tend to agree with the most pessimistic of estimates of how long the fossil fuels will last, and therfore I think it is possible we will transition successfully.
One example of the disagreement is how long we could use coal as an alternative liquid fuel. CTL - coal to liquid is an example of using a fossil fuel to replace oil. Of course it too will someday be exhausted but there is disagreement on how much coal there is (in barrel of oil equivalents), disagreement on the EROEI, disagreements on how or if we can use the coal in a more environmentally sensitive way, etc. etc.
Some say there is coal to last hundreds of years. Some say not. Some say our population growth will go on indefinitely. Some say not, that the trend is slowing growth that will end in zero growth within 50 years. Some believe energy consumption per person can only grow with the industrializing of the 3rd world. Some say our per capita energy use is declining. Some say we can extend the use of the remaining oil by using alternatives for non-liquid applications and through conservation. Others say that the amounts needed are so large that the alternatives don't have a chance of meeting our needs.
I don't know. But as you say people are crafty. Never know what they are capable of when the chips are down. I don't know if there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Transition to what? I really don't know. A future where the energy inputs are from the sun and possibly from fission or fusion. A future with a sustainble economy that does not depend on growth to function. What unknowns are out there? What has our species discovered and invented that would have been unimaginable 50 years ago, 100 years ago or more?
OK - I am guilty of being an optimist.
Buff, to me air-conditioning is a luxury, and I live in a very hot part of the country. So, I guess one person's necessity is another person's "waste." Refrigeration is also a luxury - billions of people do not have it.
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