An a/c works by blowing air over a coil that has freon in it, as the air passes over, the freon absorbs the heat, you then need to exhaust this heat somewhere. Fresh air is not needed as you can recirculate the same air over and over, the plants don't need oxygen, they need c02. The reason you would want fresh airflow is if your not supplementing c02, then you would get it from a fresh air intake. If your supplementing c02, then you would not need fresh air, but you would lose alot of c02 in your exhaust. This is why I use a sealed room with c02 supplied and a minisplit a/c. No exhaust and no intake. room at 1500ppm always.