Europeans should learn to love the air-conditioner

Kaibeezy

https://archive.ph/r1i8k

shevy-java

It is still hot even with air-conditioning.

tim-projects

How about learning to love fans? Imho ac is only really needed for sleeping.

Kaliboy

As a Dutch person who is from the Caribbean, we definitely love the air-conditioner down here. Especially since they all are "inverter" technology, doesn't use as much energy as before. They also love them on the mainland but nobody loves the hassle of getting one installed. It's also insurance related. Houses are insured based on also their insulation. Try making a hole in that insulation for an a/c without 'gezeik' as we say. When I lived there I had a portable mini split unit. I ran that baby constantly during heatwaves. Blew every single-hose portable AC unit away.

kakacik

True. Our building is 20 year old swiss one, mostly concrete, one would expect already good temperatures. Ground floor and first one are fine even now (26 is max it gets), but floor under roof is much warmer. 28 and more and I can't work mentally much, sweat just sitting, showers work for few mins. No AC would make it unbearable to WFH for example. Ventilation during night is almost useless, there is no breeze these days the air is perfectly still. Open windows through the building and air doesn't change, just insects come. Now typical proper 2-part ACs are forbidden here for residential buildings, and monolithic ones are not that effective. We bought a mix of this from midea last year - 2 parts, permanently connected by hose, and we put it out when needed and cover door to balcony. easily 25 max under roof at low rpms, so far so good (outside easily 35 in shade, >42C on balcony in afternoon/evening). Proper permanently installed 2 part AC would save some energy since we lose some cold via smaller gaps in door, but its frequent these well-meaning moves end up doing more damage than intended.

MisterTea

I was in Spain last summer, in August of all times, ~30-40 C. Two of the three places I stayed at had no AC but had ceiling fans. Hot as hell for sure but that is why the siesta exists. I would go out, become exhausted from the damn heat, then go back to my room around 5PM, shower and sleep naked or only in underwear with a window open and ceiling fan running. Then awaken and go back out around 7PM. At someones house I slept in their basement which was a bit damp but cool enough to be somewhat comfortable. The last place I stayed at had AC thankfully.

aestetix

How about applying political pressure to countries like China and India that do not care about emissions control and pollution? :)

eigenspace

The rapid buildout of solar, and the rise of efficient air cons for electric home heating certainly makes it seem like a much less wasteful technology than before. I still think though that people are severly underestimating the effectiveness of relative simple, low-tech options like awnings though.

close04

The article is all over the place. I thought the point will be about using your home as a "battery" to store what your panels produce during the day in the form of cool air. But I think the punchline is already in the first paragraph: > Yanks holidaying in Europe expect cool comfort, and grow surly on finding that many old-world buildings require them to sweat and bear it. And there's of course the ever present AI driver because where would we be if we don't get our priorities straight: > It must ... expand its data centres, dwarfed by America’s, lest the artificial-intelligence revolution render it a vassal. The rest of the article meanders through historical considerations, family wealth, home sizes, geopolitical issues, traditions, etc. None of which explain or justify the premise of the title, some even contradict it. Expanding AI DC goes head to head with "wasting" energy on cooling houses more. It's comfortable to lower the temp a bit in summer but all the arguments in the article are that the energy would be better used elsewhere. Industry, AI, etc. The bottom like will always be that for any given production/storage capacity everything is a 0 sum game. I can use it to cool houses, or store it/use it for something more productive. The article does a bad job explaining why "cool the house" would trump other considerations when they compete for the same energy.

labadi

As an American living in Austria, I find this conversation really tiring. Common arguments against AC are urban heat and CO2 emissions. Living in a city where 80% of residential electricity comes from hydropower, the emissions argument seems a bit moot. For urban heat zones, AC seems to be criticized in isolation. There's never a mention of a lack of tree canopy in vast parts of the city, or that reflective pavements and green roofs are nonexistent. I think a real barrier is that we're not allowed to install compressors on building facades. I don't disagree with this; it just means that most folks living here are stuck buying portable AC units, which are inefficient unless you do some considerable DIY to make them dual-hose.

invalidusernam3

Why has this become a meme? Sure aircon is nice but there are also reasons why it's not common in some parts of Europe. Here in central Prague a lot of the buildings are historic and protected, so you can't just gouge out a section of the building to install an aircon. Also it's generally only hot enough for aircon maybe 2-4 weeks a year. I'm seeing more and more American's yapping about not having aircon in Europe. I assume they're mostly the kind that has never been to Europe

spockz

I already love our airconditioning. The only downside is how quickly we became used to the luxury. But being to make our house liveable during this heatwave and be able to have friends and family and friends of the kids over as a refuge is a blessing. The only regret I have is that this house only has mechanical ventilation (blowing waste air out and sucking in air through vents above the windows) instead of balanced air. That would have made it possible to have an even climate through the house. As it is, only the three rooms with a unit in it are fresh. We fill two large buckets with the water from the airconditioning and use it to water the plants in the evening.

user01815-2

As a European living in a central European city that is way too hot these days: The central air conditioning system we bought when remodelling five years ago was the best investment of my life.

jmclnx

The rate the world is going, even people on the Arctic Circle will need A/C. Where I grew up and live in the US, I had no real need for A/C until 4 or 5 years ago, a bedroom window fan was fine for the few real hot days. Now, I need A/C, but I have aged too :) Over the years, hot days are getting far more common and hotter on ave. In the "old days" (tm) we could go all summer without reaching above 90F (32C). Once in a great while it would get above 90. And as a kid (5+ decades ago) I remember me and my friends getting real excited when one day was suppose to reach 100F (38C). We spent all day checking the thermometer at my grandmother's house and when it hit 100, we celebrated. Now, 100 is just a ho-hum day :(

carlosrg

I don’t understand the obsession the Americans have with claiming that we hate AC. Europe is not a country. There are countries where AC is more used. Here in Spain it’s common. It’s probably less common in other, less hot countries. Besides heat, countries with a lower GDP probably have less ACs installed than richer countries. So probably France have more AC-per-capita than Moldova, my guess is that something similar happens if you compare California with Mississippi. It depends. We have nothing against AC as a technology.

dboreham

I live in the USA. Houses around here don't have A/C. That's because until recently it wasn't needed.

Sweepi

Its incredible how much better Italian houses/cities feel at 30C(86F) compared to e.g. German houses/cities at 30C. While the adaption of solar + air-conditioners (better: reversible heat-pumps) will be a good thing, I hope the local/conventional methods to deal with heat are not forgotten.

lloeki

Can't read the article (paywalled) so I'm basing myself on what I see > Green electricity means never having to say sorry for lowering the thermostat I literally just read some reports yesterday day about how AC can be a pathological solution. It's not about the energy being green or not, it's that independently of the energy source AC is a heat pump, so it pumps heat out into the air, which makes the air inside cooler, but hotter outside; and for that, green or not, it needs to put in energy to do the work, which results in _even more heat_. At scale a.k.a cities this creates measurable bubbles of heat (+1-2degC) around AC'd places. As Desty Nova puts it in Gunnm (a.k.a Battle Angel Alita): Now becomes the past in an instant — and everyone will eventually die! Destiny triumphs over human knowledge and goes mad! That is the way of things! I spit upon this frail, crazed, world! I spit upon the Second Law of Thermodynamics!

DanielHB

If you are in the market for a portable AC I highly recommend you watch this video first: https://youtu.be/_-mBeYC2KGc People seem to be catching on this and some brands now offer portable mini-splits ACs, I just bought this one (waiting for it to arrive though): https://youtu.be/D5ApvRis9X8?t=45 However they are still quite expensive.