Europe's Crusade Against Air Conditioning Is Insane
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The article argues that Europe's resistance to air conditioning is detrimental to its civilization, sparking a heated discussion on the pros and cons of widespread AC adoption.
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Anecdotally, from the Europeans I know, this is true. When the topic comes up, I will mention that we almost universally have air conditioning here in Canada. (As we do.) After any initial surprise fades over AC in a country generally known for being cold a retort comes usually along the lines of "well you're practically Americans culturally anyway". That may be part of it, sure.
But I think it's mostly that electricity is cheap here, while it reaches almost 40 °C in summer.
Speaking of electricity, the article doesn't really mention energy costs. Here in Canada I don't know many who don't have AC because they don't like it philosophically, but I know some people who don't have one, or who don't use their AC as much as they would like, because they just can't afford it. And it's not the AC itself. It's the electricity. A window unit running on high will consume its weight in electricity in one summer, or sooner.
And that's at Canadian electricity prices, where we pay about 0.10 CAD (0.06 EUR / 0.07 USD) per kWh here. To run AC like Canadians do (often with central air to cool the entire home) could cost potentially thousands of dollars a year, if we paid German electric rates.
There are high CoL areas with many rentals where up until 10 years ago the climate has been mild all summer. Seattle, Portland, SF, down to LA.
Landlords have no desire to update their properties. Why would they when the investment home they bought in 1980 for $70k is now worth 1.5M and bringing in $3000/mo in income? That’s just taking money out of their poor empty pockets.
There are many trending indicators I can see building up toward a big anti-capitalist movement and this kind of thing is top of mind. The utter disregard some landlords have toward the well being of their tenants…
When AC appeared it was a luxury that became affordable so people could do "like Americans".
Now, serious heatwaves are become usual so this may change. But on the other hand, adequate architecture and practices may help, too. Even traditional ones vs "modern" overuse of glass, for example.
Why do you think it's "because" of this?
Humans survived without computers for that long too... but I don't see anyone yelling to abolish them.
On top of that now AC also clashes with general policies in Europe to cut power use, and EVs take priority. Especially on the left AC is seen as very not green.
There were even quite extreme air conditioning designs for the wealthy who had water flow through the walls and floors of entire buildings, even pumped systems that automatically switched from using heated water to cooled water depending on inside temperature. Long tunnels on higher floors with water cooling that got air from specific places to flow into rooms in villas. And, of course, the systems in Rome's palaces are extreme.
So if what you're saying is true, without even passive cooling, your housing is worse than even the standards for Roman slaves.
Is the effect strong enough to show up in life expectancy tables? Average lifespan is already quite a bit longer in much of Western Europe than the US (https://old.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/1lih4a0/oc...) that it surprises me that this would push it even farther. Am I wrong to be skeptical?
For that matter, does it show up in differences between US states? Personally I've lived in 9 different states, 4 which are in the top ten for life expectancy, and I haven't had central air conditioning in any of them. Is this an anomaly? Is there any correlation between air conditioning use within the US and life expectancy?
Guess what got installed in a lot of cabins this year by people I know in AK?
Air conditioning!
https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/08/1152766
The difference from Inca sacrifices is the age of the offering.
The elephant in the room is human overpopulation. Every doubling of the population and we'd have to halve our "personal overconsumption and extravagance" to keep the environmental effects the same. We've had more than one doubling in the time I've been alive.
But somehow large families are still celebrated instead of being treated as the eternal "personal overconsumption and extravagance" that they create.
Heat pumps work as aircos or heaters but are more efficient.
In France, tax credits were denied for air-to-air heat pumps that could also cool (which they all can).
I had a proper split system AC before and it's a different thing entirely. Press a button and have a flow of freezing cold air in the face.
Anecdata, but our A-rated apartment in Belgium rides heatwaves like it's nothing. We're on the last floor and in the corner of a building that gets sun from midday to sundown. A floor fan to move air around and that's it, the building's built-in ventilation and good insulation keep us going. It gets to 26C inside max, and that's after 2–3 weeks of outside temps above 32C (after the brick mass has absorbed too much heat that radiates inwards). In winter we barely need heating.
Perhaps some people in Europe are reacting against AC in a very silly way because they associate AC with America and some sort of national pride or ego gets in the way of rational thought about the subject.
I'd be interested to know on which media you have heard it because I haven't. Maybe some obscure programme on Cnews or some channel like that had an "expert" say that once. Some people will be worried about catching a cold, at most.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44657309
I agree with you, but at the same time I recall my last trip to NY 20 years ago. It was end of summer, so kinda hot, and many times I walked into buildings that would shower you at the entrance with <16C AC air, it literally felt like stepping into a freezer room. I felt cold in many shops after a 10m stay, and I like cold. I'm not sure that's still the case, but I can see where that's coming from (and don't get me wrong, I need AC to survive when temps are above 27C). Removing humidity and bringing temps down in the 21~24C range would be plenty enough.
Doesn’t work when the overnight low is 20C
Most (not all) old euro cities don't get a good breeze unless they're built on the windward side of a hill because (generalizing here): the streets aren't a grid and everything is built to the same height.
plus the humidity is still there without aircon. 20C humid != 20C dry.
The only real problem with more widespread AC is it might lead to the short term win long term loss where people build cheaply (without _at least_ 300mm/1ft insulation and triple glass windows etc) and then spend continuously on heating and cooling instead. The simple solution to this in places where AC is banned: allow it only for well insulated buildings. Yes it’s where it’s least needed but it gives incentive to fix the root cause first.
I chuckled. Here in Chennai we (speaking for my family and a few others, I didn't ask everyone) set the AC to 24C when we use it, and don't really use AC when it's "cool outside", which is like 26-28C.
Ceiling fans are on 24x7 though, even when the AC is running.
And it's humid a lot of the time.
Now, arguably the capex for a heat pump is substantial, and that's a valid point. Also WA summers are not that hot outside of a few really warm weeks (in the 90s).
All that said, the energy consumption (and thus costs) of running AC is much lower these days.
Heat pumps are to traditional A/Cs what LED lights are to incandescents.
My electricity bill with heat pump heating (one exhaust heat pump and one split) and relatively cheap electricity is still pretty substantial. 25000 kWh per year for 150sqm/1600sq ft. Usually pay $0.30/kWh for power.
A dew point temperature (~heat index, humidex) would be more meaningful than simple air temperature.
Where I live now the governments are all about energy-neutral houses and replacing gas boilers used to heating with electric thermal pumps (which do the cooling too, just not as good as AC). and solar panels.
The eastern part of the continent went all for AC in the 2000s and the main complaint I remember is how atrocious they look when installed chaotically on building facades.
I think almost all homes built today rely on heat pumps, it's almost mandatory with the recent energy efficiency requirements.
As far as crusades go, some local governments really hate cars for a good reason, but the AC story is something new to me.
People complain that it’s too expensive to build.
- we should also mandate external window shutters on all buildings so that the sun heats that and not the apartment/house
- we should also mandate that parking lots are always covered with trees, especially when they are close to buildings. Look at this bullshit: https://x.com/dmitriid/status/1955506095239336137
Edit: as someone else mentioned. Also: thicker walls.
And only after all this is implemented can we start a discussion of whether AC is needed. Yes, right now it's a necessity across most of Europe
I slept with a fan on and still woke up drenched.
Nowadays it's all glass, which means lethal greenhouse in summer, with or without climate warming.
Its the hubris of man that we stopped building our houses with respect for the weather. As we’ve left that behind we’re losing that ability to our collective detriment.
We can and should do better.
Infrared blaster is $20 and allows to control your AC/HP from anywhere using your phone.
They're not entirely wrong. A/C is often installed without adequate ventilation, and elevated indoor CO₂ levels are not great for your well-being. HRV (heat recovery ventilation) solves the problem, but it's currently a niche technology compared to mini splits.
AC is still viewed almost like plague (or a microwave) in eastern europe.
Naa I'm pretty sure that is the reason. I live in central Germany and the summers are sure getting hotter but it's fine. I was in Japan a few weeks ago and good lord it was like 40 degrees (104 Fahrenheit I guess) plus high humidity. If it would get that hot I would definitely get AC.
Come on, as if people would die of heat stroke just not to use that pesky Yankee tech. Europe has adopted tons of American technology. Honestly I wasn't even aware that AC is American. I'm sure as the summers get hotter here more and more people will get AC as well.
Japanese tech is the best for temperate New Zealand homes. Called a heatpump here but also has aircon functionality i.e. electric heating in winter and aircon in summer on hot days as necessary. Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Toshiba and Fujitsu etc. Not sure I've ever seen a Carrier here (and I can't even name other US brands). There are also some cheaper Chinese brands.
Part of the problem on forums is that the wording varies by country and hot US states install A/C only systems: which you would never do in temperate climes. The word split is uncommonly used here (as a kiwi I'm not entirely certain of the meaning).
Today it was 19/10 degrees Celsius (68/50 F) in Warsaw. With these temperatures you could only use AC to warm your home.
I understand there are more hot days in Poland now, but it makes no economic sense to spend $1-2k on AC and only turn it on 15 times a year.
Your energy-score had to be below a certain limit (where 0 is neutral).
Now, we wanted to install AC, but that would actually bump our energy-score, because the idea is that if you need AC you didn't insulate enough.
Except... when you have such thick walls the house overheated starting mid-spring until mid-fall.
I do remember going into the software and overriding the fact that it could cool, but only after the house was certified.
You mention radiators. The ones on the wall with hot water running through them? Don't they need high temperatures to work efficiently? When we ordered ours, you couldn't even get radiators as air-to-water only did low temperatures.
But I don't live there anymore. I eventually ended up in Phoenix. Now the AC is too powerful, as it is only single stage...
It feels shabbier and more hardscabble than America now? That's news to me.
I do have one mechanical fan for my yoga practice.
Oh, and the winter temp reaches 7C/45F and I don't use heating either.
There is another side to this coin. How many extra people will die each year due to the additional radiative forcing caused by emissions due to the AC usage? Presenting one side without attempting to estimate the other side is not a fair comparison.
I was once working out of the corporate HQ of one of the largest multinational companies in Germany, and despite the modern buildings, the offices had no A/C and it was hot in the summer. Germans are against A/C for various reasons: (1) it's environmentally unfriendly; (2) it's only a few weeks in the summer; (3) Continuous cold air on skin is unhealthy. (4) You get used to it.
There are varying degrees of truth here, but for me, it didn't matter: I couldn't do intense focused work. That to me was too huge a cost.
We travel to Greece a lot, and I've never seen a place without an AC there either.