[MarkCole]

I live in the Heidelberg/Mannheim area of Germany and this problem is most definitely not restricted to passive houses.

I know several people with top floor apartments that regularly come home to 32°C apartments after work in the summer. Summers here are hot with little air movement and even sleeping with open windows it's impossible to get it cooled down in the night.

If I didn't live in a rental place I would definitely invest in air conditioning.

[eric_h]

Are window a/c units not a thing in Germany? If you can buy one of those, you can take it with you when you leave.

[MarkCole]

AC is generally not a thing at all in German residential properties. Usually only in stores/offices/etc and even then it's not a given, I once worked here in an office with no AC. That was a hard summer and it was horrible trying to concentrate on work.

As I think someone else mentioned European/German windows are different to American ones. American ones, lift from the bottom up I believe and an AC unit is put in the gap. European windows can be tilted to be slightly open, or completely opened up into the room much like a door [1].

There are Window units I believe but the Windows have to be modified for them I think, so it's more of a permanent change.

There are also freestanding units which have a hose to go out a window but I've been told from several people that they're not worth the money / don't cool the place down enough. And because the window has to be slightly open for the hose to aim out of more heat keeps coming back in.

[1] - http://4e9dsh1squ2a41o9at4bz989-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-c...

[bfuller]

Most residential windows lift bottom up but we also have the other kind. Makes cleaning much easier.

[mAritz]

AC is not really a thing in private homes almost anywhere in Europe.

Windows also work differently here in Germany than in the US, so the same models definitely wouldn't work. I'm not sure if there are versions for our windows.

[Thlom]

Pretty normal in Norway, just reversed. But I’ve never seen the window version. Usually the a/c unit is mounted on the outside wall and a hole is drilled in the wall to bring in the hose to the unit inside.

[oh_sigh]

There are freestanding versions, which have a flexible tube which you put out the window for dumping heat.

[toyg]

> AC is not really a thing in private homes almost anywhere in Europe.

Northern Europe, no; but in Italy they're now very, very common. Temperatures there are steadily rising. Italians used to mock countries where AC has long been de rigueur (North-Africa, South-East Asia etc), but now it's a basic necessity - in areas that already felt very hot because of high humidity, they now hit 50°C year after year.

[bufferoverflow]

German electricity prices are very high, almost $0.37 per kWh.

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/...