[maciejw]

Growing in Poland I'd say Eastern Europe was until recently too poor to afford AC, but also the climate was indeed less extreme just 30 years ago. Nowadays most new detached houses do have AC in at least one room (bedroom or living room) - mine included. Alternatively many new houses have heat pumps. Apartament blocks are less consistent in that matter, but there are interesting initiatives as well - like using combined-heat-and-power citywide heating installations for cooling (by pumping cold water through them).

[alkyon]

I moved to Spain 3 years ago and still think it's kind of nonsense in Central and Eastern Europe.

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.