[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.

[DanielHB]

> Living in a city where 80% of residential electricity comes from hydropower, the emissions argument seems a bit moot.

In an interconnected grid (most of europe) clean power capacity that is not used locally can be sold off to places that have less clean power capacity. This argument only works if all of europe was mostly renewable energy.

But I mean, heat-pump AC is quite efficient as long as you are not making your home frigid year-around I don't see that as a big argument. Govs would be better served by providing good heat-pump regulations and pre-approved installations for residential builds and banning those incredible ineficient portable ACs.

[whilenot-dev]

> 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.

Can you expand on this? Because it feels like greening is always a pressing topic for any architect working here[0][1].

[0]: https://gruenstattgrau.at/news/

[1]: https://www.wien.gv.at/spezial/klimafahrplan/klimaanpassung-...

[labadi]

I was referring more to everyday discourse rather than city initiatives. Apologies for the confusion.

And my criticism is mainly of the city in its current form. I'm appreciative of the efforts from the city, but walking around Neubau, it's hard to describe it as anything other than a concrete jungle.

[whilenot-dev]

I mean Neubau (1070) is the concrete jungle in central Vienna. I don't now how that district can be so popular tbh.

[spacechild1]

> 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 totally agree on the importance of trees, reflective pavements, green roofs, etc.

However, pretty much everybody who is critical of AC would also support the things you've listed. Is your complaint that people do not talk enough about it? That's not really my experience.

I have the feeling that widespread use of AC would make it even harder to make these changes. At the very least, these things must go hand in hand.