[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

[slibhb]

Meanwhile ~40 (mostly young) people drowned in France recently trying to cool off as temperatures exceeded 100F around Paris.

It's true that historically Europe is cooler than similar latitudes in North America. But there's also an anti-AC movement in Europe based partly on environmentalism, partly on reflexive anti-Americanism, and partly due to a general preference for "naturalness"/suspicion of anything new.

[nkoren]

Correction: Europe is much warmer than similar latitudes in North America. Madrid is north of Denver. Istanbul is north of New York. London is north of Calgary.[1]

1: https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/3sac4u/interactive...

[LunaSea]

Meanwhile the US has a 1.31 drownings per 100 000 inhabitants and France 0.81 per 100 000 inhabitants. 60% less than the US.

[close04]

It's very Americentrist to assume anyone ever thinks of "Americans" when deciding their home improvements and expenses.

Most of Europe only sees occasional heatwaves (for now) so it's a compromise to suffer some heat briefly but save money and effort on the AC installation. Those who can, time their vacation to overlap with much of the peak heat.

I think this slowly changes but it's driven by need (longer and hotter heatwaves), affordability, local regulation, not by thinking of "Americans". Not even US Americans.

[slibhb]

I don't assume it; it's simply true. Educated/elite Europeans tend to define themselves in opposition to Americans. It's pretty hard to interact with those Europeans (including on this site) and not pick up on that.

There are plenty of Americans who side with the Europeans and also define themselves in opposition to "the kind of American" who has AC/eats fast food/is obese/has no culture. I'm from New England and maybe even a majority of people have that perspective.

[bilekas]

> But there's also an anti-AC movement in Europe based partly on environmentalism, partly on reflexive anti-Americanism, and partly due to a general preference for "naturalness"/suspicion of anything new.

It's so amusing to see what people really think about us Europeans, so suspicious of anything new and those Americans, I guess we still burn witches too!

I for one love my AirConditioning unit, but it gets use maybe 1 month of the year ? I can completely understand why people don't see the need when awnings are still a thing. There are just already ways to keep the house cool during the day.

[thefz]

> It's true that historically Europe is cooler than similar latitudes in North America. But there's also an anti-AC movement in Europe based partly on environmentalism, partly on reflexive anti-Americanism, and partly due to a general preference for "naturalness"/suspicion of anything new.

This is complete speculation from your part.

[blahblaher]

You're being too generous. It's not "speculation", it complete bullshit.

[soco]

That part might be speculation, okay, so then let's add the number of people, European citizens, dying of overheating every year (lately at least). The history is history, while the current world is so much hotter. It doesn't matter whether you deny climate change models, reality is that France just had their hottest day ever recorded, and such records get broken year after year. I've seen yesterday a picture of a Madrid bus station showing +51°C. So, if there's a better solution than AC for the affected persons I'd be very happy to hear it.

[close04]

Why did you stop just short of proving that Europeans reject ACs because of "reflexive anti-Americanism"? Because that's the only thing GP objected to.

[Hikikomori]

Trying to cool off going swimming because its warm outside like we do every summer?

[bob1029]

> I assume they're mostly the kind that has never been to Europe

The big disconnect comes from the fact that places like Miami and Houston don't really have analogous European peers in terms of climate. There are places that come close but it's not the same.

It's one thing for it to be unbearably hot at 2-6pm. Its a different thing altogether for it to still be 80F+ at 3am every single night for months on end. You cannot escape the heat in Houston without phase change cooling technology. Latent heat removal is what most of us are paying for around here (water out of the air). Not sensible heat removal.

I can walk down my street and find 2-3k sqft sqft homes that have 5+ tons of HVAC capacity. There is a home with three condensing units and it's not much bigger than mine (I only have a single 3 ton system). I've been thinking about getting a multizone ductless installed on top of my central unit to deal with July and August.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/weather-news/articles/worst-ive-e...

[ExoticPearTree]

You can add AC systems in the attics and then run the piping inside the building. You keep the facade as it is.

I guess it depends on the country, customs and other things. In my part of Europe, older people are convinced the AC will kill them if they use it. So YMMV.

[spockz]

You can indeed. But then you lose significant space internally and not to mention the noise. Of course, better than having nothing. However, space in these houses comes at a premium as well.

[account42]

You don't need a lot of space for effective AC.

[druskacik]

I live in Prague and seeing the temperatures expected during weekend, I bought at least the portable AC. I'd say 2-4 weeks is quite a long period to justify this purchase.

Yes, historically, the AC didn't make sense in Prague, but there's no going back, the world is just going to get hotter.

[gmuslera]

Never cross a river 4-feet deep on average. A heatstroke may not let you see how cooler the rest of the year may be.

[labadi]

If you count that one weird day in March, there have been 9 days so far this year where the temperature has been above 28C I live in central Europe as well. It's only June... You'll have 39C on Sunday.

Using 28C as a threshold since temperatures at or above start to affect sleep.

[whalesalad]

The climate situation will only get worse. That “2-4 weeks” number will continue to grow. At some point you will need AC to survive but if that transition doesn’t start happening now the electrical system won’t be able to tolerate the load.

[eigenspace]

This might be the coldest summer for the rest of your life. European summers are only going to get hotter, and more humid. Meanwhile, we have a pressing need to decarbonize our home heating solutions both for energy sovreignty and climate reasons.

Modern air-to-air heat pumps (i.e. aircon) are a pretty good solution for that. I think we're just going to have to work our way around this as a society. While many Europeans live in historic buildings that will require a lot more care, most do not, and installing aircon at least for homes with elederly people and young children provably will reduce unnecessary deaths during our now yearly heatwaves.

[mavhc]

Air-conditioners are heat pumps and everyone should be using heat pumps

[clarionbell]

Good luck convincing old building protection pressure groups about it (yes, around here these people are real and have power). Not to mention the bureau actually in charge of landmark protection (in some areas everything is a landmark).

[labadi]

Portable AC units are pretty universally allowed where I live in Austria. The mini split units are also allowed, but I've seen some folks get letters about these specifically.

[orwin]

Unless you have split mobile AC portable units are very inefficient.

Tbh even in old buildings it might be possible to reabilitate old chimneys for AC (or rather heat pumps).

[throw1234567891]

Make Past Great Again.

[kakacik]

I've lived in Prague for 5 years. Top apartments in buildings (most have 5-6 storeys in the center) are hardly livable during summer (not even during proper heat waves) without AC, reconstructed or not. I've been to few, folks slept on balconies if AC was not present. Woken up by 5am traffic of course. The whole city center is a mess of stone and concrete/tarmac, it heats up and stays too warm deep into each night.

I don't get this extremism, neither no AC or AC full blast freezing the room. We have ours set to mild spin aiming for 20C, it drops temperature in the room cca 4-5 degrees down compared to no AC. Still 25, very pleasant while outside 35 in shade, especially for small kids.