[carlosrg]

I don’t understand the obsession the Americans have with claiming that we hate AC. Europe is not a country. There are countries where AC is more used. Here in Spain it’s common. It’s probably less common in other, less hot countries. Besides heat, countries with a lower GDP probably have less ACs installed than richer countries. So probably France have more AC-per-capita than Moldova, my guess is that something similar happens if you compare California with Mississippi. It depends. We have nothing against AC as a technology.

[ExoticPearTree]

> Besides heat, countries with a lower GDP probably have less ACs installed than richer countries.

You couldn't be more wrong about it. A 12k BTU unit is about ~ 250-300EUR + maybe 100EUR setting it up. Building that are almost collapsing have AC. Its a thing to have AC.

[jltsiren]

California is a funny example, because the ocean is cold. If you live close to the coast, the nights are cool even during heat waves. Where I live, air conditioning is less useful than in Finland.

[sgerenser]

Mississippi, despite its much lower per capita income than California, has a much higher percentage of housing units with air conditioning (93% vs 72%). AC is now so inexpensive that whether or not a house has AC is mostly about average summer temperatures not income.

[FullMetalBitch]

Average price of AC instalation in Spain goes from 550€ to 5000€ depending on what kind of instalation, equipment and units. Average wage is between around 1300€ net per month.

In Spain it's not cheap.

Edit. And also local towns have rules, I can't just install one that have a device on the outer wall/window and I own the whole house, in the flats you depende on the community to decide.

[rsynnott]

> Besides heat, countries with a lower GDP probably have less ACs installed than richer countries.

I suspect that's actually not the case, because most of the richest European countries have climates where it's rarely necessary.

[FullMetalBitch]

Even in Spain depends on the zone it can be everywhere or nowhere. In the north it's rare to find AC.

No one hates AC, it just wasn't needed.

[Kaibeezy]

The Economist is British

[cholantesh]

They don't have bylines, though, so individual authors could be of different nationalities.