Live data from Hacker News

Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

lse.ac.uk

251–260 of 505 posts

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#251
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably because the UK - similar to most of Europe - does not use the US vertically sliding sash window type, does it? The typical "walmart window AC" does just not really exist in (most of) Europe, because the windows for it don't exist, afaik. Edit: Turns out, sash windows are more commonly found in the UK (compared to other European countries), but still not as common as in the US. So, UK = not as hot (so far), t…

Why are the windows different, actually? They don't seem to be smaller overall, just skinnier and taller? But you should still be able to get two tubes fitted into any kind of window with the right seals. If you were really up for renovations you could get closeable exhaust holes punched through your brick or something maybe.

Living in the US I honestly miss the German windows that swing open. You can open the entire window whereas sliding windows can only ever open halfway.

I also sometimes miss being able to stick my head out the window but that's a tradeoff about screens and in the end of the day I prefer not to have to worry about bugs.

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#252
post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Sorry what? There's no reason that you can't install AC in your home/office in Europe, and many are doing so. It just hasn't been needed very much til recently.

There is, unfortunately. You cannot install AC, with an outside unit, without approval of your landlord. Lots of people are renting, e.g in Germany. Of course, one can get an indoor unit an seal the window. But it is heavy and takes up a lot of space in a small urban rental..

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does on my balcony where the fan pumps to, which has made doing any gardening difficult, but to the overall outside temperature it's just a drop in the ocean.

Sure. And each car is just a drop in the ocean of CO2. And each plane flight. And smoking one cigarette. Humans have a really hard time understanding compounding risk. But there are billions of us. How many billions of drops can you handwave away?

When you enact 0.1% changes through a population, that's still a 0.1% change.

"If we all do this little thing" thinking is utter nonsense. If all of human consumption or contribution to warming or what-have-you is 1000, applying a change that lowers that to 999 is not doing anything more than that.

This here is not even a 0.1% thing. You could probably get a better result by telling people to read ebooks rather than hardback. It's just absurd.

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#254
post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well yeah, because it requires re-engineering the entire built environment! Heat waves only became a serious problem in Europe in the last decade. The vast majority of buildings predate the need for air conditioning by several decades - and in plenty of cases by several centuries. The buildings are designed around being livable in a pre-climate-catastrophe climate without needing air conditioning - which is perfectly…

This is completely ridiculous you just need to let people use AC properly and it will solve most of the problem with people dying. That doesn’t mean you need to go from place to place in AC or never be out of AC, but every person in southern Europe should have an AC unit in their bedroom and deaths will go down substantially. Another thing that would help is if Europe stopped being so averse to new construction so th…

> "Another thing that would help is if Europe..."

Europe is a continent with a lot of different countries, all with different laws and regulations. Even the ones who are in the European Union have different rules and regulations.

So please realize that any blanket statements about Europe work as well as making one about the Americas (ie North/South).

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#255
post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That heat goes out into the world, it doesn’t just disappear

Eventually radiates out into space ;-) It doesn’t disappear, but we don’t need to care much about infrared passing Alpha Centauri.

Eventually yes, perhaps. But first heat gets trapped in Earth's atmosphere, because pollution and greenhouse gases make it hard for it to dissipate into space. It's called global warming, and no - it's not a hoax.

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no European law against AC. It's just expensive energy because it's got carbon taxes in it.

There are atleast some restrictions in localities I.e. https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/12/portof... or parts of Portugal. Also at a certain point if you ban or heavily restrict energy production to the point that no one can afford to run AC, it is a de facto ban.

[deleted]

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#257
post #214
post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Northern Europe will actually get colder with global warming... Well, only on average, the heat waves in the summer will stay. But it's always funny how many people don't really realize how soon the AMOC will likely collapse (probably within the next 30 years - definitely within the next 70 years) and just unlivable most houses will consequently become, as what we currently consider an extreme winter would consequent…

The Day After Tomorrow (2004) predicted this.

It's not a good movie though, the entertainment value may be debatable - but it did not give a realistic scenario to the AMOC collapse.

It's only slightly related insofar an amoc collapse would make winters in Europe more severe (not in USA) - but it's only "inspired by" such a scenario and should not be seen as a plausible future prediction

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#258
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> To hear Americans jump at the chance to comment about Europeans and their AC usage A lot of Americans would be indifferent if it wasn't for Europeans (mostly Germans ime - Southern, Central, and Eastern Europeans are indifferent to supportive) who often try to act all superior about not using ACs or heat pumps because they supposedly "cause colds" or are somehow "unnatural" or try to make it a moral action despite…

I think USA'n suffers more from discomfort than European, and the gp comment is an attempt at explaining that.

this is also my experience as a north American, sweating is a no-go and they clutch AC at 18C.

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#259

Europeans don’t get scolded enough for their resistance to air conditioning. In terms of accounting for preventable deaths, Greece has 2x more heat-related deaths per capita annually than Mississippi has gun deaths. By comparison, the worst US state for heat related deaths, Nevada - a literal desert - has >10x fewer deaths per capita than Greece.

Are you echoing rants from Levels? He has a point but the death rate stats he posts comparing US to EU are bogus, incomparable measures. These places record heat related deaths differently which accounts for a large part of the difference. If you have better sources on this than he does, please share.

I thought the Europe number was even just excess deaths and not recorded hear deaths at all whereas the US number was only officially recorded heat deaths.

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#260

Europeans don’t get scolded enough for their resistance to air conditioning. In terms of accounting for preventable deaths, Greece has 2x more heat-related deaths per capita annually than Mississippi has gun deaths. By comparison, the worst US state for heat related deaths, Nevada - a literal desert - has >10x fewer deaths per capita than Greece.

US citizens don’t get scolded enough for having elected (twice!) a president who denies human-induced global warming.

AC would not be so much needed if we started reducing pollution and greenhouse gases.

Post reply on HN