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I tend to stay away from topics like this which generalize and basically tell a whole continent they are living their lives "wrongly". But I have to say, AC is not "banned" anywhere in Europe, apart from certain cantons of Switzerland. In Germany you have a right to AC actually, if your community votes to "veto" the installation a court can overturn that.
Same goes for tree shade and sensible city planning, also architecture (see all those textured dark grey or black condos currently in fashion and shudder). The other day I was biking along a road after dark and residual heat around it is so noticeable, biking 5 meters closer to the trees it felt so much colder.
I've spent some time in SE Asia. Many homes out there don't have an A/C. Apparently the real number is like 85%.
Should air conditioning maybe be less regulated in Europe? Sure. Do I enjoy A/C on occasion? Sure, guilty. Is climate change real? Sure. But A/C is a necessity like water/sewage/electricity? In Europe?? Idk.
Edit: I agree in advance with everyone saying it sucks without AC but just saying, a strategic fan (and opening windows if possible, closing curtains, etc) can be OP. It might sound stupid but for years I literally forgot fans existed because I was where everywhere is AC and often no fan. Just try it...
Edit 2: I think if you're in a hot AND especially humid place (probably not EU) I'm not sure if I'd take AC or dehumidifier
Cooling technologies are a necessity and air conditioning is one of many possible options. Europe north of France is substantially cooler than much of the US, even on the hottest days. Many homes could get by on ceiling fans, but they are very uncommon here.
A couple of years ago that would have been correct, but circumstances have changed. We've had a series of heat waves this summer, and temperatures have gotten very high inside. Much depends on the location of course, and the type of building, and stuff like that, but the fact is that in Belgium alone thousands of people have died because of the heat. Thousands of people that would still be with us if they would have…
There were many excess deaths, but there was also a shortage of fans here. Good fans could have also saved their lives.
I'm not convinced by the author's point that ACs do not impose a burden on the electrical grid. They write that ACs have gotten more efficient, which may be true, but that's the same Windows developers have been saying over years and yet boot times and hardware requirements have gone way up. One million efficient units still require more energy than no units. And while I definitely believe that European hospitals and…
If a 10-day heat wave cuts work productivity by 10% (which is optimistic IMO, it's probably worse in countries where people aren't used to it), that's equivalent to a 1-day general strike. If the workers actually managed to pull off a general strike in modern times, you can be sure the state wouldn't be happy with business as usual.
> HumanProgress.org is a project of the Cato Institute with major support from the John Templeton Foundation and the Searle Freedom Trust [1] > The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. [2] It's nothing more than US libertarian think tank trying to influence EU policy... Perhaps in an effort to push more anti climate change agenda/discourse in US (but that might be jus…
Oh no you’re gonna trigger the Germans.
For sure. I'm from Germany (but with an AC) as well and am always amazed when people tell me that AC makes you sick. Even young people sometimes replicate this "Oh you gotta be careful not to get sick" and would rather be in 30+°C indoors. How come Germans get sick while the rest of the world seems to be doing fine and is even productive during summer (it feels like Germany grinds to a halt during heatwaves).
So once it is too hot, just turn the AC on and you won't get sick or risk a heat stroke either.
We'll come back to this in several months for a winter freeze to see if Europe has basic heating to keep themselves warm (or will they not turn the heaters on for some reason) and in a year, to see if the rest of Europe have learned their lesson to just have basic AC installed for the next heatwave.
Here in Norway AC is not the standard in hotel rooms. For 80% of the year, that's OK - but it can become pretty uncomfortable if you're booking anytime between mid-June and mid-August. The standard here are heat pumps, at least for residential housing. It is really only a problem if you live in blocks or apartment buildings that are housing associations, with strict rules regarding how such heat pumps should be insta…
>Here in Norway AC is not the standard in hotel rooms. Since when should there be AC in friggin' Norway ?
For some reason, room-level air conditioning is basic public health, but weather engineering is a sci-fi villain origin story.
They think global warming is a minor threat that requires minimal to no changes in regulations, but heat waves (that, according to her, have always been the same every year) are a massive threat to the public and requires immediate changes in regulation.
You might be surprised how far you can get with a simple fan. What your body needs is to evaporate heat. You sweat, it evaporates, skin cools down. Airflow helps that process a whole bunch. It's physics. It may not make hot weather feel perfect but it will cover the necessity pretty much anywhere. Same goes for tree shade and sensible city planning, also architecture (see all those textured dark grey or black condos…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What technology are these heat pumps using that make them "energetically basically free"?
They have very good thermal coeffiency: ground source heat pumps will typically generate 3-6kWh of thermal energy from 1kWh of electricity. By reversing the flow you can also use ground source heat pumps for cooling as well.