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Air Conditioning Is Not a Luxury, It Is a Necessity

humanprogress.org

161–170 of 294 posts

Re: Air Conditioning Is Not a Luxury, It Is a Necessity

#161
post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're worried about that amount of water, what do you do when it rains?

Some idiot figuring out that nice hole in cladding is right place to direct it... Or people under balconies when it is not raining not wanting to have water drop on them... In many cases balconies have less than ideal designs.

Exactly. While I personaly don't have a problem with AC condensate dripping down on the street, I can see how some people might not be used to that.

Best would probably be to use the existing rainwater pipes that lead down to the sewers - all building have those. But good luck getting that past your HOA-equivalent, as that will most probably involve some modifications to the building and we can't have that, no!

Re: Air Conditioning Is Not a Luxury, It Is a Necessity

#162
post #138
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is when humidity rises it makes it harder forbthe body to expel hear via evaporation. This is what is happening in places like UK this time around. An AC helps get rid of the humidity as it cools the air. I don't know about necessity now but 20 years down the line, who knows

Cooling the air by definition raises the humidity :-) Dehumidifier mode in AC works by cooling the air below the dew point, removing the condensation, then warming the air up (either by itself or literally heating it up)

But for dehumidifier in AC, the heat is dispensed through the outdoor unit, so end result actually cools the house. I use our AC in dehumidifier mode, also, as I understand it has less power consumption (please correct me if I am wrong). In my experience, it cools down the room pretty well

Re: Air Conditioning Is Not a Luxury, It Is a Necessity

#163
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think even when it's 45C and your boomers cook alive in their concrete ovens, I will still see these sneering opinions from the enlightened master race, civilized to the point of welcoming their own extinction to preserve the klimat for someone else's children.

[citation needed] :) edit: (well the author decided to remove part of his comment mentioning "face-condoms", too bad)

okay, sure. I only removed it because I know that questioning the mass hysteria of that brief era gets you flagged.

>the RKI estimated roughly 2,600–4,900 heat-related deaths annually in 2022–2025

>Germany reported about 2,800 COVID-19-associated deaths in the 2024/25 season, which covers most of the 2025 winter and spring.

so yes, taking Germany as the example, the world-ending plague now kills fewer boomers per year than summer does, despite it being over 4 years since anyone wore face condoms or gave a shit about bi-weekly boosters.

Re: Air Conditioning Is Not a Luxury, It Is a Necessity

#164

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…

> I also have reservations about why an American libertarian think tank writes about what Europeans should do, but that's probably on me. My thoughts exactly, except in my mind it's pretty clear that it's about influencing the climate change discourse... The less people are bothered by the rising temperatures, the more they will acquiesce to environmentally unfriendly policy.

I'm still brothered by climate change every time i get out of my apartment. I still don't want to feel miserable during heatwave. This argument is utter nonsense considering most of Europe has summer clean electric overcapacity. It's even more nonsensical in case of hvacs because it leads to pollution reduction by replacing gas heating

Re: Air Conditioning Is Not a Luxury, It Is a Necessity

#165
post #4

We have those stupid regulations in Finland about how the outside of our apartments buildings should look - meaning you cannot put the condenser visibly on the outside of the building. I've heard stories of residents being scalded for putting flowers on their balcony railings that face outwards as it ruins the "look". Given almost all apartment buildings are built consistently between every floor they could ensure co…

You say stupid, but I actually would find it sad to see beautiful buildings that are in many cases hundreds of years old defaced with loads of small condensers bolted on to the face.

That doesn't mean they shouldn't have A/C but rather all flats use one system with a large roof condenser, or where that is not possible district cooling or ground source.

Re: Air Conditioning Is Not a Luxury, It Is a Necessity

#166

> 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…

Case closed that europe got tens of thousands excess deaths from heatwaves?

Re: Air Conditioning Is Not a Luxury, It Is a Necessity

#167
post #4

We have those stupid regulations in Finland about how the outside of our apartments buildings should look - meaning you cannot put the condenser visibly on the outside of the building. I've heard stories of residents being scalded for putting flowers on their balcony railings that face outwards as it ruins the "look". Given almost all apartment buildings are built consistently between every floor they could ensure co…

I think you misunderstand what isolation does. It will also keep the heat out. Having window awnings to block sunlight from directly warming up the room will go a long way.

Re: Air Conditioning Is Not a Luxury, It Is a Necessity

#168
Has anyone ever argued that AC is luxury? This century? Really? I believe, the division goes between harm/comfort and not luxury/necessity.

I don't have AC at home. Some think I don't install it because I somehow don't get hot in summer or cold at winter. It's the other way around. We, people, have one of the best thermoregulation systems among animals, our whole skin is essentially a huge cooling system. The only way to render it incapable is... stop using it for a prolonged amount of time. It's use it or lose it all over again.

If you don't believe me, read what ultra-marathon runners have to say. If a trained athlete can survive Badwater, almost everyone can train themselves to survive a European heatwave.

Sure, some people can't. Some need AC because of cardiovascular conditions. It's fine, let them have it. But some people can't walk because of musculoskeletal conditions, but no one would argue that a wheelchair is a necessity.

Re: Air Conditioning Is Not a Luxury, It Is a Necessity

#169
post #42

The AC propaganda coming from the US this year is really strange and out of proportion. About ten times as many people die from the cold in Europe as die from the heat.

This is not propaganda what a nonsense. The fact that more ppl die from cold is not an argument against using ACs. It's an argument to have hvacs to get proper electrified cooling and heating

Re: Air Conditioning Is Not a Luxury, It Is a Necessity

#170
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think even when it's 45C and your boomers cook alive in their concrete ovens, I will still see these sneering opinions from the enlightened master race, civilized to the point of welcoming their own extinction to preserve the klimat for someone else's children.

Lazy climate change denialism, nobody is convinced.

acknowledging that climate has changed is climate change denialism?
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