Study: Home air conditioning cut premature deaths on hot days 80% since 1960
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Re: Study: Home air conditioning cut premature deaths on hot days 80% since 1960
#2[deleted]
Re: Study: Home air conditioning cut premature deaths on hot days 80% since 1960
#3I absolutely hate hot temperatures and find the summer truly horrendous because in England it's getting hotter and hotter, this year my apartment was over 35c / 95f on multiple days... but air conditioning just doesn't exist here, I've never known anyone to have it in their home. This article explains that air conditioning is inexpensive now, so why does America have such huge air con usage and England none? Was it a trend that coincided with a huge number of new houses being built in America, or did people start having it installed as the result of...? Some sort of nationwide air con thing? To go from <1% to 85% in ~40 years seems like something must have triggered it.
Re: Study: Home air conditioning cut premature deaths on hot days 80% since 1960
#4I absolutely hate hot temperatures and find the summer truly horrendous because in England it's getting hotter and hotter, this year my apartment was over 35c / 95f on multiple days... but air conditioning just doesn't exist here, I've never known anyone to have it in their home. This article explains that air conditioning is inexpensive now, so why does America have such huge air con usage and England none? Was it a…
Electricity is vastly cheaper in the US. Its also hotter and substantially more humid.
The quick adoption is probably just cheap mass availability of the technology?
I share your sentiment, by the way. There are quite a few days in Germany where its unbearable in the summer. Alas, aircon here is mostly fans.
Re: Study: Home air conditioning cut premature deaths on hot days 80% since 1960
#5I absolutely hate hot temperatures and find the summer truly horrendous because in England it's getting hotter and hotter, this year my apartment was over 35c / 95f on multiple days... but air conditioning just doesn't exist here, I've never known anyone to have it in their home. This article explains that air conditioning is inexpensive now, so why does America have such huge air con usage and England none? Was it a…
Perhaps it has something to do with the vast differences in climate across the United States, and communication among homeowners between climates?
Re: Study: Home air conditioning cut premature deaths on hot days 80% since 1960
#6I absolutely hate hot temperatures and find the summer truly horrendous because in England it's getting hotter and hotter, this year my apartment was over 35c / 95f on multiple days... but air conditioning just doesn't exist here, I've never known anyone to have it in their home. This article explains that air conditioning is inexpensive now, so why does America have such huge air con usage and England none? Was it a…
I think that part of this is that most of the lower 48 US states (24-47° North) are closer to the equator than most of England (50-54° North).
95°F isn't an extremely hot day. We get 95°F days in the summer in Seattle, the city of perma-drizzle (47° North). From personal experience, most houses in this area don't have air conditioning.
In the South, people regularly see much hotter days (I think Arizona (33°N) tops 110°F / 43°C during the summer).
Re: Study: Home air conditioning cut premature deaths on hot days 80% since 1960
#7I absolutely hate hot temperatures and find the summer truly horrendous because in England it's getting hotter and hotter, this year my apartment was over 35c / 95f on multiple days... but air conditioning just doesn't exist here, I've never known anyone to have it in their home. This article explains that air conditioning is inexpensive now, so why does America have such huge air con usage and England none? Was it a…
I think that part of this is that most of the lower 48 US states (24-47° North) are closer to the equator than most of England (50-54° North). 95°F isn't an extremely hot day. We get 95°F days in the summer in Seattle, the city of perma-drizzle (47° North). From personal experience, most houses in this area don't have air conditioning. In the South, people regularly see much hotter days (I think Arizona (33°N) tops 1…
In Montana (mid 40°s North), people rarely have large, permanent air conditioners in their homes.
Re: Study: Home air conditioning cut premature deaths on hot days 80% since 1960
#8I absolutely hate hot temperatures and find the summer truly horrendous because in England it's getting hotter and hotter, this year my apartment was over 35c / 95f on multiple days... but air conditioning just doesn't exist here, I've never known anyone to have it in their home. This article explains that air conditioning is inexpensive now, so why does America have such huge air con usage and England none? Was it a…
I think that part of this is that most of the lower 48 US states (24-47° North) are closer to the equator than most of England (50-54° North). 95°F isn't an extremely hot day. We get 95°F days in the summer in Seattle, the city of perma-drizzle (47° North). From personal experience, most houses in this area don't have air conditioning. In the South, people regularly see much hotter days (I think Arizona (33°N) tops 1…
Seattle is a good example because its weather is similar to London. For what it's worth, A/C is also pretty rare in Seattle homes.
Re: Study: Home air conditioning cut premature deaths on hot days 80% since 1960
#9I absolutely hate hot temperatures and find the summer truly horrendous because in England it's getting hotter and hotter, this year my apartment was over 35c / 95f on multiple days... but air conditioning just doesn't exist here, I've never known anyone to have it in their home. This article explains that air conditioning is inexpensive now, so why does America have such huge air con usage and England none? Was it a…
Wealth. Per capita GDP in the US increased by 180% in the time period mentioned (in inflation constant dollars). Which means that in the regions of the country where it is hot for a considerable period of time almost everyone will have air conditioning, and in areas where it's hot only a few weeks out of the year a lot of people will have in-window air conditioning units, since they are so inexpensive.
The UK's per capita GDP is only 3/4 that of the US so they don't have as much disposable income and the weather tends to be much colder there than the average in the US so there's not as much demand for AC.
Re: Study: Home air conditioning cut premature deaths on hot days 80% since 1960
#10I absolutely hate hot temperatures and find the summer truly horrendous because in England it's getting hotter and hotter, this year my apartment was over 35c / 95f on multiple days... but air conditioning just doesn't exist here, I've never known anyone to have it in their home. This article explains that air conditioning is inexpensive now, so why does America have such huge air con usage and England none? Was it a…
I think that part of this is that most of the lower 48 US states (24-47° North) are closer to the equator than most of England (50-54° North). 95°F isn't an extremely hot day. We get 95°F days in the summer in Seattle, the city of perma-drizzle (47° North). From personal experience, most houses in this area don't have air conditioning. In the South, people regularly see much hotter days (I think Arizona (33°N) tops 1…
Cumulative heat stress is the danger, so it's actually hot nights that kill people, probably because of impaired sleep quality. (Aside from heatstroke, most of these excess deaths occur in people already in poor health.) 95°F / 35°C during the day is fine, but 75°F / 24°C at night (without A/C) is deadly, especially considering that most apartments are significantly warmer than the outside at night.