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The Economist is not an American publication though.
For what i see, these us vs europe thigs have spiked recently, who'll benefit from it?
Europeans should learn to love the air-conditioner
111–120 of 138 posts
Re: Europeans should learn to love the air-conditioner
#112I 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 simil…
The Economist is British
They don't have bylines, though, so individual authors could be of different nationalities.
Re: Europeans should learn to love the air-conditioner
#113Why has this become a meme? Sure aircon is nice but there are also reasons why it's not common in some parts of Europe. Here in central Prague a lot of the buildings are historic and protected, so you can't just gouge out a section of the building to install an aircon. Also it's generally only hot enough for aircon maybe 2-4 weeks a year. I'm seeing more and more American's yapping about not having aircon in Europe.…
Meanwhile ~40 (mostly young) people drowned in France recently trying to cool off as temperatures exceeded 100F around Paris. It's true that historically Europe is cooler than similar latitudes in North America. But there's also an anti-AC movement in Europe based partly on environmentalism, partly on reflexive anti-Americanism, and partly due to a general preference for "naturalness"/suspicion of anything new.
Trying to cool off going swimming because its warm outside like we do every summer?
Re: Europeans should learn to love the air-conditioner
#114How about applying political pressure to countries like China and India that do not care about emissions control and pollution? :)
Non-fossil fuels make up 50% of India's installed power capacity. This year's peak power demand was 270GW, out of which 34% was supplied by renewables. The percentage of renewables in India's energy mix is going up every year, and there is no aversion to nuclear. Still, thermal power plants using coal remain a significant source of energy, and new coal plants are being planned and built. So India does care about emissions, but it also cares about energy security.
Re: Europeans should learn to love the air-conditioner
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
We have a major continental war raging on for years here with combined casualties of well over a million people. Which you're adamant is none of your business. So no, I don't think so.
*half of the maga trump shits are adamant. In case you haven't noticed, they are waning fast.
You have a point but the way I see it they can't be an insignificant minority. That this is a proudly pursued official policy has one corollary: there are no perceived electoral consequences to the vice president, senators and representatives for this among their voters.
The ACs for us Europoors is however another matter.
Re: Europeans should learn to love the air-conditioner
#116I 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 simil…
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.
Re: Europeans should learn to love the air-conditioner
#117And US should learn to love mini split AC instead of the wall and window ones.
Re: Europeans should learn to love the air-conditioner
#118Why has this become a meme? Sure aircon is nice but there are also reasons why it's not common in some parts of Europe. Here in central Prague a lot of the buildings are historic and protected, so you can't just gouge out a section of the building to install an aircon. Also it's generally only hot enough for aircon maybe 2-4 weeks a year. I'm seeing more and more American's yapping about not having aircon in Europe.…
Canadian here. My exposure to this topic is mostly:
- News coverage about how extremely hot it has become in north/central Europe - News coverage/comments about heat-related deaths in Europe - People suddenly discovering wet bulb temperatures - "Extreme Heat" warnings, and events getting cancelled
What I see is people complaining about something when I can walk into my local Walmart, Canadian Tire, or hardware store and buy a $150-250CAD air conditioner which will cool a bedroom to 20C.
Is $200CAD ($150 Euro?) worth sleeping well for 2-8 weeks a year (counting warm-but-not-extreme weeks)?
Window designs in Europe may be different, but we have also invented... sheets of plywood and saws to cut baffles. It may not be pretty, but a vast number of low-income apartments in Toronto have plywood baffles + aircon in their bedroom windows.
The complaining, outrage and sudden realizations that it's hot outside are what annoy me. Some years it is >30C for 4 weeks and >25C for 8-12 weeks. Well worth $150 for a cheap aircon unit.
Re: Europeans should learn to love the air-conditioner
#119The rapid buildout of solar, and the rise of efficient air cons for electric home heating certainly makes it seem like a much less wasteful technology than before. I still think though that people are severly underestimating the effectiveness of relative simple, low-tech options like awnings though.
> underestimating the effectiveness of relative simple, low-tech options like awnings though. I mean, I'm currently in France, with 30°C (86°F) in my bedroom, do you really think that our shutters are opened ? At some point, sunlight is not even the issue. For the night to come, like the previous night, predictions are that we will have 35°C (95F) at midnight. I'm not even sure it was this hot when I was at Las Vegas…
>For the night to come, like the previous night, predictions are that we will have 35°C (95F) at midnight. I'm not even sure it was this hot when I was at Las Vegas eleven years ago. Las Vegas which is in the middle a of desert.
Vegas's dry heat is much more tolerable than lower temperatures in more humid places (which is pretty much the rest of the civilized world).
Re: Europeans should learn to love the air-conditioner
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
Meanwhile ~40 (mostly young) people drowned in France recently trying to cool off as temperatures exceeded 100F around Paris. It's true that historically Europe is cooler than similar latitudes in North America. But there's also an anti-AC movement in Europe based partly on environmentalism, partly on reflexive anti-Americanism, and partly due to a general preference for "naturalness"/suspicion of anything new.
Meanwhile the US has a 1.31 drownings per 100 000 inhabitants and France 0.81 per 100 000 inhabitants. 60% less than the US.
But just like crime you can break those down by race and find huge correlations but it makes the people very uncomfortable.