Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning • Hacker News Board

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#321

Post by vanviegen » Wed, Jun 24, 2026, 6:44 AM UTC

alexhans wrote: post #76

lwansbrough wrote: post #9

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.

Living in London and Dublin, what I've observed is that we get the following contradictory statements: - "We don't need AC, It's only hot a few times during the year." - "Oh what a terrible heat, global warming is getting worse every year." Pair to that the fact that in many places windows don't open all the way due to bureocratic regulations and many interior designs are very questionable in terms of air flow and yo…

Well yeah, it takes time to adjust to new circumstances. Especially since weather events don't come with any documentation saying things like "this will happen every two years now".

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#322

Post by radishingr » Wed, Jun 24, 2026, 6:44 AM UTC

dranudin wrote: post #252

rwmj wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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..

Sounds like a quick legal solution: heat and cooling are now the landlords problem. Sort of like the kitchen.

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#323

Post by aaron695 » Wed, Jun 24, 2026, 6:48 AM UTC

crote wrote: post #178

lwansbrough wrote: post #9

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.

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…

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Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#324

Post by Balinares » Wed, Jun 24, 2026, 6:49 AM UTC

lwansbrough wrote: post #9

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.

Burning even more energy in response to the consequence of burning too much energy is seen by some as counterproductive.

Do also note that AIUI in the US only deaths that were officially ruled from heat are counted as such by the CDC (source: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/23/us/extreme-heat-deaths.ht...), whereas the EU usually performs estimates based on overall deaths in excess of the expected baseline. So it's not apples to apples.

I do agree that avoidable deaths should be avoided, though, so I'm with you on that.

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#325

Post by doikor » Wed, Jun 24, 2026, 6:50 AM UTC

TylerE wrote: post #296

doikor wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Electricity and logistics solve the heating just as well. You can use the same device if you want to. Heat pump is just an AC run in reverse, literally all you need is a little valve to reverse the flow.

As long as it's only a little below freezing. Try that in Norway, or even somewhere like Austria, and see how it goes.

They work just fine until -25C or so. (COP around 3). After they they still do work you just fine but work effectively as resistive heaters as you approach COP of 1.

Obviously you need a model they is made for which winters but people use them all over Finland including Lapland without any issues. If you want to save some money on the coldest days you burn some wood in the oven/fireplace if you have one.

edit: heat pumps (both air and ground) have been very popular in the nordics for quite some time now. One big reason is that we have cheap electricity and very expensive oil/gas. Lately also municipal level central heating networks have been slowly moving to heat pumps as their source of heat.

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#326

Post by vanviegen » Wed, Jun 24, 2026, 6:52 AM UTC

gsquaredxc wrote: post #261

thayne wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Over the scale of an entire city, it might be negligable, I don't know, I haven't done the math. My guess would be it is measurable, but not a lot, probably less than a degree. But the GP said "no it doesn't" increase heat. I'm just saying that even if it is a very small amount, it does increase heat. And if you stand near an AC unit, you can definitely feel heat coming from it.

You can reason it out (in a way that might make Fermi proud) pretty easily: a very large AC unit can be powered by a very small (relative) solar panel, where the solar panel is maybe 20% efficient. Thus, solar irradiation is substantially higher than AC power usage.

That's only accounting for the energy the airco unit consumes. What the airco unit does is remove heat from the inside of the house, and dump it outside. That effect is about 4 times larger.

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#327

Post by butchkass » Wed, Jun 24, 2026, 6:53 AM UTC

seydor wrote: post #220

shitloadofbooks wrote: post #6

"Extreme Heat" seems to be 37-40 degrees Celsius which is bafflingly mundane to me as an Australian who grew up in rural New South Wales. We'd pack 30 kids and a teacher into an un-airconditioned classroom with just a ceiling fan and the windows open in that temperature. I imagine the buildings there just aren't built to support that heat plus the body height of hundreds or thousands of attendees?

Yeah we ve reached stupid levels of weather scare. France did have some extreme temperatures over 42, but 40 is a typical Mediterranean heat wave, not Armageddon

It’s litterally the hottest month of June ever registered in France, beating a 23 years old record. Very typical heat wave indeed.

EDIT: actually yesterday was the hottest single day ever in recorded french history, and it happened in the merry month of June, not August. Truly your typical heat wave.

EDIT2: I was wrong, the record is not actually 23 years old, but… 1 year old, as the record had already been broken in 2025. Can’t wait to get my next dose of very typical 44C temps in may next year.

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#328

Post by jdkoeck » Wed, Jun 24, 2026, 6:55 AM UTC

omnimus wrote: post #292

jdkoeck wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something needs to be done with the heat. The common euro talking point: aircon doesn’t solve the problem, let’s insulate instead (an order of magnitude more expensive). Apparently you entertain an even more absurd idea: let’s just do nothing, because everyone is too poor. That’s just wrong, plenty of home owners or real estate owners have the means to foot the bills, especially if regulation mandates or subsidises h…

Let me introduce you to… cold related deaths. They are 8x more common in europe than heat deaths. Since both of the cases happen mostly indoors we can assume it's both thanks to state of the buildings. Not everyone can afford AC or insulation and cold used to be and still a bigger problem. Heating is absurdly expensive with leaky building so people prioritize insulating. “Ideological comfort” lol stop it what the hel…

« Heating is absurdly expensive with leaky building so people prioritize insulating. »

Nope, heat pumps are cheaper and more efficient. Insulating did not even make a dent in reducing emissions in Germany after years of trying.

Whataboutism about cold related deaths doesn’t change anything about the heat related deaths. Did you know the Philippines lose fewer people to heat than Europe, per capita? They have AC.

Again, you’ve been misinformed. Please research the subject, use an LLM, whatever you need. The information is right there.

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#329

Post by fulafel » Wed, Jun 24, 2026, 6:57 AM UTC

jcranmer wrote: post #58

shitloadofbooks wrote: post #6

"Extreme Heat" seems to be 37-40 degrees Celsius which is bafflingly mundane to me as an Australian who grew up in rural New South Wales. We'd pack 30 kids and a teacher into an un-airconditioned classroom with just a ceiling fan and the windows open in that temperature. I imagine the buildings there just aren't built to support that heat plus the body height of hundreds or thousands of attendees?

People tend to rely on air temperatures when in reality the lethality of heat is probably more linked to the wet-bulb temperature. The human body has a natural resting temperature of about 37°C, and metabolism of course generates more heat constantly, so we constantly have to shed that heat. When the temperature is low, we can rely purely on conducting the heat into the atmosphere to shed the heat (which is probably…

Theory primer (from https://derangedphysiology.com/main/cicm-primary-exam/thermo...):

> The total heat transfer of a human is the same as the metabolic heat production, and is approximately 100 watts, or 400 kJ/hr, or 60-70 kcal/hr at rest. It occurs by:

  >  Radiation (50%)
  >  Convection (30%)
  >  Evaporation (20%)
  >  Conduction (usually 0%)

(Radiation and convection can either cool or heat you depending on the environment)

Re: Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning

#330

Post by jdkoeck » Wed, Jun 24, 2026, 6:59 AM UTC

Levitz wrote: post #264

jdkoeck wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That kind of thinking kills more people each year in Europe than guns do in the USA. Let that sink in.

It's not an apples to apples comparison. 80%+ of deaths because of heat in Europe are 65+ years old. When you start handling that range you've to take into account that these people are going to die because of something , save a guy from heat here and that's an extra death because of cancer 4 years later. Now I'm not saying it's a thing to be ignored, but be wary of playing quick and dirty with statistics.

That’s a fair point. More years of life lost due to gun deaths.

I still like to draw a parallel, because they’re both deaths that we have the means to prevent, but the culture perpetuates the problem. That culture needs to change (doable in Europe with regard to AC because heatwaves will snap people out of denial, much harder or impossible to solve the gun culture problem in the US).