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Europeans should learn to love the air-conditioner

economist.com

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Re: Europeans should learn to love the air-conditioner

#91

Post by close04 »

soco wrote: post #83
thefz wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. This is complete speculation from your part.

That part might be speculation, okay, so then let's add the number of people, European citizens, dying of overheating every year (lately at least). The history is history, while the current world is so much hotter. It doesn't matter whether you deny climate change models, reality is that France just had their hottest day ever recorded, and such records get broken year after year. I've seen yesterday a picture of a Ma…

Why did you stop just short of proving that Europeans reject ACs because of "reflexive anti-Americanism"? Because that's the only thing GP objected to.

Re: Europeans should learn to love the air-conditioner

#92

Post by slibhb »

close04 wrote: post #89
slibhb wrote: post #50

Earlier 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.

It's very Americentrist to assume anyone ever thinks of "Americans" when deciding their home improvements and expenses. Most of Europe only sees occasional heatwaves (for now) so it's a compromise to suffer some heat briefly but save money and effort on the AC installation. Those who can, time their vacation to overlap with much of the peak heat. I think this slowly changes but it's driven by need (longer and hotter…

I don't assume it; it's simply true. Educated/elite Europeans tend to define themselves in opposition to Americans. It's pretty hard to interact with those Europeans (including on this site) and not pick up on that.

There are plenty of Americans who side with the Europeans and also define themselves in opposition to "the kind of American" who has AC/eats fast food/is obese/has no culture. I'm from New England and maybe even a majority of people have that perspective.

Re: Europeans should learn to love the air-conditioner

#93

Post by account42 »

spockz wrote: post #88
ExoticPearTree wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can add AC systems in the attics and then run the piping inside the building. You keep the facade as it is. I guess it depends on the country, customs and other things. In my part of Europe, older people are convinced the AC will kill them if they use it. So YMMV.

You can indeed. But then you lose significant space internally and not to mention the noise. Of course, better than having nothing. However, space in these houses comes at a premium as well.

You don't need a lot of space for effective AC.

Re: Europeans should learn to love the air-conditioner

#94

Post by rsynnott »

carlosrg wrote: post #29

I 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…

> Besides heat, countries with a lower GDP probably have less ACs installed than richer countries.

I suspect that's actually not the case, because most of the richest European countries have climates where it's rarely necessary.

Re: Europeans should learn to love the air-conditioner

#95

Post by general1465 »

I mean in Mediterranean AC are quite common, further north not so much because hot summer used be 1 week of temperatures +30 deg C which would mean that buying AC effectively for 1 week per year makes no sense.

However if we will start talking about a month or several months of hot weather, people will buy them kind of automatically.

Re: Europeans should learn to love the air-conditioner

#96

Post by throw1234567891 »

clarionbell wrote: post #48
mavhc wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Air-conditioners are heat pumps and everyone should be using heat pumps

Good luck convincing old building protection pressure groups about it (yes, around here these people are real and have power). Not to mention the bureau actually in charge of landmark protection (in some areas everything is a landmark).

Make Past Great Again.

Re: Europeans should learn to love the air-conditioner

#97

Post by bilekas »

slibhb wrote: post #50
invalidusernam3 wrote: post #19

Why 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.

> 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.

It's so amusing to see what people really think about us Europeans, so suspicious of anything new and those Americans, I guess we still burn witches too!

I for one love my AirConditioning unit, but it gets use maybe 1 month of the year ? I can completely understand why people don't see the need when awnings are still a thing. There are just already ways to keep the house cool during the day.

Re: Europeans should learn to love the air-conditioner

#98

Post by nkoren »

slibhb wrote: post #50
invalidusernam3 wrote: post #19

Why 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.

Correction: Europe is much warmer than similar latitudes in North America. Madrid is north of Denver. Istanbul is north of New York. London is north of Calgary.[1]

1: https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/3sac4u/interactive...

Re: Europeans should learn to love the air-conditioner

#99

Post by orwin »

labadi wrote: post #61
clarionbell wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good luck convincing old building protection pressure groups about it (yes, around here these people are real and have power). Not to mention the bureau actually in charge of landmark protection (in some areas everything is a landmark).

Portable AC units are pretty universally allowed where I live in Austria. The mini split units are also allowed, but I've seen some folks get letters about these specifically.

Unless you have split mobile AC portable units are very inefficient.

Tbh even in old buildings it might be possible to reabilitate old chimneys for AC (or rather heat pumps).

Re: Europeans should learn to love the air-conditioner

#100

Post by stvltvs »

jmclnx wrote: post #53
spockz wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most airconditioning is supplied by Asian manufacturers anyway. Not sure what is in it for big USA. Other than a general increase in consumption.

I am from northern part of the US. 30+ years ago there was a 2-week convention in Tulsa OK in June. I volunteered to work there. I thought I was going to melt, and everyone from the North suffered. Few passed out due to the heat. I asked people from Tulsa "is this heat normal for June". They said "No, it does not get hot until August". I had no idea what to say. I will never when go south again and will only go in Ja…

It takes a few weeks to acclimate, so visiting for two weeks you experienced just the suffering before you would have adjusted. If you moved there it would feel different. Not pleasant, but different.
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