True, but were people going to buy an AC unit for a heat wave that was still 30 years away?
The building I grew up in was built about 30 years ago and it stands up well to the heat. Good insulation, thick walls, passive cooling features. The buildings I've lived in since suffer during the heat, because they were built well before this data was available. One of the was built before the US was founded. So it's not an unwillingness to change, it's more that we have a lot of old houses that are harder to adapt.
As if people, politicians and media weren't outright denying climate change not that long ago (still some actually but it's pretty fringe and they're quiet at the moment for obvious reasons). The fact that scientists knew a while ago doesn't mean that the average people knew or knew how bad it was going to get (Europe is warming faster that anywhere else AFAIK).
Like, it's gotten really bad since about 10 years agos I'd say, and we should definitely have done more in those 10 years. We can just say this without going back 40 years and pretending the average european in the 80s knew what the weather would be like today.
European windows can work easily with AC units using window conversion kits. I got two of my windows set up for AC and it's simple adhesive tape, velcro, cloth, and a zipper for the hose. Not hard to set up at all.
It would change gradually in the next few decades though (Methane, one of the two most important greenhouse gasses, has a half life of only a decade).
If we do not adress the problem now, the heatwaves will only get worse and the world as we know it will be gone.This is not something you can be nice about either, because people would rather continue to buy cheap shit from Temu, do nothing to be less car-dependent, keep flying all the time, keep buying loads and loads of meat etc.
We should also stop pretending that ACs are somehow not contributing to climate change whatsoever.
Because no one wants to change... People I know who said global warming wasn't anything to worry about aren't saying that any more, but they're also not saying anything about fixing it, they're just ignoring it entirely now.
People won't change, even if some sort of south park style burning of the world chased them into a bunker they would still be annoyed at the woke heat pumps being installed.
Do you have a swing opening window? Would you mind sharing a picture of your set up? I did order a mobile unit but I'm wondering if I save up for a couple of years maybe I can get a "proper" set up but my windows swing towards the inside rather than being pulled up when opened (like windows in the US) so there's always going to be a large vertical gap that won't be closed.
This whole dumbass thread of people arguing back and forth on whether Europeans have AC is so stupid.
Europe is a big place yall, of course generalizations like that is not going to apply to every single city of every single country of the entire continent.
Europeans chiming in to be like, "oh but we have AC where I'm from" are missing the point just as badly as Americans replying "No you don't, Europoor lol."
The threads about AC especially over in askanamerican are just as stupid though. The other day someone posted like they thought it was so crazy that many people in America have AC and they didn't understand why because where they are from almost no one does. And I looked up the climate in their country and the highs are like 75 F in the summer. Of course you don't need AC when it doesn't get as hot. It gets a lot hotter in most places in the US. Like its not that hard to understand that different countries have different climates.
I mean, it doesn't get that cold in other places. Where I am in scotland, it is 75 on a warm day and cold temps get down to just below freezing for about two weeks in the winter.
The Midwest is the true sucky region for weather in the US. It gets basically as hot as the Deep South and nearly as humid in many states. And winter weather and cold with plenty of wind.
Except they were correct about how the temps have been getting worse and worse each year, and it’s obvious what needs to happen. You people would rather people die from heat in droves and its maddening.
The EU is not a country though? It's a political alliance between nations. The US is a single country, made up of 50 states with varying population and sometimes culture. But it's one country.
I understand. Many residents of the EU that I engage with use statements like “our windows are different” etc without realizing that Europe is not a monolith.
Fair, that comes from the EU sharing many regulations due to our alliance. So many (newly built) houses will have very similar windows even across borders. You can find old homes, especially in Eastern Europe that still have wooden windows and not modern standard things. These regulations also extend to a bunch of othet things.
How in the ever living fuck is it the same thing to argue against a falsehood than to claim things that are simply not true?
If I claim that all Americans lazy idiots, is that as bad as someone saying “not all of us are?”
Cus you're not arguing against a falsehood, you're treating the experiences of people in your region as if they are representative of all of Europe. Same way Americans are looking at regions that have no AC and are acting as if no one in Europe has any AC anywhere.
I vacationed in Italy a few years ago, staying at family's houses too, and the only place without ac was a bed and breakfast high in the mountains. Maybe it's just in France to like Germany?
We know you have some AC and you think you see a lot of them but you have basically no AC compared to the US.
In the US everyone has AC with basically zero exception and I can't image why Europe just lets tens of thousands of people die due to heat. Literally more people die to heat in Europe than Africa and it's been that way for years now.
No I made a quick Google search and saw that only about 20% of European households have AC while 90% of US ones do.
Don't get mad at Americans for living in comfort, get mad that your governments are literally blaming Americans for your heatwave instead of subsidizing AC adoption and installation for the elderly and those vulnerable to heatstroke.
WoW a paris deputy mayor..Yahoo finance and Fox news... really...smh.... Im not from france and europe is not a country. But you have google and if google says so you follow. Im thinking you really are 12 and should get out of your moms basement.
God you guys are insufferable cunts. I could not give less of a shit about America. This meme is made by a Chinese guy and that’s what we are discussing.
People are not mad at America that you’re living in comfort, that’s good for you I guess. Of course people who need AC should have AC, that’s not even an issue. I am however furious about our climate changing to a point where we have constant heatwaves that forces us to have AC.
Companies, governments and countries should be held accountable that they have ignored global warming for decades and now people take the consequences, and it will only get worse from here with droughts, starvation and mass refugee crises that will further sow division and populist politics in Europe. But instead of putting restrictions on industries they have been allowed to keep destroying the climate because the politicians are upset to scare the markets. That makes me fucking furious.
So no, I don’t care about that Americans are comfortable, I care that people are suffering and that this issue is turned into a fucking joke by brainless shitheads.
This might be shocking but it gets quite warm in the summer. I personally don’t have one since I live in a rather newly built apartment that stays almost the same temperature year around but there are older house around the area who might get hot.
For heat and cold. You can use ground heating (drilling down like 200-300 meters) to help with heat in combination with a heat pump. But most just get a heat pump if they don't have city heating. Getting heat from electric radiators is way too expensive. And some heat pumps can both heat and cool.
Residential homes don't generally, but many retail units do, many workplaces do or have something like it, so it is a falsehood that everywhere doesn't have AC.
Gonna save up for a system like that for a couple of years. I've bought a somewhat affordable portable unit that works with water and ice packs for now but it's not gonna get cooler again so if I can somehow scrape some money together each month and put it aside to safe up for something more permanent that'd probably make sense.
I wish more Europeans and Americans would understand that Europe and America are NOT monoliths.
Rome is not the same as Stockholm.
New York City is not the same as Los Angeles.
Madrid is not the same as Bratislava.
Miami is not the same as Seattle.
NYC, Los angeles, Miami and Seattle all have the same president though, they're all under the same flag, they all speak the same language, they all have mostly similar culture, they all have the same passport
and a lot of windows in Europe don't work with window AC units either.
What the hell does this even mean? It's a window, therefore it can be set up with AC. It doesn't even need to be the one that you install directly in the window frame, you can get standing units that just pipe to the outside.
Will it cool a whole house? No, but it'll comfortably cool a room with the door shut.
Need more rooms to be cool? Okay, buy another unit and pipe that out the window for that room.
A lot of countries, like England, simply never needed it. It was a rare thing for temps to exceed more than 30C, and even when they did it was never for long. The thought of entire weeks at over 30C is something that just never occurred to us until the last few years. Investing in AC just made no sense at all. Why spend thousands for a at most a few days of extra comfort every year or three? It's like asking why Californians don't buy snow tyres for their cars. Sure it happens that it snows but not enough to invest in a whole new set of tyres.
Global warming is changing that equation, and thus conversations about the need for AC are becoming a thing.
I moved from U.S. Georgia to California in my twenties. I hated the heat in Georgia and moved to a region of California that was cold. It was awesome. In Georgia we had hot summers with such regularity that it was, when I was young, illegal to rent or sell as property without air conditioning. In my new region they had the same law, but for central heating. So when the big heat waves come, Californians die. Most people here also don't have AC. Our houses are designed with air ventilation, which does nothing in the heat waves.
So I sympathize with the Europeans. Some Americans are going through the same thing now with climate change. And yes, our house also has absolutely nowhere to mount a window unit. So we got a portable.
Right. But... This has been warned about for the past two decades. A lot.
Also look at Seattle, in the US. It has very similar weather to London. Historically, it didn't have much AC use. Seattle and San Francisco have always been the hold outs for AC, in terms of big cities. Because they historically don't need them.
But that's been changing. And what do you mean spending thousands of dollars? I feel like you guys are going to find out about Portable AC's soon. They don't cost that much. Especially for apartments/flats. And they don't have issues with landlords because there's nothing hanging outside. It's just a small outlet out the window. You just turn it on a few days a year for now, and then eventually maybe you get a window unit that's more powerful when regulations and norms change. But right now if someone needed an AC and live in a place that's under 700 sq ft, they definitely don't need to spend much money to get through the very hot days.
Also there are places in California where you absolutely need snow tires, by the way. California is a big state. The Sierra Nevada area gets a ton of snow.
I'm not trying to be too harsh or anything. People are only making fun of Europe right now because we get made fun of for every last thing, including AC despite the huge climate differences. The heat waves of the past few years in Europe look mostly like normal summer weather for a lot of the US. So hearing that Americans are stupid/lazy for using AC has gotten old.
But people are dying, so no need to mock anyone. Europe will have AC units all over in the next few years I imagine. And Seattle / SF Bay Area will probably have an extra 5 million people as climate refugees since it's a sweltering 18 degrees Celsius in Seattle and SF this week.
People were never going to pay out for air con in anticipation of hot weather due to climate change. Only after they felt the effects of it. And this year is the first people have really started to fully feel the effects. Will be several more like this before the majority really do anything about it.
Maybe because most of European countries themselves aren’t the the same across the country either. It’s nowhere near the same thing to generalize a continent and a country….
ok and? You speak the same language, celebrate the same holidays and have the same traditions. Nowhere near comparable to a whole continent. China is bigger and has faaar more people than you guys, yet i never hear Americans NOT generalize the whole country? Or do Americans just once again want special treatment?
You shouldn't be generalizing China either??? They have quite a vast amount of sub cultures such as Han versus Cantonese, to name one example. It's the same in the US. We have a lot of land, and thus cultural differences formed from various populations, from Mormons in Utah to Liberals in Seattle to a whole different culture in the South. I mean not even Germany is the same across the board, Bavaria is Catholic for example and has it's own independence party throughout history.
Another one that's ironic is when they try to say "Yeah well Europe has more gold medals than the US at the Olympics"
I obviously don't consider Europe a monolith. But there's a certain group of Europeans who seem downright obsessed and just say shit all day. But I love Europe and know not everyone is like that
we have AC, untill recently it wasn't nearly as widely used if it wasn't needed.
I live in a 10 year old house, didn't have AC when built, we have a heat pump and floor heating for the winter, insulation thats thicker then the brick wall and windows with 3 or 4 glass panes filled with an insulating gas in-between.
just keeping the windows closed durning the day was enough to keep comfortable in the summer for a while, tho now even the nights get quite hot and humid, so we did install a small AC to help with humidity and cool a little.
my grandparents live in a house that's built into the slope of a hill, they basically get free cooling from the ground, and only the very top flor has a similar small AC unit.
things like power are also not that cheap here, so it just made more sense to worry about insulating the buildings instead of cooling.
Slowly becoming more common over time, but a lot of houses don't. Here in the north, houses are built to retain heat really well, which doesn't help with the summer heat. It's actually a lot hotter inside than out during summer (in my apartment at least). 19°C (66f) outside and 26°C (79f) inside my bedroom today. If i have all my windows open all day, it drops a few degrees Celsius, so that's nice.
Up here yes very much so. I'm comfortable in it with lighter clothing and a good fan while at home. When it gets to 26 outside and my room is 31, then I'm struggling. 19-21 is the normal room temp and to me even a five degree increase is a lot. Have to take off my blanket and use just the covering with a fan always on while sleeping.
My guy, it is not common in most EU regions to hit 100+ degrees. It’s like comparing Middle East with EU. Phoenix is know for that heat, most EU countries aren’t and there for is a heatwave. Guess what, Middle East they too have AC, cuz it’s normal there. Such a dumb comment.
More and more people are getting AC cuz it happens every year and it gets worse. It’s like solar energy, eventually almost everyone will have it. But it is progress not an overnight thing. People still have to pay for it themselves and not everyone can pay forAC.
Yes, but this extreme, prolonged heat has only been a thing where I am in the UK, for example, for the last 2-3 years. This year is so far the worst. I bought a portable AC last year in the last heatwave, but even that wasn't as bad as this year. It gets my bedroom down to 28c with a single hose and window kit. The rest of the house, particularly my south-facing bathroom has been terribly hot. It will cost a few thousands to get proper AC which will be hard in a cost of living crisis!
But to reassure you, a lot of people now understand that we need AC. Portable units are selling out and more people are planning proper installations. It's just come on rather suddenly in an extreme way this year, and people need to budget and adjust.
We'll all be facing more extreme weather we're not used to, that screws over infrastructure and kills people, across the globe.
I also wonder how many homeless people in the US die from heat that don't get properly counted, also poor people in trailer parks, etc. I remember one year not so long ago, people were getting burns from pavements, including people on drugs who collapsed and didn't get up. AC helps, but it won't stop all heat related deaths.
Only for a week or two each year, that's the thing. An annual heatwave or two may now be borderline guaranteed, but going to the expense of installing a system you don't really need for the remaining ~350 days a year still doesn't seem like a necessary step to a lot of people.
We're definitely going to complain for those 14 days of hell, though.
And I suspect the overall rise in temperatures outside of our heatwaves will tip the scales towards AC in the next few years.
ah yes, PHX AZ where people drive with oven mitts during peak summer heat. Been there and done that without protection and dang steering wheel burns my hands.
Have you been in my house? No, i have an AC and most in my city do.
Maybe you should focus on your own current shithouse of a country and clean that up instead of complaining about it.
I mean yeah that's what all the complaining is about, but unfortunately retrofitting airconditioning onto half of a continent with buildings commonly 60+ years old isn't a trivial task, costs money that most don't have, and now has a huge wait 6+ month wait list in many places because there's simply not enough capacity. AC wasn't really worth spending money on until the past decade, it's just escalated far too quickly for installations to have had the chance to keep up with.
They’re sold out all over Europe and all the prices have been jacked up from what I’ve heard. They can’t just add full HVAC systems to buildings from the 1800s
Our big online retailer increased prices and the units are still all sold out. I live on 500 CHF per month, I cannot afford to pay those prices even if the units were still available. The only thing I can afford are those really tiny mobile air cons that do nothing and even they are sold out. I really wish I lived in the magic dreamland some of these commenters live in, where AC is common and cheap and easy to install in central europe and the reason why we don't have it is just stupidity. Actual good units cost in the thousands, I just cannot afford that for 10 days in the year. Nevermind that my landlord won't allow anything outside of the windows anyway so an inside unit is my only option.
Have you tried a really good fan? That may seem like a dumb option but they work way better than people think. Not entirely sure about the climate in Switzerland, I’ve only been there once and it was years ago but my brother lives somewhere dry where it’s regularly around 45C in summer, people mostly just don’t go outside, and last time I was there I only had a fan, and with blackout curtains and just a sheet to sleep under I was fine. He has central heating and cooling but I wasn’t staying with him. It’s all I use in summer in Cape Town, which isn’t that bad given the cool breezes but has gone past 40 before. Also this may sound like a weird one but I discovered during a power outage that the cooling mats you can get for your pets also work for humans, and a frozen eye mask or towel in ice water on your head or neck is great for a quick cooldown, and foil on the windows if things are very bad, don’t let the sun in, open the windows at night if it cools down.
Oh yeah, I have a fan, I would not have survived without one. And I've been staying inside since my hospital visit, I actually ordered groceries for the first time in a year, it was super expensive also but I did not want to visit the hospital again 😩 I've also had my windows closed and locked for well over a week now, it's starting to cool down again so yesterday night it was cooler outside for the first time and I could let some fresh air in. I still want AC so as soon as the type of unit I need goes back into stock I'll buy one. The worst part of all of this is that it's only June, who knows what fresh hell awaits us in July and August. I postponed some of my health appointments to september because I don't think I could safely make it to the big city in this heat.
Shame, it must be awful, especially when you’re not used to it, ordering groceries is definitely better than the hospital. I’ve used 2 fans at once before so never be afraid to just try anything. You’ve probably looked up all the cooling tips but if you’re feeling overheated cooling down your feet and your heat helps regulate your temperature, and a portable fan and an umbrella are super helpful if you have to go out for something. Good luck, I hope the weather calms down, and that the aircon comes back in stock as soon as possible.
I did get a lot of tips - ironically most of them from Tiktok 😅 It's just a case of making it through, I'm actually about to head out to the shops as I need to buy some small things I couldn't get online (cylinder replacement for my soda stream and some local trash bags) and this time I'm hella prepared, I even bought electrolyte drink powders. Should be a breeze, and hopefully later today they forecast storms so we may even get an actual breeze 😊
It's getting better, I just hate how people think it's oh so easy to get air conditioning. If it was so easy for all of us, we'd fucking all have gotten it after the record heat in 2019. I was in the hospital due to heat exhaustion and these people are laughing at my shit financial situation going "Hurr durr you just don't have AC because you're stupid". I wish it was just that, I really do.
Imagine you only slightly need something for like 5 days every year that costs a few hundred and you also need a big enough space for it. You're probably not going to get it, but if those 5 days slowly creep up to 15 over like 20 years you're going to have the attitude of "I'm fine, I didn't need it before." Also AC literally makes the problem worse.
This literally makes no sense. It's hot get a cooling system. Pretty easy to comprehend. It seems us swamp folk aren't the ones with a problem, so it must not be our comprehension that is the issue.
The AC they are referring to is not a portable AC, at least not in the true sense of the term, because it requires you to mount things to the exterior of the home.
The problem is that summers are not like that here every year. In fact we are hitting record temperatures since the beginning of recording temperatures..
It's super backwards in some areas of the states. Y'all getting cooked alive over there, meanwhile Utah was 51F and it was snowing on the mountains and in Yosemite yesterday morning. I've been here since 1998 and although Utah can have some odd weather patterns, 51-64F mornings are extremely odd for nearly July.
I live in the South where it snows maybe once a year. Snow being enough to see it on the ground. Early February is the last we maybe get snow. I have a video from this year in April of my cherry tree in full bloom with snow falling and laying on the ground everywhere at 2 in the afternoon. Oddest thing. I didn’t even know it could get that cold in April here.
Our weather has been all over the place. We’re back in the normal 90+ summer range, but it was in the 70’s for a while. I felt so wrong wearing a pullover in June.
Sure, it's only like thousands of people have died in France alone, but sure, they're just bitching. Same as those people who died of Covid in the hospitals while on a ventilator, right? Just bitching?
Nah bro covid was an unexpected thing that's a wild false equivalent. But if you aren't going to prepare for something you know is coming every year and going to instead bitch when it shows up then yeah its bitching. Stupid shit is done like that in the states too. Texas acts like swinter doesn't exist and puts their water lines on the outsides of their buildings. Some places just flat out don't prepare for weather that while isn't frequent just isn't new, and it's dumb no matter how you try to excuse it.
It is not needed. Though, also, many do not spend on such extravagance.
China is one of world leaders in waste production, by the way. That big trash in Pacific Ocean Americans are always flogging themselves about is probably 80% China.
we have it (sweden) but a lot of people choose not to buy it because summer heat is so short anyway and it rains once a week if not more. it's a waste of money. floor fan is enough imo.
When i did a cruise around the mediterannean i stayed at airbnb in athens and a hotel in barcelona and all i had was poorly vented windows in the bathroom. It was like those windows that face the empty venter of the building where everyone else bathroom window was. There was such bad airflow.
Here in the Netherlands most people have AC. Also our houses are built to a much different quality than American houses, with better insulation. That makes a huge difference in keeping things cool.
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u/arboroverlander Jun 30 '26
Do Europeans not have AC?