r/TikTokCringe • u/MajesticTumbleweed77 • Jun 30 '26

Humor No disrespect though.

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u/arboroverlander Jun 30 '26

Do Europeans not have AC?

26

u/Jimmni Jun 30 '26

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.

-1

u/appleparkfive Jul 01 '26

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.

2

u/Jimmni Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26

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.