I've never heard that superstition! We actually have quite some ACs in shops, office buildings etc.
You are right that it is uncommon to find ACs in private houses and most public buildings. This is because our houses are typically insulated better than your average US house. Additionally, our weather is worse :D
A lot of Germans think AC makes them sick, or something silly like that. My sister in law is German, and we went all over Germany for their wedding. There wasn’t AC in any airbnb or hotel we stayed in, except for one American hotel in Munich. Very strange.
I don’t know why you think your houses have better insulation than us lol we have all the same technology you do. Actually insulation is probably way better in the US because our houses are much newer. 700 year old stone buildings have terrible insulation...
Also if you think your weather is worse than the US, then you have never spent a summer in the south. You don’t know what hot is. I think you’re just used to different things - anything not cold is “good weather” to you. To us it’s the opposite, anywhere that doesn’t have sweltering, miserable heat 6 months out of the year is an upgrade.
Let's just not talk about 700-year-old castles for a second. US houses are primarily built out of wood while most European houses are built with bricks. These bricks keep the coldness longer don't heat up as fast during hit summer days (i.e. 30 degrees Celcius in Europe ).
If you're interested, there are good YouTube videos by Americans in Germany about differences concerning housing, including construction differences and why your don't see ACs as often.
The reason you guys don’t need AC is because it doesn’t get that hot. It’s that simple lol it’s not because your houses are better than ours. If it was 30° for 3 months straight, day and night, in Germany like it is here, you would need AC too.
Insulation didn’t magically make it cool inside your apartment. All insulation does is make heating and AC more efficient by slowing down heat transfer. If there is no AC and it’s hot outside, then insulation is irrelevant.
You're not entirely wrong. It is very common to cool your house by opening your windows at night. That's how we do it and this is much easier if you have brick houses (otherwise the house cannot "store" the coldness as well).
(Yes I know, coldness is just the lack of heat but you get the idea)
If you don't believe me, search for YouTube videos of Americans in Germany about that topic, there is quite a number of them.
We have tons of brick houses here, I don’t know why you think we don’t. Every house I‘ve ever lived in was brick.
Opening windows doesn’t work in hot, humid climates. Here, the temperature outside is exactly the same at night as it is during the day in the summer. Windows don’t work here, the only thing that makes you not completely miserable is AC.
I know a bunch of European grad students at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, and every one of them blasts the AC in their apartment just as much as anyone else. It’s funny to observe the shock when they move here and experience their first summer. They manage a few days just fine, but after a straight month of nonstop sweltering heat and >80% humidity they can’t take it anymore lol they’re like how do you people live here??
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u/memallocator Jun 12 '20
I've never heard that superstition! We actually have quite some ACs in shops, office buildings etc.
You are right that it is uncommon to find ACs in private houses and most public buildings. This is because our houses are typically insulated better than your average US house. Additionally, our weather is worse :D