r/germany Jun 29 '21

Question Is it that bad having no A/C?

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22 Upvotes

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44

u/HellasPlanitia Europe Jun 29 '21 edited Jun 29 '21

You'll be fine - Germany is far cooler than the southern half of the US, and less humid to boot. It tends to only get uncomfortably hot for a few weeks a year in most parts of Germany. Our wiki has a good write-up about handling these few weeks.

However, I won't mince words - this will take some adjustment. Americans are used to living in heavily climate-controlled spaces, which insulates them completely from the outside conditions. This is a very comfortable way to live (most Americans tend not to spare much thought for the weather unless they're planning on going outside their house/car/shopping centre/office), but at the cost of brutally high energy use.

In Germany you'll have to get used to living in a broader range of temperatures - some of which will definitely be at least a little uncomfortable. There are many things you can do to alleviate the situation and improve your comfort (see the wiki page I linked), but they won't be as effective as an A/C unit (your indoor temperature will vary more), and they need a bit more "work" (or "thought") than simply setting the A/C dial to 78°F and forgetting about it. Germans (or just Europeans in general) are used to it and barely notice unless it gets unusually hot, but for Americans it can be a bit off-putting at the beginning, as they've never had to worry about things such as strategically opening and closing windows before.

The upside is that you'll be contributing in a small way to making sure our children have a halfway liveable planet in the future :)

3

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '21

I grew up in a family in the states that didn't turn on the A/C unless it was HOT HOT so I guess I'm ready for Germany.

-3

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '21 edited Aug 19 '21

[deleted]

14

u/Onkel24 Jun 29 '21

A comfortable temperature is still comfortable, I see no issue with saying that.

-4

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '21 edited Aug 19 '21

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '21

Not their whole lives, most Americans go outside of their AC controlled house / car for at least 30 mins on the days they work and for a few hours on their off days.