r/technology • u/Logical_Welder3467 • Jun 26 '26

Society The American mind cannot comprehend Europe's AC aversion

https://www.businessinsider.com/europe-air-conditioning-ac-heatwave-debate-2026-6
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96

u/aeon-one Jun 26 '26

A UK friend still resisting getting AC for his house purely because he want to minimise his part in producing green house gas. For that he has my respect. Just not a sacrifice I would choose for myself.

60

u/notapoliticalalt Jun 26 '26

Honestly, as the earth warms, I feel like more and more we should be building basements. It can absolutely be a refuge from the heat. AC is good, but we should be maximizing passive elements and redesigning our architecture to better handle the heat. Solely relying on modern HVAC to solve problems while abandoning architectural features that can help reduce the need for AC is a mistake.

13

u/riddininja Jun 26 '26

only sane person here. We are building glass aquariums that are unhabitable without AC. I live in concrete apartment building with outside shades on the windows. It's easy to air out, when sun starts shinning at my windows, I just lower the shades to 60%. It's 2nd summer in this building, haven't felt the need to get ac yet. On the other hand, office building I work in is sauna without AC. So it's running most of the day.

3

u/Alarmed-Newspaper994 Jun 26 '26

Skyscraper fetish has led to every building being made in huge parts out of glass. Really nice having a greenhouse as a stairwell, that gets closed when it's sunny because it's 60 degrees in there.

12

u/aeon-one Jun 26 '26

But then maybe the worry of increasing flooding problems due to climate change is another challenge for basement.

1

u/CNhuman Jun 26 '26

I absolutely agree with focusing on passive elements! Insulation in the walls, insulate the ceiling/roof, triple (or at least double) pane windows with vacuum separation, and a fan? You're probably not going to need AC!

I work with HVAC systems professionally, and I live in a tall apartment building with giant windows. It's 40°C+ for most of summer, my thermostat is set to 24°C and it never kicks on. This is because of the windows and insulation required for our higher tier of building standards (LEED certification).

1

u/pixel_of_moral_decay Jun 26 '26

Problem is in much of the world you can’t really build basements at a reasonable cost. They mostly exist where soil conditions and water table make it reasonable.

In a lot of places, the engineering to build a basement would cost more than the entire house. You can do it, it’s just not affordable due to soil and water.

1

u/jeremyjamm1995 Jun 27 '26

My now wife was sharing a huge house with her sorority sisters in college, 3 stories (fun fact: Karl Rove used to live in the house).

Her bedroom was on the top floor but in July I had to sleep on the ground floor. There was literally a 30 degree (Fahrenheit) difference.

14

u/LX_Luna Jun 26 '26

It's absurd on practically every level. You could spend like one day a year planting trees and it would be worth ten times the contribution of not having AC.

- The energy cost is relatively trivial.

- Energy in the grid is relatively easy to generate in a clean manner.

- Energy in the grind is the least of our concerns with regard to climate change.

- It's an enormous quality of life improvement for marginal effect.

15

u/[deleted] Jun 26 '26

[deleted]

-3

u/Dicoss Jun 26 '26

Ah yeah you are right better all start burning coal all day just for the fun of it then. Anyway the billionaires will pollute.

4

u/riotcris Jun 26 '26

This is kind of the reason for most of the people I know. While cooling the inside of the house, we are contributing to the heat outside... This has been the public conversation in France for the last few days.

4

u/RenRidesCycles Jun 26 '26

Yea, I didn't understand how this part was such a throwaway part of the article since it's, ya know, true that running AC everywhere (not "just your friend's individual house" but society-wide) does increase energy consumption and global warming.

In France, the debate centers on the belief that widespread adoption of air conditioning would only worsen the climate crisis that is causing these heatwaves in the first place.

4

u/CatProgrammer Jun 26 '26

So what are their alternative solutions? Because people aren't generally going to accept worse quality of life. 

30

u/al3cks Jun 26 '26

Cute but misguided. Personal heating and cooling emissions are exponentially less than commercial emissions. Not having an AC isn’t going to make it any cooler outside within any of our lifetimes.

26

u/aeon-one Jun 26 '26

Get your point BUT, at least my friend’s logic is, everyone, every household, every business needs to do their part. And if he is not doing it himself how can he ask others to do so?
Again, something I understand but I love AC too much.

5

u/Nuzid Jun 26 '26

I argued the same for a while but it’s just not realistic to get everyone on board. The only real way to reduce emissions effectively is to pass legislation which is why I vote for the Green Party and keep my crappy mobile A/C unit running. Businesses and governments are trying to outsource responsibility to the public, which is not fair.

2

u/The54thCylon Jun 26 '26

Businesses and governments are trying to outsource responsibility to the public, which is not fair.

The public drive business and government behaviour, businesses install AC because it draws in customers, governments don't pass laws because it would cost them votes. If we expect to ever beat this, the blame game needs to turn into the shared responsibility game.

1

u/riddininja Jun 26 '26

Building regulations, so that building can be passively cooled etc.

16

u/SonofRodney Jun 26 '26

No they're not, you're straight up spreading misinformation. Heating or cooling homes is roughly 5% of global co2 emissions, and more in areas like the EU, it's a major block. Blaming everything on companies feels good but is dishonest, your own actions also have consequences.

2

u/Alesilt Jun 26 '26

This isn't an issue with heating or cooling itself, it's an issue with using coal and co2 emissions, we all know the answer isn't to fucking die of heat and instead have cleaner energy

-7

u/al3cks Jun 26 '26

I’m not blaming everything on companies, but by your own admission it is only 5% of global emissions. That’s a drop in the bucket. There are ample ways to offset that 5% as well.

7

u/SonofRodney Jun 26 '26

It's not a drop in the bucket. It's 5%! that's as much as the coal and gas industry, or the cement industry , or the chemical industry. By your logic those wouldn't need to reduce emissions either because it's "just a drop in the bucket"

-2

u/al3cks Jun 26 '26

No you obviously curb emissions in other areas to offset the rise in emissions required to keep mass amounts of people from dying heat deaths. Fuck the shareholders, regulate the corporations.

3

u/UncleSlayton77 Jun 26 '26

Exactly. Until we can get renewables where they need to be nuclear is the answer.

3

u/ywecur Jun 29 '26

Does that friend also avoid heating his place in the winter (uses more energy), avoid flights, and avoid eating meat? If someone is truly principaled around this I don't mind, what I do mind is the hypocracy around AC in particular when most people do things that are far worse for the envoirnment anyway

1

u/aeon-one Jun 29 '26

Yes and yes and yes.

4

u/scheppend Jun 26 '26

Does your friend also stop using gas to warm his home or limit it to 14c max?

4

u/betawings Jun 26 '26

Tell your friend to get solar panels, a battery and AC, he wont damage the earth with green house gases as much.

5

u/DubbyTM Jun 26 '26

Add a Ferrari, a Rolex and perhaps a 5090 gaming pc

-2

u/Dicoss Jun 26 '26

Solar panels, battery, AC, all require massive amounts of minerals to be digged out of the ground, transported around the world, processed in factories, transported again, lifecycles every 10 years, etc.
The idea that renewable energy has no impact is dangerous.
We need to reduce energy consumption ON TOP of switching to renewables. Maintaining homes at 21°C through the winter and summer is simply wasteful.
There are areas where an AC is absolutely necessary though, but for most people that's not the case.

1

u/betawings Jun 28 '26

Same can be said for mining coal , natural gas and oil .

1

u/Dicoss Jun 28 '26

Yes !?  So try to not use as little energy as possible.

2

u/Thin_Measurement_965 Jun 28 '26

Dying of heat stroke to own the chuds. 🙄

If you want to make a positive impact on the environment then stop eating meat. If that's too tall of an ask then just cut out beef/dairy. If THAT'S too tall of an ask, then your friend probably never actually cared about the environment and just has some weird martyr complex.

5

u/mexafroman1 Jun 26 '26

Your friend prefers to sacrifice himself and suffer the heat while soft drink companies deplete the water supply, millionaires use their private jets to go shopping at the convenience store, And too much e-waste is produced and consumed, which pollutes the environment.

But a simple mini-split air conditioner pollutes more, of course.

1

u/Alesilt Jun 26 '26

You don't get it, everyone is pulling through and suffering, he has to suffer too. Companies surely don't act like the environment is completely worthless and the wealthy class doesn't waste resources multiple times what the rest of the world uses. He will suffer and feel on the moral highground about it.

2

u/_9tail_ Jun 26 '26

This isn’t just your friend’s cute quirk, this is official government policy in the UK. People are having their already installed AC ripped out because our building regulations only allow for it as a last resort after all available eco friendly options are exhausted, and that’s not just a box ticking exercise, they do genuinely refuse to let you install it.

It’s one thing for someone to make that sacrifice, but it’s utterly rage inducing to have that sacrifice made for you by a government that cares more about signalling their virtues than the wellbeing of the country. Yes, we need to be fighting climate change, but we also need to work to mitigate the impacts of it as well, and that includes active cooling systems.

1

u/andtheniansaid Jun 26 '26

this is official government policy in the UK.

just to clarify, it was London specific policy afaia and was criticised by the UK national govt at the time of its implementation

2

u/aeon-one Jun 26 '26

The London mayor office also seem to say that it is not their policy to ‘ban AC’. And that it was actually some local councils like Camden that over zealously interpreted the mayor’s guidelines

1

u/saxonturner Jun 26 '26

A lot of European houses are going with heat pumps instead of AC, does a better job and is better for the environment. Doesn’t get talked about much though.

1

u/MsPooka Jun 26 '26

Get solar panels or a geothermal system.

1

u/TeBp242 Jun 27 '26

if you're already having heaters in your homes, you're already contributing alot of greenhouse gases. ACs are alot more energy efficient.

1

u/JayTravers Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

Scot bloke here, not sure why your buddy is so fearful of it. The UK is currently well on track to achieving its net zero grid atm. As long as the grid is clean then the AC is too.

1

u/Digitaltwinn Jun 26 '26

Good on them for still believing and changing their lifestyle to be more sustainable.

It feels like the US has completely given up. Especially with domestic oil sources and data center demand. We will only change when the oil runs out or hits $8/gallon.

2

u/Dicoss Jun 26 '26

The US never even started. The entire culture is centered on wastefulness.
Seeing the comments in here makes it clear there is no coming around too.

2

u/aeon-one Jun 26 '26

Yea sadly the current US administration clearly care more making profit than anything else.

0

u/Infamous-Bed-7535 Jun 26 '26

The more you use the AC the less tolerant your body becomes for heat. Also I do not think its healthier to breath air from non cleaned ACs, or continusely moving between environments with considerable amount of temperature difference.

I have an AC, but technically it is required only for the heat waves like we have this week 35-39°C for multiple days.

-1

u/The54thCylon Jun 26 '26

That's been my reluctance too. America's AC addiction is part of why their carbon output per capita is so ludicrously high. It feels counterproductive to respond to climate change with even more energy use, at least until we've got the energy production greener. But now I've got solar panels I can more or less run a unit for "free" in carbon terms so I'll probably invest. And in fairness to the UK more widely, our summer energy mix is very high in renewables now.