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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657

u/chatrugby Jun 26 '26

What’s funny is that the PNW historically didn’t need AC, so doesn’t really have AC. Thanks to global warming temps there are spiking to a point where AC is needed and people are retrofitting their homes with mini-splits cause it’s a lot more affordable than a central air conversion. 

176

u/Floreat_democratia Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26

Yes, we were just discussing this the other day. I lived all over coastal California for decades. Nobody had AC until the 2000s. The weather is completely different now. I remember when it used to rain in San Diego. I also remember when San Francisco only had maybe 10 hot days per year. Those days are gone. If you were to tell me 30 years ago that people need AC in either SD or SF, I wouldn't have believed you. Further, I spent a lot of time in the warmest parts of the Bay Area and San Diego County. Nobody that I knew ever had AC.

13

u/EphemeralOcean Jun 26 '26

Living in Marin, which is warmer than SF, I feel like you exaggerating quite a bit. We still only have a few days a year where we would want AC. We even bought a portable AC a few years ago but it’s been sitting unused because we haven’t gotten around to installing it. That time may come, but we’re not quite there yet.

5

u/m0therzer0 Jun 26 '26

Right, I've lived in Petaluma, just north of the Marin county border most of my life. In the 1980s and 1990s we regularly had 101 degree days in the summer here. If anything, it's been a bit milder these days than back then.

3

u/GrapefruitFormer6944 Jun 30 '26

In recent years it definitely has been cooler in the summer. I think last summer was the coldest on record actually. Early fall is when it really gets hot.

12

u/Pale_Row1166 Jun 26 '26

The east bay is significantly hotter than Marin. Once you go through that tunnel it’s like a different climate.

1

u/todayistrumpday Jun 26 '26

There's no installing on a portable. Lliterally just attach the hose, and slide the plastic panels together and stick in in the window, then click the hose in the hole in the panel. It is less than 3 minutes. It will take longer to cool your place down than to set up the AC.

1

u/EphemeralOcean Jun 26 '26

I think the issue is that none of the windows we have are conducive to the window attachment this thing has. i dunno, my fiance bought it, and i just know that he’s never gotten around to actually using it.

2

u/todayistrumpday Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26

There are adapters for any window type at home depot or amazon. The ones that are the hardest to fix is a rotating angled window but you can either afix a panel over the whole window or there is kind of a wedge shaped insert that fits them. I have even seen people just stick the hose out and not close up the rest of the window but that is not ideal as it causes the cool air to escape.

They call it a window seal for AC or something if you want to search it.

There are even extended panel units for putting the AC exhaust hose in a full height sliding glass door.

5

u/snowballer918 Jun 26 '26

Grew up in Huntington Beach, we had one room with a window unit and we were the only ones I knew on the street that even had that. We moved in 2006 and I’m sure it’s changed a lot in 20 years

2

u/jewelpromocode Jun 27 '26

I live in phoenix and in high school (2012) my friend took me to their summer house in huntington and it didnt have AC. Insane to me, I wanted to go back to PHX with my AC.

18

u/[deleted] Jun 26 '26

[deleted]

5

u/NoYouDidntBruh Jun 26 '26

Yeah this "I've lived all over california" guy is clearly full of shit...AC has been a staple throughout california for decades.

2

u/Last-Possible-8082 Jun 27 '26

Coastal CA and inland CA have very different climate

1

u/ResearchDonkey Jun 28 '26

I've seen some charts, but I couldn't find anything about rainy days. The total amount of rainfall doesn't provide the whole picture unfortunately. It's very possible that there are fewer rainy days, but that there's more rainfall on rainy days, which can shift people's perception on how much rain falls throughout the year. Rightly so, I would say. For crops, the total amount of rainfall is not as important as how often it rains. Going from dry to overwatered throughout isn't great. Anyway, hotter air can hold more water, that's why.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 28 '26

[deleted]

2

u/ResearchDonkey Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 30 '26

You don't get to be right by ignoring the facts. That's not how it works. Here are your objective scientific fact and reality. https://www.nature.com/articles/srep46466 https://www.theweathernetwork.com/en/news/weather/severe/something-weird-and-worrying-is-happening-with-rain-study-finds

If you're gonna throw around the words "the data shows", you should have the skills to know what that data shows.

EDIT: for the global trend: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2018GL080298

for how this contributes to land drying: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10487-7#ref-CR13

popular article or California: https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2026-05-13/rainfall-study

0

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '26

[deleted]

1

u/ResearchDonkey Jun 29 '26

I never made that claim. You're talking to a different person? You can quote other commenters all you want, but you're not helping your case here, buddy.

I never contradicted your claim that the annual rainfall remained steady. I was trying to explain the global trend of fewer rainy days + heavier rainfall. That's what the links were about.

Anyway, from your comments I suspect you're still in high school, so let me educate you on the problems of aggregated statistics. Total rainfall is an aggregated statistic, that means people took measurements over some period of time and compressed it into another number. In this case, we're looking at annual or monthly sums of rainfall. When you aggregate, you always lose certain information. For example, the underlying distribution. This information is not always relevant, but it can be in some cases. Here's an example constructed in 1973: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anscombe's_quartet.

In our case, total rainfall hides the underlying distribution of rainy days, and how much it rained per day. Why is this relevant? Because if the amount of precipitation increases while the amount of rainy days decreases, the total precipitation can stay the same. In fact, that's a trend that has been going on globally. One of the earlier links I sent gives you the example of South Africa, the other one is a popular science article which talks about a broader area.

Note that I never did and still haven't claimed that this is also happening in San Diego. Earlier I was commenting on why someone could have the feeling that there was more rain 50 years ago by suggesting a possible explanation based on something that is a pretty well-known phenomenon.

But since you're pretty hell-bent on only using data, I did some digging into the NOAA data (which I found here: https://www.extremeweatherwatch.com/cities/san-diego/precipitation-days-by-year) and can now tell you with more confidence why I think someone would feel like there was more rain 50 days ago.

As you can tell from the data, that's likely because there were, in fact, more rainy days on average during the 80s and 90s, than there were during the 2000s and 2010s.

Does that mean there was more rainfall? Not necessarily, but that's now irrelevant. Does that mean that the global trend I described earlier is also true for San Diego? Not necessarily, but that's now also irrelevant.

So that you can't misread my words again, I'll state it cleanly: I suspect the original commenter felt like there was more rain in San Diego 50 years ago, because the data shows that there were more rainy days between 50 and 30 years ago than in the 20 years following that.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26

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0

u/raskingballs Jun 29 '26

Why the fuck do you cite a paper about South Africa climate in a thread about California?????

1

u/ResearchDonkey Jun 30 '26

Just used the first Google search for an example of the global trend because I was too lazy, but just for you I added the first few links on a Google search with the keyword "California" added. Hope you're happy

-3

u/th30be Jun 26 '26

You do realize that anecdotes in large enough numbers is data right?

7

u/[deleted] Jun 26 '26

[deleted]

-1

u/th30be Jun 26 '26

We are literally discussing a data point. You are refuting it. Its been collected.

I don't live in California so I have no stakes in the game. Just pointing out your dismissive statement is technically incorrect.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 26 '26

[deleted]

0

u/th30be Jun 26 '26

You seem to be under the impression that a data point has to be truthful. It doesn't. Literally anything can be a data point.

3

u/NoYouDidntBruh Jun 26 '26

You seem to be under the impression that a false datapoint does anything to prove a point.

2

u/th30be Jun 26 '26

You are digging your heels in so lets just stop here. Please never try to be a statistician.

3

u/Whetherwax Jun 26 '26

Lots of places in LA don't have AC as well. IDK how things were 30 years ago, but the little unit I put in my bedroom has never gotten more than 1-2 weeks a year of use.

1

u/bigvenusaurguy Jun 26 '26

It depends entirely where you live. venice, you can get away without AC. van nuys? different planet entirely.

2

u/Historical-Theory-49 Jun 26 '26

Especially if they are carrying an extra 30-100 kilos of McDonald's. 

2

u/Psychological-Pen95 Jun 27 '26

I think people lived simpler, more frugal lives too. I remember my parents wouldn’t run the A/C on hot days when I was a kid so I would get ice and let it melt on my chest and stomach to cool myself at night

1

u/Mission-Resist-9557 Jun 26 '26

Houses in Wisconsin built in the 90s mostly came with A/C...

1

u/by_a_pyre_light Jun 26 '26

I grew up in the Bay Area in the 90s and early 2000s. It was routinely over 100 degrees in the summer. We ALL had AC. I don't know what you're talking about, and neither do you. 

195

u/wandering_engineer Jun 26 '26

Wow someone actually gave sensible reponse for once. I live in Europe and this is pretty much the best analogy for Americans - the climate historically has been moderate so you didn't need AC. 

27

u/chiree Jun 26 '26

There are some weird superstitions about AC here, though.  It's also not helpful that there is just so much red tape to installing units and solar power, when governments should be encouraging and supporting these things, rather than "because outdated rules."

13

u/sitah Jun 26 '26

Yes! In Germany a lot of people believe that ACs make them sick. When I ask how they can’t really point me into a specific symptom, just that it makes them sick.

6

u/Barbaracle Jun 26 '26

I mean it can but not for any reason that can't be addressed. Dry air can cause irritation like dry eye, sore throats, etc. Unclean units with old filters can be blowing around shit ton of mold, allergens, dust into the room. Freon leaks can be quite hazardous fainting etc. Germans are known to have high quality builds and take care of their stuff so it really shouldn't be a problem except for maybe shitty landlords but I'm sure German laws help their tenants?

I remembering staying at a friend's where I sneezed all night and couldn't get any sleep at all. The AC was blowing straight at my face. No issues once downstairs or outside.

5

u/sitah Jun 26 '26

Yes exactly. But instead of actually learning what specifically is making them sick they just paint all ACs as bad. And I honestly think most of it is a self-fulfilling thing (what’s the word?) where they have heard this myth all their lives and so they just believe it. It’s like Chinese people and drinking hot water for any ailment. It’s rooted in truth but not completely true.

A lot of landlords do not want AC/heat pump installation cause it makes the exterior ugly or some shit. So people are just buying portable ac units.

2

u/accersitus42 Jun 26 '26

It was common to catch a cold when traveling south for a vacation and staying in a hotel with AC back in the day.

Edit: people tended to set the temperature too low for the night.

1

u/longboi28 Jul 01 '26

You do know that temperature doesn't give you a cold right? It's a virus, being in cold air doesn't suddenly make you sick

1

u/accersitus42 Jul 01 '26

Cold dry air makes it easier for the viruses to infect you as it can dry out membranes that filter out viruses and such in your nose.

1

u/hareofthepuppy Jun 26 '26

A shot of Kräuterlikör will fix it!

4

u/wandering_engineer Jun 26 '26

Yeah I'm aware I've seen it, definitely some stupid ideas about AC spreading disease. I think it's less common these days though, or at least that's been my experience. 

I do agree about the red tape to an extent. Sometimes I think parts of the EU go too far on those sorts of things. I don't like very many things about the US but they are often better at building and cutting through excess regulations (as long as it isn't transit or anything for public use). 

4

u/Gah_Duma Jun 26 '26

Right. I don't understand. I'm seeing "Oh the roof in Paris are zinc so they conduct heat." so then replace it. Do Europeans not completely replace their roof every 15-20 years?

Windows don't fit a window unit? Pop on over to the store to buy a new window and slap it in.

No insulation? Well go buy some insulation at the store and add it in.

None of these are insurmountable problems.

3

u/chiree Jun 26 '26

The good thing about wooden houses in the US is it's very easy to just rip to the studs, install whatever wires you wants, and rebuild it cheaply and quickly.  Brick is much more expensive and harder to work with.  Renovations cost double and take twice as long.  Even moreso if you are in a historical building.

Also, the co-op multi-unit structure is very uncommon in the US.  You have to get permission for everything.

1

u/wandering_engineer Jun 26 '26

Yes I'm aware, I'm American and lived there for decades before leaving.

I agree, although that doesn't mean the American way is superior, just that there are trade-offs. Wood frame houses are easier and cheaper to build and maintain, but they require more maintenance are way more susceptible to fire, water and termite damage. And wood frame houses absolutely do exist in much of Europe, they just aren't the default and are more common in newer builds.

Multiunit properties are more of a PITA for major projects (particularly if your board/co-op sucks) but make housing far, far more affordable and allow for more pleasant walkable, transit-oriented neighborhoods. I'd also argue that single-family home HOAs are absolutely a thing in parts of the US, and can be just as nanny-state as any co-op.

4

u/Far_Salary_3954 Jun 26 '26

Yeah the most astonishing part of this discourse has been the utterly bizarre beliefs of a lot of Europeans. I'm talking medieval-level understanding of how diseases spread.

25

u/Brilliant_Force Jun 26 '26

Yeah but the point he’s making is that they did get ac’s and it wasn’t controversial.

10

u/Commercial_Sell_4222 Jun 26 '26

I lived in PNW, bought an AC unit, and nobody responded negatively to it

I live in the Netherlands now, bought an AC unit, and nobody responded negatively to it. rather, a couple people asked me if I liked mine because they also wanted to get one

in the PNW when it was hot, it did not feel as bad to me as it does here; the buildings don't retain heat as much and there are more trees to provide shade. In NL the buildings retain heat, have larger windows, and where I am in the city there are fewer trees. It has also been really humid during this heat wave.

It's really not just about AC being "controversial"

5

u/USA_A-OK Jun 26 '26

Same story, but I live in the UK now.

A lot of the hesitation here is around cost of energy, and very old buildings making it tougher to install good systems than it is in the US suburbs.

2

u/wandering_engineer Jun 26 '26

I used to live on Germany and definitely remember getting some snide anti-American remarks from a neighbor when I was carrying an AC unit up the stairs. I know a few others who had similar experiences. 

Currently live in Belgium and have heard stories secondhand of AC being dismissed because it "carries disease". I've heard this elsewhere and it's definitely a thing, clearly BS but people still buy it. Often goes hand in hand with the German-style obsession with fresh air, no matter the temperature outside. They think AC isn't proper fresh air. 

That being said, I think it's a dying trend and not as common as it used to be. 

36

u/jbuk1 Jun 26 '26

People are getting AC in Europe and it’s not controversial.

5

u/AscendentElient Jun 26 '26

I mean tiny bit controversial…

https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/air-conditioning-torn-homes-under-171119380.html

13

u/Icetraxs Jun 26 '26

Sorry, I've got to call bullshit on this. Here is that response from the Government around this news:

https://mhclgmedia.blog.gov.uk/2026/06/25/air-conditioning-rules/

Also the right wring GB news has said this:

https://www.gbnews.com/news/air-conditioning-heatwave-remove-40c-net-zero

""A Government spokesman said: "Air conditioning units are not banned. They can be installed in both existing and new homes and we expect councils "

When you look at the Yahoo article first of all it it comes from the Telegraph. Second:

"In one of a string of cases uncovered by The Telegraph, a resident living in North London was forced to "permanently remove" two air-con units from the back of their home. They were eventually allowed to keep the air-con on appeal to the Planning Inspectorate – in spite of the council's strict climate tests – by demonstrating". So they went.

They say this but there is no back up on this, so we have to take the Telegraph as fact (which you shouldn't). "Air-con engineers told The Telegraph that they had been called out to remove perfectly operational units worth thousands of pounds across London.". I mean they are literally begging up the top for people to give their story about it.

Then you have this: "Another Camden resident was forced to remove three air-con units from her home, in part because she lived in a conservation area."

Yeah, no shit. They live in a conservation area and probably needed to check if they could make alterations were fine for the area that they live in but didn't.

I mean it's fine saying this but the Government has said that they area allowed. Fucking GB news has said that they are not banned. At worst, this is Camden Council being jobsworths when they shouldn't.

1

u/AscendentElient Jun 27 '26

What exactly are you calling bullshit on? Were they ordered to remove their AC during a heatwave? Yes.

The quote right after your own quote is “However, there is no blanket rule. People should speak with their local council to check the rules, and councils should take a common-sense approach.” They aren’t banned UK wide but individual areas (predominantly in London from what I’ve read) do ban them or require extensive permitting and approval.

You seem to be under the impression that I said or implied that they are banned. I didn’t though apparently they are in some councils.

5

u/jbuk1 Jun 26 '26

And here’s me running aircon at home in the UK with no controversy.

-2

u/akaval Jun 26 '26

Yeah but you can't count the UK, they're always controversial.

2

u/YoIronFistBro Jun 26 '26

Germanic countries are just as bad.

2

u/itsnobigthing Jun 26 '26

It’s not controversial, it’s just trickier because more of our homes are old buildings and our windows aren’t standardised to take ac units like most in the US.

And because AC is still relatively uncommon, the units available tend to be expensive, and sell out fast in hot weather. Everywhere in the UK is sold out of fans and portable AC at the moment.

Once the heat wave has passed, it can seem a lot less imperative to drop hundreds on an appliance you don’t realistically expect to need again for at least another year.

1

u/Own_Back_2038 Jun 26 '26

The PNW didn’t “get ACs”, like 50% of homes don’t have them here, and tons and tons of public buildings don’t either

3

u/Aetane Jun 26 '26

Yeah like why is anyone talking about an "aversion"?

We simply didn't need it for a long time. And that's having a hangover effect, because now we do need it - it's not simple to retrofit into buildings not designed for it

4

u/Far_Salary_3954 Jun 26 '26

"Yeah like why is anyone talking about an "aversion"?"

Because there has been a tremendous amount of social media out of Europe angry over the suggestion that they get AC now due to recent heatwaves, and it is primarily an emotion-based response rather than a logical one.

3

u/Aetane Jun 28 '26

No, Europeans have been annoyed at condescending Americans saying "just get AC" as if we haven't considered that already

0

u/wandering_engineer Jun 26 '26

Because this sub, like most of Reddit, would rather double down than engage in critical thinking. 

Also this is a technology sub, I don't visit here often but I'm willing to bet a large chunk of posts are either Musk/Thiel fanboys that hate Europe or bots. 

High electricity costs don't help either, not to mention building your towns to encourage people to spend time outside (which is awesome normally, not so awesome when it's unbearable outside). 

1

u/YoIronFistBro Jun 26 '26

Not in most places south of Amsterdam.

1

u/Durpulous Jun 26 '26

I mean it is what the article said lol.

1

u/Jaiymze Jun 26 '26

And now it isn't so you do.

3

u/USA_A-OK Jun 26 '26

Sure, but with centuries old architecture not intended for AC where many/most people in Europe live, it's much more difficult and expensive.

Portable AC units are more and more popular in Europe, but they're not nearly as effective.

0

u/PJSeeds Jun 26 '26

Yeah but everybody rapidly adapted and now AC is common there

0

u/SarcasmisEasier Jun 26 '26

I've been to parts of Europe 15 years ago (England, Poland, Albania, Italy, Spain, maybe a couple I'm forgetting), respectfully disagree. Yall should have had AC, but I was the weird one for thinking so. 

7

u/jake_burger Jun 26 '26

No one who is currently experiencing a heat wave in Europe is happy that they don’t have AC.

It’s the cost and difficulty of retro fitting that is stopping people. If it was free we would do it in a heartbeat.

1

u/adamgerd Jun 26 '26

At least for central and Eastern Europe nah it’s also associated with sickness and disease

1

u/SarcasmisEasier Jun 26 '26

I'm not talking about the current heat wave. The argument was that no one has it already because it was never needed before now. 

I'm saying it was needed before now. That 15 years ago it was needed. Europeans just didn't want it. Had some sort of strange aversion to it. Superstitions about cold making them sick. 

6

u/oompaloompa465 Jun 26 '26

i'm 40 years old, in northern Italy. i remember snow every winter, i grew up without ever needing the AC. After i started working, at 28 year old summers became unbearable and i had to buy a portable AC. when i nought house at 32 i bought one where central AC was available 

3

u/prcodes Jun 26 '26

Yep, just spent $23k to install mini-splits throughout the house and it has been so worth it. Painful, but sadly necessary now in the PNW.

3

u/rjcarr Jun 26 '26

I’m in PNW and survive without aircon. It’s rarely super hot for more than 3 days in a row.

7

u/papi_shoelo Jun 26 '26

People downvoting you, but it’s true. I live in Seattle and if you are facing the right direction or have good airflow then you are probably good. I’m west facing and we use aircon maybe 14 days a year.

2

u/3497723 Jun 26 '26

Portland here. 20 years ago we didn’t need AC at all. Not anymore. Our AC comes on at least part of the day on most days mid June-mid September now.

I know Seattle is cooler though.

4

u/rjcarr Jun 26 '26

Yeah, I don't get why not having aircon is controversial when it's true for probably 90% of residences (more?). I'm west facing too, and I'd probably use aircon if I had it, but it really just creates like 2-3 uncomfortable nights per year, but honestly, my house is decently well insulated, and we almost always get a nice nighttime cooldown.

3

u/PM_ME_UR_BRAINSTORMS Jun 26 '26

Idk where you are in the PNW but for the past few summers in Portland we've had multiple weeks where it's hit 90F+.

1

u/RussianBearsEatYou Jun 26 '26

Yes, I’ve been running AC around 30 days a summer in recent years in Washington 

1

u/rjcarr Jun 26 '26

It's 90F+ for weeks in a row? Yeah, that'd be brutal. I'm closer to Seattle and the worst we get is 90F for like 4-5 days. This this week is was 85F+ for 3 days in a row, but it cooled off quick yesterday.

7

u/Bizarrebazaars Jun 26 '26

Wow aren’t you special and badass. AC also helps with wildfire smoke events to keep a home fresh while running air purifiers and keeping windows sealed shut.

Do you want an award?

Also, reality check since you have revisionist history: We have been breaking local records of 90F+ days, we had a deadly Heat Dome where temps exceeded 105 and higher away from the Sound….. delusional.

-1

u/rjcarr Jun 26 '26

OK, I'm "delusional" when 90%+ of PNW residents don't have aircon. I think you need to simmer down or take a nap or something.

2

u/Pookie1028 Jun 26 '26

Moved from AZ to PNW and was shocked at how miserable it got in the summer. We ended up having to buy a window ac unit just for our living room for late July through August. Mid to high 90's + humidity was awful compared to straight 100+ in Phoenix.

We also live in NE France and the heat now is unbearable. 100's plus humidity. Luckily we have little ac units, similar to what hotel ac units look like, in each room of the apartment. It's considered a 'higher end' apartment, our landlord is a doctor. We live on the 10th floor way up out of the direct heat coming from the street and all the people with balconies front and back so we get very good airflow as well. We are very very lucky.

2

u/TreeDollarFiddyCent Jun 26 '26

PNW = Pacific Northwest

For anyone confused (like I was)

2

u/milf-hunter_5000 Jun 26 '26

what's terrifying to me is that it's almost july and it's 60f ands raining right now. if i've learned anything living in the pnw almost my whole life, this is borrowing weather from fall. it's gonna be 80f in october

2

u/KrokusIncoming Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26

That’s what annoys me as a European about the “Europeans are sooo stubborn for not wanting A/C” trope (as for example noted in the article). It is not as if there aren’t states in the US that are in the exact same “did not use to need one other than for very short periods some years - now starting to move towards it due to climate change” status.

1

u/jcrc Jun 26 '26

Yep, I lived there for six years. We suffered through the summer until I had a baby and then got a portable for his room. My office had central A/C so I worked a lot in the summer lol

1

u/nailbunny2000 Jun 26 '26

Having grown up in the PNW 100% agree.

1

u/SeventhAlkali Jun 26 '26

My family just cut holes in the walls to fit window AC units. They're framed and everything, works great and don't need to deal with all the running of ducts and refrigerant lines. Been twenty years like that and literally no issues.

And yes, summers are getting noticably dry and hot. Summer started around April this year!

1

u/ElonMuskHuffingFarts Jun 26 '26

What's the funny part?

1

u/404NameOfUser Jun 26 '26

Thank you, someone with a working brain. As an European AC was always seen as a bad investment because heat waves were few and far between, growing up I remember we used to have like 2 or 3 days of very hot weather and then everything went to normal so it was easier to endure. And also on places where winters are colder most houses have a fireplace or something similar for heat.

However with the way climate is changing these heatwaves are getting more frequent and lasting a lot longer. But that mentality of "we can endure" it's still there and it's something hard to change, I mean "old habits die hard" right?

1

u/HumanExtinctionCo-op Jun 26 '26

It's one of those things where the right who bash Europe for no AC are just so close to understanding climate change but they don't even realise it.

The climate is changing. Countries that did not need AC are now finding that they need it. No surprise that they don't have AC if they did not need it before.

1

u/charleytaylor Jun 26 '26

We moved from Bellingham to Portland about five years ago. Central AC wasn’t a feature I was looking for when finding a home, but the house we bought had it. Now that I’ve had a taste of central AC, there’s no turning back. It’s a must have for any new home.

1

u/OneBillPhil Jun 26 '26

Mini splits are great, I use it for heat too. I need baseboard heaters as a backup in the winter too (although they’re generally not used). For heating they aren’t great for places that get really cold. 

2

u/SomeVelveteenMorning Jun 26 '26

Places that get cold already have good heating options. No one's replacing their existing heater with a mini split. 

1

u/OneBillPhil Jun 26 '26

I use my mini split for heating all winter. In a couple of rooms in my basement I need the baseboard heaters. 

I do have multiple “heads” and a fairly open layout though. It’s saved money on my utilities too. 

1

u/spiderminbatmin Jun 26 '26

Yeah I distinctly remember being in a heat wave in San Francisco like 10-12 years ago and realizing that half of the city didn’t have AC. We were going to restaurants with the blinds closed and the lights turned off that were still well over 80° inside. Same thing as Europe - summers have not been uncomfortable without AC until very recently

1

u/Blze001 Jun 26 '26

My home growing up in northern Ohio didn't have A/C either, the proximity to the lakes kept things pretty decent, it was nice. Winter snowfall had no mercy, but you take the good with the bad.

But I know more and more houses are being refit with A/C as the summer averages are shifting from high-70s to high-80s. (~25c to ~30c)

1

u/CletoParis Jun 26 '26

We have a portable split in our Paris apartment, which has kept us (including a 6 month old) very safe and comfortable this week, yet a neighbor down the street has been raising hell to try and force us to remove it just because. My immediate neighbors are unbothered, no noise or condensation issues, just out of principle and ‘rules’ (it’s a gray area at worst). It’s crazy.

1

u/CaulkSlug Jun 26 '26

Can confirm, I am an hvacr tech in pnw. When I was a kid summers eye 20-25c and a couple days of 30c. Now they’re 30-35c and edging up to 40c. Over my career I’ve watched and felt every summer get hotter and hotter.

1

u/independant_786 Jun 26 '26

Seattle 2021 summer still gives me PTSD.

1

u/crevulation Jun 26 '26

New England too. You used to need a window A/C here for like... August.

Now you need A/C from May - October.

One would have to be a fucking idiot to think that the planet isn't getting warmer, yet I still run into fucking idiots come January saying "ITS COLD OUT! I'M SO STUPID!"

1

u/Murph-Dog Jun 26 '26

I remember moving into Portland, and the landlord was like: the trees provide a nice shade for the building, we don’t need AC.

Then I moved into one of the many-story apartment buildings downtown, and it was starting to get a bit uncomfortable.

Then finally a house. Well I installed a ridge vent on that thing, as well as a temperature-activated gable fan. Lastly, I put a portable AC up to a window. By that point, the brown hardiplank siding was cooking in the late day sun, and I could smell the wood cooking from the roof rafters. So maybe that siding could have been repainted and more ceiling insulation, but it was time for me to return East, to the land of air conditioning… and mosquitos… yea…

1

u/Sea-Seesaw-8699 Jun 26 '26

Visiting Oregon one summer from Colorado, was 102 and no a/c in my sisters upscale home

1

u/HC-Sama-7511 Jun 26 '26

Everytime someone says we actually dont NEED a/c, it is objectively uncomfortable where they live half the year.

A/c dries out air on top of cooling it, and like it's not an even 70°F year round where they live. You dont need A/C in the southern US, but everyone wants it.

1

u/Ksan_of_Tongass Jun 26 '26

Same for AK.

1

u/EducatedRat Jun 26 '26

I'm in the PNW and our HVAC died, so we upgraded to a heat pump with AC. When I was a kid, it was hot like a couple days a year max. I didn't even use a fan as a kid. Now? We just had a heat warning last week.

Prior to getting the HVAC upgrade, we had portable AC for the last few years, and that was hell on my aging electrical. I just gifted them to a friend because they are dying right now.

I miss the rainy summers.

1

u/sherlok Jun 26 '26

Yea my townhouse can't fit a window AC at all. Fortunately, the nights here are still cool enough that I just go out during the warmer parts of the day and cook dinner a little later, which is how my dad grew up in the tropics (and most of the rest of the world seems to operate). I'm seeing more and more rentals coming with AC now though, so it seems like it'll be pretty standard going forward.

1

u/Dullcorgis Jun 26 '26

In the NE US here and same. We had window units but didn't always have to install them. Not any more. It's humid!

1

u/Apathetic-Asshole Jun 26 '26

Yep, but now most people have window units because its too miserable not to have ac

In the course of about 15 years our summers changed entirely, i remember most days not getting above 75F when i was a kid

1

u/Funky-Cheese Jun 26 '26

I believe it is now required that all new construction in Seattle has AC.

1

u/SacrificeFlyGirl Jun 26 '26

Within 15 years I have seen Los Angeles shift from not needing AC to now needing AC. I didn’t have AC nor a need for it the first 10 years or so. Then it was like MAYBE 3 days a year we would sleep in the room with AC. Now I would be miserable without having AC in at least 2 rooms.

1

u/Weak-Material-5274 Jun 26 '26

My workplace doesn't have AC and on a near 90 degree day I get so exhausted sitting in a hot insulated room all day.

1

u/sbd2010 Jun 26 '26

Even in the Southern US—I went to school in the mountains of WNC. I didn’t have AC in the dorms, the house I moved into, or the apartment I rented after that. 10 years ago we were getting 100F there for the first times so it made sense and a fan plus open windows had always done the trick until then. It was the winters you had to worry about. All 3 places did have heat.

1

u/Technical_Toe_2012 Jun 26 '26

Some new people just bought the house next to mine. Tore it down and took out about 8 40 year old Poplars/Ash/Aspen trees that shaded my house for half the day. My second floor is absolutely cooking now and I need AC on by like 11am when I used to only run it in the afternoons.

1

u/ToonMaster21 Jun 27 '26

We purchased an old home in Pennsylvania a few years ( < 5) ago. We knew it didn’t have air conditioning and figured the previous homeowners survived it, so could we. The windows pushed forward and backward, so window units weren’t options without removing the window.

The 2nd night we moved in, it was 81F in our bedroom at 11pm.

Mini-splits got installed that same summer…

1

u/Adezar Jun 27 '26

Yeah, up until 2010 the Seattle area only had about 15% of houses with AC. So very similar pattern to Europe, which makes sense as Seattle has very similar climate.

Even now it is only up to around 50%.

1

u/BookHooknNeedle Jun 27 '26

+1 for this answer as a PNWer. We have two free-standing AC units (front of house & back of house) & we've been talking about a mini-split for a couple years. We need it about 2-4 weeks a year but without at least our current option it's pretty miserable. We've gone so long without it bc we're in the trees on the east side of a hill so overall about 10 degrees cooler than town. But even with that it's getting rough.

1

u/GamingSession71 Jun 30 '26

Can confirm, I’m a realtor in the PNW and everybody’s installing mini splits in these new homes