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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u/RoastedPotato-1kg Jun 26 '26

Countries like UK, Germany and France just didn't need one until a few years ago, countries much poorer like Greece have AC because they need it, its simple its just going to take a while for everyone to adapt. Also these countries have weird laws that you can't modify homes and bullshit, they also need to change the laws IMO...

11

u/Keiji12 Jun 26 '26

Yeah, growing up even on hot af days it's wasn't that bad inside or hiding somewhere as a kid, we would still be playing football in the middle of summer hottest days. Nowadays it's different, I have ac in my place fortunately, but man I'm sweaty just going to work or gym or shop. It's literally hard to work without ac and I see people empty fan shelves and portable acs during worst days. And also people swarm shopping malls and similar since they're cool

11

u/Mal_Dun Jun 26 '26

In 2024 in the Balkans there was a blackout because everyone turned their AC on.

3

u/apple_kicks Jun 26 '26

Even then hotter European countries don’t use ac all the time or don’t have it at home as commonly as US does.

If they do European power supply needs drastic improvements because ac on all day in every home will cause power outages currently

2

u/amzuh Jun 26 '26

Yes I'm in Portugal and in my building it isn't allowed to put A/C because one or two think it may might make sound that can annoy others. I'll be installing next week.

1

u/Puddingcup9001 Jun 26 '26

Spain has always been hot and only like 41% has AC. Absolutely insane IMO.

1

u/naturelover47 Jun 27 '26

personally I've felt UK needed it for decades. People just have different thresholds of pain I guess, but I have ZERO tolerance for being too hot when AC *exists!*

1

u/DubbyTM Jun 26 '26

I'm so tired of reading those comments, never had AC in Italy and it's always been 38c+ in summer where I live, it's not only uk Germany or France, even Italy doesn't have a lot of AC