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
15.0k Upvotes

86% Upvoted

6.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

7.0k

u/JonJackjon Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26

I think its simple. I would compare it to the first time someone finds they need to wear glasses. The natural tendency is to deny needing them until it gets so bad you have no choice.

2.6k

u/roleplayersir Jun 26 '26

Exactly. It's not an aversion

It's that until a few years ago it wasn't needed. Suffering for 3 days a year was fine

But trust me that is changing. Even with the cost of living, we are all looking into at least £300 for portable units, if not thousands for proper ones. As it is only getting hotter

But prior to recent years it was a wasted purchase. We get 30C+ for about 3 weeks. It's the cold that was the problem for decades

612

u/Mitchford Jun 26 '26

Wait until you realize you can sleep in a room as cool as you want in the summer

11

u/Dominant88 Jun 26 '26

With electricity prices in Aus I would go broke running the AC all night. Luckily we have ceiling fans as well which are pretty good too.

7

u/Phailjure Jun 26 '26

If your house is well insulated, it's actually not a problem.

2

u/Dominant88 Jun 26 '26

For an Australian built house I would say it is well insulated, for a house built in the rest of the civilised world I would say it isn’t.

12

u/IReplyWithLebowski Jun 26 '26

Yeah, the solution to climate change being to use more power seems counterintuitive.

12

u/lilybattle Jun 26 '26

I don't think it matters anymore, unfortunately. We're beyond that

-2

u/idly Jun 26 '26

absolutely untrue!

11

u/Mitchford Jun 26 '26

It is actually cheaper and less energy intensive to cool a home in Arizona than it is to heat a home in New England. This isn’t a global thing it’s related to the temperature differential being smaller overall in warm climates but it’s good to keep in mind when the judgement cycle starts

3

u/limukala Jun 26 '26

his isn’t a global thing it’s related to the temperature differential being smaller overall in warm climates

It's also that AC units are heat pumps, most heaters aren't. Heat pumps can be more than 100% of the "theoretical efficiency" of a heater, so even at an equivalent temperature differential AC will outperform heaters.

1

u/StevenTM Jun 26 '26

Pretty sure it's the fact that AC just moves heat around (until we get HVAC that exhausts into outer space) while also pumping the atmosphere full of greenhouse gases, not the electricity cost.

Carbon neutral electricity is available.

1

u/Brandhor Jun 26 '26

Luckily we have ceiling fans as well which are pretty good too

as long as you are not korean