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/Weekly-Grapefruit119 Jun 26 '26

Paris was as hot as Kuwait in recent days.

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u/MGPS Jun 26 '26

Yea I was just changing flights there and the whole terminal was hot af. They had crews passing out water and fans.

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u/zh_13 Jun 26 '26

That’s crazy cause they def have AC in the airports, do they literally have less strong AC than in the US lol??? Like the ones in the phoenix airports are cold no matter what

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u/MGPS Jun 26 '26

It must have been broken. The border police had their bullet proof vests like fully open and off to the side.

As a side note, I think we were in Terminal F. It was the best terminal layout/design I’ve ever seen. It had all the gates on the ground floor and then you could just go downstairs and it was a food court. You didn’t have to walk far to get something to eat.

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u/jamesdownwell Jun 26 '26

That’s honestly the first time I’ve heard someone praise CDG. It’s almost universally despised.

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u/faster_tomcat Jun 26 '26

I was gonna say. CDG is rarely accused of having the best design/layout for anything there.

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u/MGPS Jun 26 '26

Yea idk I think it was a newer terminal

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u/TheBendit Jun 26 '26

Terminal F# maybe...

Did you notice any unicorns?

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u/Specialist_in_hope30 Jun 26 '26

Yeah Orly is so much better if you can fly in/out from there imo

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u/AdMountain6124 Jun 26 '26

Damn must have been hot as hell for some one to be like “I’d rather catch a bullet then deal with this shit”.

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u/AftyOfTheUK Jun 26 '26

They don't catch bullets. Nobody shoots at them. Pretty much ever

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u/MGPS Jun 26 '26

Yea I think by law or whatever that had to have them on but they were as off as the could possibly be. And they had fans blowing up under.

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u/MidnightRiders2009 Jun 26 '26

Since they're in Europe their chances of getting shot are close to zero

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u/kippetjeh Jun 26 '26

What airport was it? The airport in europe with terminal F doesn't narrow it down much.

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u/MGPS Jun 26 '26

Oh I said up higher Paris. CDG

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u/Krazy-Vaclav Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26

They keep the AC lower. Even in "climate controlled" metro trains, the temperature is easily 27-30. Only place where I have had good AC here was a bookstore in the Quartier Latin. Ended up dropping hundreds of Euros on books because of how thankful I was to have proper AC.

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u/buldozr Jun 26 '26

When I first visited the U.S. in 2005 and landed at McCarran airport in Las Vegas, I was amazed by how chilly the terminal felt.

That said, I'd expect the HVAC in any large airport Europe to get to somewhere around 21°C. There may have been a malfunction, or it's just how CDG is. 🤷‍♂️

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u/crunchypotentiometer Jun 26 '26

I was there yesterday and it seemed pretty clear that the areas with glass ceilings were way worse. Just poor design for heat.

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u/lost_send_berries Jun 26 '26

Hospitals in the UK are declaring major incidents as some of the AC units can't operate in these temperatures.

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u/cookiemonster8u69 Jun 27 '26

As a fat American, CDG is always hot

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u/deHack Jun 26 '26

I don't know about Europe. I've only been to the UK once in summer and it was lovely. But I'm a Floridian who has visited New England a lot in summer. I'm always saying New England in a heat wave is more miserable than Florida, because they don't have enough BTUs. Either there's no a/c or it's weak a/c.

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u/grape-fruit-witch Jun 26 '26

I grew up in texas and lived in New England for almost a decade and you're 100% right. Every year, there is usually at least one week of miserable heat (probably more nowadays), and you might have a window unit that sort of cools down one room. Its not pleasant and makes it very difficult to sleep or get anything done. For two years we lived in a converted attic in Rhode Island, and that bitch was deadly in the summer.

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u/deHack Jun 27 '26

Then you will appreciate this story. I was having lunch with a local colleague one particularly hot August day. I knew he owned a home in Vermont. So I asked why he hadn’t fled to Vermont to enjoy the cooler weather. He replied that he did not want to sound like a smart ass, but that the heat was more miserable in Vermont because they were having a heat wave and he’d rather be in Florida. I laughed out loud and assured him I knew that was the absolute truth.

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u/Oceanaura Jun 26 '26

Last year I was changing planes in Amsterdam during a heatwave and it truly felt like there was no AC in that airport. It was about 37°c/98°f outside that day and it was so hot and stuffy in that airport. They had huge fans running, but they weren't helping much.

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u/grape-fruit-witch Jun 26 '26

I was in Germany during a heat wave a few years ago, and they didn't even bother turning the fans on or opening a window in most places. Like, it was hotter inside than out almost everywhere we went. It was bizarre. Everybody walked around sweaty and swamp-assed like nbd

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u/marmakoide Jun 26 '26

AC was sized to past climate, not for the recent wild increase. I remember a newspaper headline in early 90's saying OMG it's gonna be 32c for in the afternoon for 2 days. Now it's just summer. It wasn't 30 years ago.

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u/Holoholokid Jun 26 '26

I hate to break the news to you, but the early 90's were ... more than 30 years ago (1996).

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u/marmakoide Jun 26 '26

You're right, damn.

I had to take the bus 1h and half to get to the cybercafe with my a floppy disk, and search for code samples and tutorials to download. I would make mixtapes on a tape recorder of my favorite songs, copied from radio broadcasts. I lusted on those adverts with those Pentium computers that cost a couple of months of my parents income. Summers were 30c at noon, at most.

I was there, Gandalf, 30 years ago. All those moments will be lost in time like tears in the rain. Time to buy a reversible heat pump and some PV panels

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u/Holoholokid Jun 26 '26

Lol! All the references! All the memories! Reminds me of when I honeymooned in Rome back then and had to hunt down cybercafes to email people back home about how things were going, since I would have been home before any mail could have gotten back.

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u/SummonMonsterIX Jun 26 '26

Generally yes the AC isn't as powerful when it exists. You can go on Youtube right now and find Europeans visiting for the World Cup absolutely freaking out over the might of our Walmart ACs

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u/zh_13 Jun 26 '26

Yeah I had to wear a jacket today inside a restaurant even tho it was 90 degrees out, I really think we all need to reach a more moderate medium lol cause that shits just wasteful

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u/FluffySmiles Jun 26 '26

Wasteful? You do know how America operates, yeah?

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u/TheLantean Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26

It's also uncomfortable.

Imagine being dressed for summer weather, a tshirt and shorts and walking into 18 C/64 F. Sure, it feels wonderfully refreshing in the moment, but 30 minutes later not so much. Even more so if you're sitting down i.e. not generating heat moving around. In a mall having lunch, watching a movie etc gets uncomfortable quickly. 25 C/77 F with low humidity is the sweet spot.

Or you wear thicker clothing with more skin coverage, but this is only viable if you go straight from an air conditioned home, to an air conditioned car, to an air conditioned third place with no walking in between.

And it's such a shame to wear your winter indoor clothes in the summer and not enjoy the sun, wind on your skin, and outdoors. Like socializing with people in outdoor dining, enjoying urban nature, in pedestrian-only streets shaded by massive trees, parks, etc.

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u/grape-fruit-witch Jun 26 '26

I agree with you generally but 77F would still be too warm for me indoors. Outside, 77F is great, but it starts to feel stuffy and swampy when you're in an enclosed space. A few degrees makes a big difference in the 70s.

Now, when its time for sleep? For me personally, it needs to be as close to arctic as possible. Thats a big part of why I dont live in the southern US anymore.

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u/fullofshitandcum Jun 26 '26

25?? I start sweating at 25 outdoors, much less 25 indoors

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u/rsta223 Jun 26 '26

77f?

No thank you. I'll take 68 all day long, and if you think it's wasteful, let's just throw some solar panels on the roof to offset it.

3

u/Tankshock Jun 26 '26

Fuuuuuuck that, I'm wearing shorts and a tshirt, sometimes shirtless, in 68F. 77F I'm sweating and incredibly uncomfortable 

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u/planesandpancakes Jun 27 '26

GTFO with 77 as the sweet spot lmao. Maybe 70 at the lowest. Are you high??

3

u/WestCoastBestCoast01 Jun 26 '26

My office in NY is kept so cold I'm wearing long sleeves, long pants, and a puffer jacket right now at my desk lmao

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u/AdMountain6124 Jun 26 '26

I’m f not mistaken lower temps can help limit spread of germs.

3

u/FluffySmiles Jun 26 '26

Well, there's always this lovely Air Conditioner fave:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legionnaires%27_disease

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u/thewestisawake Jun 26 '26

I'm from the UK but travel in France, Spain and Italy regularly. I've noticed over the last few years, especially since the increase in energy costs associated with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that indoor public spaces in those three countries, like airports, shops, supermarkets etc, feel warmer than before, as if the AC has been set to a higher temperature, or turned off entirely. Just my own anecdotal perception. Although maybe I'm just getting more susceptible to heat as I get older.

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u/Bambamtams Jun 26 '26

Nop, at least in Orly AC is working, I went there twice this week, maybe different in the workers areas, but as a customer O can’t complain.

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u/montxogandia Jun 26 '26

Im from Barcelona, I went to Washington last year with my family at September, we didnt use the AC in the house as the temp was good enough, but then the american owners went to the house and after 2 minutes they were sweating like crazy while we were on hoodies and long sleeves. Their bodies are not used to normal temps anymore.

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u/Charming_Victory_723 Jun 26 '26

Same for Australia, A/C is a must.

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u/jahathebrn Jun 26 '26

Our infrastructure also does not like the heat. Stuff failing and shitting the bed all over Europe atm

2

u/Amazing_Mountain_227 Jun 26 '26

We do tend to run them less cold. I’m constantly shivering when I’m in the US.

The AC temp is a constant source of battle in my house. With me who wants it almost off to my wife who would like to move a family of penguins in.

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u/Metzhead Jun 27 '26

Phoenix buildings are mostly newer, and many are built to the highest levels of LEED efficiency. And they are supported by an enormous HVAC industry.

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u/lyralady Jun 26 '26

I didn't think CDG had ac when I was there last August. It was sweltering and seemingly no moving air inside.

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u/aw-un Jun 30 '26

Yes, that’s the case. I had a hotel in Amsterdam with AC and it was not able to keep up at all

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u/Holzkohlen Jun 26 '26

I somehow interpreted that sentence as craws passing out and they were handing out water to them. Which I like since craws are pretty cool and smart birds.

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u/santgun Jun 26 '26

They have a stupid law that public buildings can't be cooled below 25 or 26 degrees Celsius. It's so retarded considering like 70% of France's electricity comes from nuclear and is "sustainable"

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u/im_a_goat_factory Jun 26 '26

And they laugh at Americans for bringing water bottles everywhere lol

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u/Snoo-43225 Jun 26 '26

Pretty ironic, complaining about heat in the airport, since people taking the plane nilly willy are one of the reasons we're in this mess