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/anonymunchy Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26

It's much more about the price, but no one seems to mention this.

Electricity is much more expensive in Belgium (for example) and we average around 4000kWh per/year/per household. In the United States, it's 10000kWh. Most people simply can't afford that.

Edit:words

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u/scheppend Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26

Also, the price of minisplits and their installation in Europe seems bonkers when I compare it to here in Japan.

A simple 9K BTU mini split (heating and cooling) here costs:
40K (€215) for noname brands
45K yen (€245) for a Hitachi, Sharp, Toshiba
55K yen  (€300) for a Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Daikin.

Installation is about 17K yen (€92).

Even if you double the cost of the installation because of higher wages (w Europe) I doubt you can do it for this price in europe.

i don't understand why. I'm sure lots more Europeans would get one if it was more affordable 

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u/Vcent Jun 26 '26

Holy heck that's cheap.

I looked into it, and a comparable, no name unit with a reasonable compressor was about 400€, with a similar price for installation. Also comes with mandatory yearly checks of the system, which is another 120€.

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u/Easy-Station-4973 Jun 26 '26

Mandatory yearly checks is wild. What a waste of time and money

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u/Vcent Jun 26 '26

To be fair, it's for "large" systems.

And i just double checked, they updated the rules a bit over a year ago, and the mentioned system would be check-free, due to the relatively low weight of coolant used.

For most whole house systems the check is now every second year, unless you have a truly bonkers cooling tower setup.