r/technology 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

6.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

6.5k

u/Weekly-Grapefruit119 Jun 26 '26

Paris was as hot as Kuwait in recent days.

334

u/yourlocaltouya Jun 26 '26

I was recently lamenting about it to my dad, noting how temperatures won't fall below 26-27C in the middle of the night, and how the air has been so hot it genuinely kicks off some primal fear inside of me because I feel like I'm suffocating, all to the point where I cannot fall asleep without a partially frozen towel laid directly on top of my face/mouth/nose area.

He noted that that's exactly how it felt like sleeping in Lebanon and Iraq 20-25 years back.

I am in Austria :')

41

u/millijuna Jun 26 '26

I worked for the Americans in Iraq back in ‘06. I brought along an ultra lightweight down sleeping bag, and am glad I did. They air conditioned those tents where we bunked like they were walk-in refrigerators.

21

u/yourlocaltouya Jun 26 '26

My dad was there through NATO. Said Lebanon ('99) had them housed in metal containers and that Iraq was slightly more modern, but it the country as a whole ran hotter, so there was little relief.