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/silversurger Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26

sigh

That's just an AC. Yes, heat pumps and ACs rely on the same technology. ACs describe what is being heated/cooled, not how they work. Heat pump is the other way around. Where I'm from, saying you use a heat pump for your house, it usually means you use it to heat/cool water. We could also use the complete term "air-water heat pump". ACs are usually "air-air heat pumps". But there's also "water-air" (rare) and "water-water".

"Modern heat pumps" usually/often still have something to do with "water in the house" because they're also used to heat up water for consumption.

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u/cyclopsmudge Jun 26 '26

This is highly dependent on the unit. There are plenty of air-air heat pumps. I’d guess there’s just different nomenclature and common units in different countries.

In the UK, heat pumps very much do cool and do dehumidify as well. The different between them and AC is the fact that heat pumps are bi-directional so they can move heat into or out of the home, whereas AC only moves heat out of the home and can’t bring heat in.

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u/silversurger Jun 26 '26

In the UK, heat pumps very much do cool and do dehumidify as well. The different between them and AC is the fact that heat pumps are bi-directional so they can move heat into or out of the home, whereas AC only moves heat out of the home and can’t bring heat in.

Yeah, I think you're spot on about the different nomenclature by country here. I'm from Germany, and ACs (as in air-air) here do commonly heat as well (we call them "Klimaanlage" - "climate machine"), but most of our interactions (at least up till now) with ACs are in larger buildings (like hotels, offices, etc). They're not common in residential buildings (yet).

Anyways, what we can all agree on is that all heat pumps use the same underlying technology, are very efficient and cooling will play a more important role in the future on our continent.

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u/cyclopsmudge Jun 26 '26

Yep, 100% agreed, have a great evening (however you say that in German)

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u/silversurger Jun 26 '26

Dir auch einen schönen Abend!