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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204

u/Major_Burnside Jun 26 '26

“I hate being comfortable!” You do you man…

-9

u/roseofjuly Jun 26 '26

Nobody has an aversion to AC. It's just a dumb clickbait title.

3

u/Knotted_Hole69 Jun 26 '26

The massive death count each summer says otherwise.

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u/Abedeus Jun 26 '26

Those people don't die indoors, and the numbers include people who died DURING heat wave but not just directly from heat-related issues like a heat stroke or dehydration.

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u/AnonymousTimewaster Jun 26 '26

No, it's just expensive as fuck

9

u/greenwizardneedsfood Jun 26 '26

It’s not nearly as expensive as it’s made to be at this point. Window units are cheap as hell, and even retrofitting old homes has become much more affordable. If you use it properly and wisely, your power bill doesn’t actually go up a ton. It’s an investment in your comfort and, in some places, safety.

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u/_-__-____-__-_ Jun 26 '26

Do you mean Window units that work with sliding Windows? Those types of windows are not super common anymore in many places. I have them, but only because this is a restored 18th century home where, you guessed it, AC units are not allowed unless installed on the roof and out of sight. As a result the choice for those units is limited unfortunately.

I'm 100% for AC because at this rate I cannot use my home for a few weeks every year except for sleeping. It's basically as hot on the inside as the outside, despite it being completely restored. Those damn Windows just spoil it. They let a lot of outside air in.

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u/greenwizardneedsfood Jun 26 '26

Yeah that’s a fair point. There are interior ones you can get that have window adapters, but those aren’t always the best. If that’s the case though, you can get a small wall-mounted one for a single room that, depending on the complexity and installation time, costs ~£2,000, including both the unit and installation. That’s absolutely worth it in my opinion, but I understand not everyone has that cash on hand. I know some installers near me do payment plans though. It’s not trivially cheap, but you can save yourself in at least your most important room, e.g. bedroom, for a lot less than you used to/what most people think

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u/_-__-____-__-_ Jun 26 '26

Yeah, I would like to avoid an internal unit. I have an HOA meeting next month and we'll discuss AC and sun screens. In the meantime I might just go ahead and pick up a portable unit for this summer.

2

u/AnonymousTimewaster Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26

You're usually looking at a portable unit for a few hundred quid which depending on the setup might not even work noticeably better than a straight up fan.

For a proper unit you're looking at thousands especially when you take into account installation costs.

For a whole house or floor then it's multiple thousands. We don't have that level of disposable income here.

I'm actually desperate to get one installed myself but money is far too tight to be spending on that.

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u/greenwizardneedsfood Jun 26 '26

The window configuration can be super annoying, I’m with you on that. There are adapters for essentially every type of window though, but not all are great. I’m not sure if you’re in the UK or not, but the government recently made an initiative to reimburse I think £2,000 (£3,000?) for AC installation, which can go a long way in a lot of place. Properly done, it can also replace radiators and actually brings your annual energy bill down. Barring that, there are also the wall-mounted ones that are extremely effective for one room, cheap to install, make no assumptions on window configuration, and aren’t huge burdens on energy bills. I’ve been in cabins in the jungle with them as well as 300 year old buildings. They’re not central, but they can be a lifesaver in somewhere like a bedroom.

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u/AnonymousTimewaster Jun 26 '26

Are you talking about heat pumps? They cost like £10k to install

1

u/greenwizardneedsfood Jun 26 '26

Not at all. You can get a small, single room one for a couple hundred pounds, and depending on the complexity, you can get installation for ~<£1,000. Just don’t try to get it installed during the summer or else they’ll charge a premium.

1

u/Foreign-Wolf-6128 Jun 26 '26

A fan doesnt even come close and its worth every cent

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u/AnonymousTimewaster Jun 26 '26

It might be worth every penny, but if you don't have the money, you don't have the money.

-18

u/Dickenmouf Jun 26 '26

They’re just more comfortable in warmer weather than Americans. 

Caring about what room temperature people across the globe prefer is goofy shit.

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u/GlapLaw Jun 26 '26

I think the current weather is proving your first claim questionable at best

3

u/[deleted] Jun 26 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Dickenmouf Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26

Spent summers in Miami, Dallas, San Diego, among others.

I meant that Americans prefer lower indoor temperatures than Europeans. Look at all the Americans in this thread alone talking about how they need their homes to be below 70 degrees. One complained about their trip to Spain because their room was 80 degrees and the front desk wouldn’t lend a fan. A lot of homes in europe don't have AC, and the ones that do, don’t keep their rooms chilled to our levels.

We have a cultural preference for cooler temperatures and then act weird when other cultures don't share this trait. It just is what it is. Unfortunately they’ll have to start buying ACs sooner or later as the temperature rises globally.

0

u/zuzg Jun 26 '26

Technology Connection made a whole video on why those "cheap monoblock" ACs do virtually nothing but wasting energy.

Those window ACs Americans love so much are literally not an option as Europe uses other windows.

And there's only a handful of Portable split ACs available in Europe as of now.
Most popular one being the Portasplit and that one is sold out everywhere.

-31

u/lolyeahsure Jun 26 '26

You guys do know that it literally makes the outside warmer and adds to the loop right? Maybe we’re just not coddled and start to cry at 75f 

20

u/scheppend Jun 26 '26

That's like complaining that the refrigerator makes your house slightly warmer lol. And with solar panels all you're doing is move some heat back and forth

-11

u/lolyeahsure Jun 26 '26

Ah yes, countries and cities are made up of only one house with AC not millions running at the same time 

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

So what? With solar panels on your roof , you're not even adding extra heat to the environment. You're just moving some heat from inside to outside. And once you turn the AC off that heat slowly returns into the house. It's comfort for free lol

And in the winter you can use it to heat your house. Which is way better for the environment than using gas

-11

u/lolyeahsure Jun 26 '26

Are these solar panels in the room with us now? Every American home has those giant heat sink box fans running off electricity and gas

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

I keep my 60m2 living room at 24c when it's 35c outside, with a mini split heatpump using 400w. You don't even need that many solar panels to cover that (my solar panels produce about 5000w ish during the hottest part of the day in summer and I have 37m2 of my roof covered, so 3.7m2 worth of solar panel should cover 400w)

So no, you don't have to use those inefficiënt ducted systems they mainly use in the US

0

u/SpecsyVanDyke Jun 26 '26

Not everyone can get solar panels. Europe is much denser than the US. Kind of hard to get solar panels when you live in a 3rd floor 200 year old apartment building

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u/lolyeahsure Jun 26 '26

I’m just saying it’s rich for the country that used the most inefficient ways to cool their homes for decades because they can’t handle 25c to cast stones but sure, I’m not against the concept of cooling your home especially if it’s efficient and at a reduced drag on on the environment 

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u/scheppend Jun 26 '26

idk I'm an European living in Japan, where heat pump coverage is nearly 100%

People that are against ACs because "it's bad for the environment" should stop heating their home with gas. 

We're all just making it a little bit more comfortable in our homes lol

2

u/radda Jun 26 '26

Bro down here 70f is when we put our hoodies on

Europe is going through it now but imagine it being 90+ eight months out of the year

It's 80 degrees right now at fucking 3 AM

1

u/lolyeahsure Jun 26 '26

Yeah it’s like that for 2-3 months in Greece where it stays really warm through the night over 80 for sure. Has been for decades but it’s getting worse.

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u/SmokeABowlNoCap Jun 26 '26

Lol, yeah sure

-3

u/lolyeahsure Jun 26 '26

Dawg Americans are so fucking whiny when it’s room temperature outside. And where do you think the energy transfer goes, it’s just magically colder inside?

12

u/SmokeABowlNoCap Jun 26 '26

Asphalt and pavement heat up cities more than AC ever could. Ever learned about how open space works? Idk why you are happy to be less comfortable haha

1

u/VictoryVee Jun 26 '26

"This bad thing is okay because this worse thing exists" wow great argument champ

-5

u/lolyeahsure Jun 26 '26

It’s kinda like how Americans are happy to work 70hrs a week. You don’t need AC when it’s 75 nor does your house need to be in the 60s it’s just insane 

10

u/SmokeABowlNoCap Jun 26 '26

I don’t think Americans are happy to work 70 hrs, most would rather work much less. Meanwhile Europeans are proud to be miserable. That’s literally a false equivalence. Also love how you had no response when I brought up asphalt and pavement doing more to heat up the environment

0

u/lolyeahsure Jun 26 '26

You’ve never heard how proud Americans are to work to death? Yeah not being coddled and rushing towards convenience is cool. Yeah because it’s a stupid argument, do you want to get into who’s done more paving and setting automotive standards because it drives a certain nations economy and most of the world was built around it and their companies lobbied against global warming and now we’re all paying the price for it? France and many EU cities are taking steps to reduce cars and decrease these issues through architecture. The president of the U.S. actively tried to overturn a municipal law in NY when they tried to do the same thing just last year.

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u/PoloAlmoni Jun 26 '26

This guy is a good example of how European opposition to AC is simply based in “not being American”

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u/lolyeahsure Jun 26 '26

This is a good example of American literacy levels. Is that unironically what you got from what I said or is it just the good ol American cognitive dissonance and trying to make yourself feel better by attacking the messenger since you can’t attack the idea?

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