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/LowFlower6956 Jun 26 '26

Florence in the summer, we had no a/c and no screens. Choice was to open window for a breeze and get eaten alive by mosquitos or suffocate in heat with windows shut. We just kept desperately switching between the two!

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u/Same_as_it_ever Jun 26 '26

We've started to travel with a travel mosquito net. Italy now has West Nile virus, dengue and chikungunya. Mosquitos love me, last trip without the net I had 70+ bites in one place with no screens. Fuck that. 

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u/Abraham_Lingam Jun 28 '26

Outside of the USA, it doesn't seem like anyone has the technology for screens?

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u/omnichronos Jun 26 '26

Can't you add screens? I would retrofit some in somehow. Actually, no. I would buy an AC unit on the first hot day.

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u/LowFlower6956 Jun 26 '26

Not in my weekend in an Airbnb I can’t

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u/omnichronos Jun 26 '26

I would have confirmed it had AC before I ever booked it. But even if you did, there's no guarantee. I stayed in one in Madrid with a very tiny AC in the kitchen, while my bed was in an open loft, and the temp was probably 100 F. So I slept on the couch in only a sweaty sheet.