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Also most of Europe is significantly north of the USA so…yeah. Non-story.
Actually it’s mostly due to the construction materials and techniques used. American houses are generally less well insulated and built with the explicit expectation that there will be active air conditioning used to maintain the temperature.
Meanwhile in Europe this is not only comparatively very expensive to do, it is also largely unnecessary due to many buildings predating modern air conditioning, using good insulation and passive systems to maintain a comfortable temperature. There are also regulations on newly built houses that make it generally attractive to build energy efficient.
One thing I can promise you, even if it's not 2x4 production, those brick and plaster walls will turn a house into an oven over the summer even with judicious control of open windows.
Signed,
A resident of an un-air conditioned brick and plaster house in the mid Atlantic currently sweating his balls off
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The climate of Europe is a lot warmer than in America for the same latitude
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wait until you learn about the gulf stream
you basically have to move Houston to Madrid for temperatures to be comparable by latitude
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Because for most of Europe, it wasn't needed to have AC up until more recent years. You would have maybe what? 5-10 days a year that were actually really warm. People wouldn't install an AC for that.
These numbers will drastically change the coming decades.
These numbers will drastically change the coming decades
which will only make things worse, since AC just moves all the heat from indoors, out, and uses energy to work of course.
What we really need is builders to start taking the extra heat in to account and designing accordingly (there are loads of different ways to physically control the temperature of a space instead of mechanically).
Shame that'll never actually happen..
Can you elaborate on that? European housing is built with a lot of focus on insulation and heat control, what are you referring to?
European housing is built with a lot of focus on insulation and heat control
It's more about also keeping heat out, as well as heat in. Which have overlap but are not necessarily the same thing. See this conversation for some more details.
Buildings with all glass façades are an insulation nightmare. Cities need more water, plants and trees. Houses need can be built to favour shadow and fressness. You can even go anciant design that were naturally cooled and winded, like roman or African houses.
I don't know about other European countries, but France housing is a disaster the last 40 years. It's only been a decade at best that insulation is a consideration, but the quality is quite bad.
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That's not true. While Northern Europe doesn't really need aircon, Southern Europe is pretty bloody hot since the days of Christ. The difference is that European houses are built with insulation in mind, US houses are built from sticks and shit.
The insulation requirements in the US are higher than many European areas with similar climates. Germany for instance would fall in region 4 and 5 of the US climate wise. R-30 is required for walls, R60 for ceilings, and R20 for floors for homes in the US. Germany recommends 6cm of wall insulation ~R8, 14cm for ceiling ~R19, and 6cm for the floor R8.~~___~~
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Not saying that is the case, but 20% of Europeans with A/C could also mean that 100% of the people in the very south have it and noone else.
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Especially since some people are pushing for lower regulations on how to build houses in some countries in Europe. Yes, there is a housing crisis going on. But when we start to build weaker buildings because of that, we just make other problems worse.
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The US is also warmer on average compared to Europe. Because parts of the US are at the same latitude as Cario, Egypt.
The climate is definitely different. You are right overall. But some places like New York or Chicago are both hotter and colder depending on the time of year.
But some places like New York or Chicago are both hotter and colder
Than what? Chrisinau, Sevastopol and Bucharest are similar to New York
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Essentially, when summer hits, US is hotter than Europe. Canada has the same temperature in summer.
It's not a conspiracy or some grand revelation.
They didn't need it before. Much of America didn't either. A lot of old wood houses had designs built for airflow and trees surrounding the houses. Those that didn't got old attic fans that would pull air from the bottom of the house to the top and out of vents.
These days, insulation and HVAC exists and Americans jumped at the chance to have year round temperature control. Heat pumps now have the best efficiency for cooling and heating year round and can replace most options. Almost everyone will need this option as global warming barrell out of control.
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In the last years the max temps during the summer months in southern Germany have significantly risen - often over 30 C. I just moved into a new house here that fulfills the latest energy efficiency standards (kfw55) and am surprised how well it also insulates against heat. With a recuperating air ventilation system it’s pretty bearable without active cooling.
I look after holiday properties in Europe, all new and highly insulated. I tell every guest to open their windows at night, then close everything they can during the day when they're out. It's how the locals have been doing it for centuries and it's now far more effective. It'll keep the cool air in the house as well as it keeps the heat in in winter
Tell this to 80% of guests, they have a lovely holiday
Tell it to Brits or yanks, they phone up 3 days later screeching like fuckin infants because their chalet is a boiling cauldron of flies because of course they knew better than some pesky local
Brits don't know how to handle heat at all. We open all our windows during the day and let all the hot air in, and then complain about the house being too hot at night. We also like to open the windows on air conditioned trains and buses so we can complain about the air con not working.
It's purely down the not understanding and not having to understand how to manage heat and that our houses are terribly insulated. We're an island of clouds and rain.
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Well, yes. Until people caused climate change, we didn't need air cooling systems. Depending on where you lived, you need to build to keep heat IN buildings, even.
But, here we are, a planet on fire. So now we need air cooling to survive, lest our weakest, elderly, infirm, young children die. Then down the line once it's even worse, it'll be needed just so that any of us can survive.
Feck the bourgeoisie and the generations of apathetic fools under them that have allowed this to happen :-(
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Still wish I had EU citizenship. Imaging getting on a train and going anywhere you want.
My life so far:
- Be born in UK, be able to work / live anywhere in EU
- Emigrate to USA to try that for a bit (can always move back to anywhere in EU if I don't like it!)
- Brexit
- Trump
And yes, I do miss the trains.
Yikes. Sorry for your misfortune
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I mean, if you are a us citizen you have free reign to take a painfully slow train to one of the three states that doesn't suck.
Wait, the third state is currently on fire.
Make that two states.
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Man, when you're in the high 90s, with humidity in the same numbers, it doesn't matter how high your ceilings are, how much airflow you have under the house and through the attic, it sucks. And by sucks, I mean it can kill people sometimes.
Growing up here in the south, we didn't have AC until somewhere in the late eighties, and that was a big window unit. Most days during the summer, you had no ability to do much of anything without suffering. After the window unit, we could at least eat dinner without being nauseous from heat.
This house didn't have central air until 2003, when I put it in after I made a small bundle selling a book. I will never fucking go back to not having it. We keep it set fairly warm unless my wife is having trouble (MS fucks your ability to thermoregulate, and getting overheated can cause problems that can last weeks), but it simply isn't realistic to do without it.
I have no clue what Europe is like in terms of summer weather patterns. But the south has these old houses like ours that are built to make the weather as livable as possible, and they don't really succeed any more.
If I had the money, I'd likely switch to a heat pump, but I don't, so oh well.
And that's not even going into the extra expenses that come without AC of some kind. You get the heat and humidity going, and mold becomes a guarantee rather than a possibility. Wood warps, and stuff like plaster or drywall don't exactly enjoy the humidity either.
For those that need a geography lesson to explain: https://vividmaps.com/comparing-latitude-of-europe-and-america/
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Two different climates too. USA is centred closer to the equater then all of Europe, which means more people live in year round heat, and want A/C to cool off.
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As someone who struggled to sleep in sweat soaked sheets in a small hotel in France can they at least give you a fan?
Too dangerous. Could cause fan death
Korea has entered the chat
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Very misleading title
The new analysis estimates a timescale for the collapse of between 2025 and 2095, with a central estimate of 2050
To be clear, this is still really bad, but it's typical media reporting where scientists say sometime in the next 70 years and the media changes it to "next year"
I don't disagree about the headline, but ~70 years for something that last happened in the ice age is imminent on a geologic scale. I mean, shit: that's within my kid's lifetime.
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These comment threads could use some air conditioning!
Aren't heat pumps a cleaner, better alternative to traditional AC?
Heat pumps ARE AC. Also your fridge.
And (multi-)split wall mounted ACs are among the most efficient heat pumps as well with SCOPs above 4.5. It's frustratingly little-known or talked about (in central Europe anyway), because these devices would also be a much cheaper and more efficient heat-pump upgrade for older buildings that don't have low temp supply-water heating and would normally need to be completely gutted to install floor heating or large radiators.
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It wouldn’t surprise me if that changes over the next few years.
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this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
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