Heat wave kills more than 1,100 people in Spain and Portugal | Hacker News Reader

Heat wave kills more than 1,100 people in Spain and Portugal

axios.com

77 pointsgeox31 comments

I know these heat waves are affecting Europe compared to the US because they don't have AC to deal with it. I don't understand why this isn't an issue for parts of the world where they also don't have AC but reach these temperatures all the time? I'm not criticizing the people affected, I'm genuinely curious what's different in Europe compared to equatorial populations without AC? Or do people die from heat all the time in less wealthy countries and we just don't hear about it? I'm really sorry to see a headline like this, I'm not skeptical or critical, I just want to understand the world better.

> I know these heat waves are affecting Europe compared to the US because they don't have AC to deal with it

What makes you think Europe does not have AC?

I agree the poster was being imprecise, but it's not unreasonable to agree that Northern Europe has a lot less residential and commercial air conditioning than most of the southern US.

One coping technique is to spray your bedsheet with water and then run a fan.

This only works in dry places

That would be the case on Spain and Portugal

Partially, you wouldn't want to try this on the islands.

Or hang out in the bathtub all day. If you don't have a bathtub put your feet in a bucket of water.

Heat stresses the heart. Enough to take out people with myocarditis.

Are portable A/C units not available or too expensive? (Or was there a mad rush after seeing the forecast)

After seeing wildfires, heat domes around the world in the past few years, my family definitely prepared. (I put in a small mini split after last years heat dome in the NW US.)

they are available but just not really something most europeans have had to use in the past. outside of offices and hotels, only the rich tend to use air conditioners and if you are poor, it’s unlikely that you can get one at a moments notice because you saw a 40 degree forecast (if you even watch the forecasts)

I think any European below the 47th parallel North should have at least considered some form of AC.

At some point there is an odd disconnect between accepting living spaces need to be heated in Winter but rejecting they should be cooled in the Summer.

Amd I get it. It sucks that Europe needs AC in the Summer now, but unfortunately no amount of “I told you so” blog posts will keep anyone from heat sickness. So lets accept the world as it is now, mitigate against the risks and try not to make things worse.

Installing AC everywhere will make things worse, because of the massive polluting production and energy demand.

I believe changing the way of life and enabling old customs like siesta would be a much more climate friendly short term solution.

Have you tried to nap when the temperature outside is 41c and you have no air conditioning? I have. It is not possible.

Where I live, we hit 46c last year. I brought a portable AC to my mom, it was 32c in her 2nd story bedroom after sunset. Yeah of course those temps are not unheard of in some regions. But I am north of the 45th parallel. It isn’t normal and a “siesta” won’t make it so.

We fucked up, the planet is getting hotter. We need to adapt. Where I live, electricity is mainly generated through hydroelectric dams. Yeah, it fucks up the fish, but it is better than coal or methane. And yes, I will unabashedly run my AC to make my home habitable. It isn’t accepting defeat, it is allowing us to live.

I wonder, as you wrote this reply, what was the temperature inside your home? I am sure you will tell us with the same zeal that was behind your original reply. If not, kindly keep your “customs” to yourself while people die of heat sickness in their homes.

Dude, you simply can't pay the electricity bills for AC. I mean, you can if you have good income, but prices are much higher than the US and salaries are much lower.

In Portugal, you can just not afford it on normal wages (I'm not counting tech workers and "digital nomads" (who only make things worse))

Sure, you might be able to purchase the system and get it installed, but energy costs are astronomical.

What about ceiling fans? Do you have them? Or is it never that needed before too? In India where high temperature and humidity is always there, most people uses fans, AC only by rich and upper middle class.

> Are portable A/C units not available or too expensive?

Too expensive. The price of electricity is much higher here (https://www.statista.com/statistics/263492/electricity-price...).

Yes! Let's magic 30 million new AC units into existence and pump another 105GW of power onto the grid!

Doing this stuff at population scale is nearly impossible. It would also cause secondary heat issues and make heatwaves much worse for the local environment. It's a bad idea.

So what is a cause of death? Heart failure? Brain melting?

Those alarmist articles without sources and detailed information are pointless.

Probably just heatstroke, pretty sure that is usually how people die from heat. Though, good chance that info just isn't out there.

Its still hypothesis without any proofs. So why another fear sensation articles?

It's a global phenomenon now. What surprised me was how few households have air conditioning in Europe. Hard times.

Almost nobody in portugal has AC. We just close all the windows and blinds down and stay inside during the hours of most heat, and wait until it gets cooler.

Those outside blinds... I miss those.

I can't imagine life in the summer without them, and I live in Lisbon. We hit 41.5 last week, some places in the country got to 47. That's going to kill a lot of people, with or without blinds and closed windows.

And white painted houses. First order of business is keeping the heat out, after that you might get started thinking about removing heat.

Most home in Portugal haven't needed AC. That's the underlying point.

> What surprised me was how few households have air conditioning in Europe.

It’s been reported on for years, and it’s not just Europe. In Hawaii, for example, most places didn’t have AC, and didn’t really need it until the 2010s, when the weather noticeably changed. Now, there’s entire sides of the islands, particularly leeward, where AC companies are working 24/7 on installation projects in buildings that haven’t had AC for the previous 20-30 years. Same is true for California, where people are putting AC in for the first time in homes that were built in the 1960s and didn’t need it before.

I sure hope Hawaii has pivoted onto solar to meet those power demands.

Last I checked Hawaii's energy needs were all met via imported fossil fuels. It's why the CoL is so high there. But that was well over a decade ago.

massive solar farm going in on the big island east of waikoloa. not sure about the other islands.

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