It seems like a basic safety requirement that they are refusing to acknowledge and are now apparently just refusing to go to work completely when it gets hot outside.
Toning down the snark, to be honest, most places in countries like France and Germany didn't have AC because up to a few years ago, maybe they'd seriously need it one week per year or so... it didn't make sense for them to have it just to keep it turned off 99% of the time. I'm sure they will adapt, but it always takes some time to change the old ways.
We are affected by the weather much more than we'd like to admit.
In short, he argues that Mediterranean countries must reject the northern European denigration of them as backwards, old-fashioned and workshy, and instead reclaim their cultures as vitally human and a necessary corrective to an over-focus on 'efficiency'.
Further north it hasn't been necessary until very recently, and now people are fighting in shops to buy portable units and there are going to be loads of permanent installations once things settle down later this year.
Southern Spain may, but it's virtually unheard of up here in Galicia/Asturias/Cantabria. Even many businesses in these parts don't have AC, and our Ourense region has pretty regularly had 40+ C days the last ~5 summers
AC does make the problem worse, the issue is just that climate change is mostly out of Europe's control.
It's also a misdirection of guilt. It's not the accumulated CO2 from the decades of burning all kinds of shit that is driving the weather, it's your personal AC unit.
It's fair to criticize this from the social equality perspective, but there are times when the network is saturated with zero emission electricity.
But then again, should I also not use the electric oven (I don't have the actual gas oven for the same reasons I have ) after dark when it's not windy?
That makes additional cooling load almost a non-issue, and can help incentivise the transition from diesel boilers -> heat pumps, as well as driving the grid upgrades we sorely need to make use of all the solar capacity.
But that only works in homes with forced air heating. Most of Europe doesn't use forced air heating. You can replace a boiler with a heat pump, but if you do you don't magically get A/C too.
In 2026 it seems silly to do new builds in a cold climate with anything but a forced air heat pump.
That sounds like a big mold risk if its causing condensation in the walls. Wall heating, on the other hand sounds like a great idea.
It's a pretty cool material!
Condensation needs humidity, not just a lower temperature. In summer, this is rare, even though we're in Berlin which is essentially built in the middle of a huge area of low-lying marshy woodlands.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_European_heatwave
The reason is simple to understand. For the majority of the time the AC would sit idle. Some years AC is not required at all because the summer is mild. It's hard to get people to spend money on things that they don't need most of the time, it's like buying insurance.
I know not AC are/were heat pumps but I don't know of any that are not anymore
You can, but they already had a solution for winter.
Especially so in the winter, which is dryer than summer in many places.
It's completely new both in absolute temperatures, frequency and length of the heat waves
Workers are demanding to stay inside (with their AC) instead of going outside.
So we have climate change with concomitant heat waves caused by our energy consumption, and the obvious solution for this is … to consume more energy?
I live at 51°N and apartments in my building that face the south largely have AC. I've seen a lot of AC company vans in my neighborhood lately, so I guess many people pulled that trigger this year.
Personally I went to the mountains as it's a 2h drive and naturally cool, moist air beats AC every time.
The people who refuse to install it and make up the majority of deaths are simply old - older than the average life expectancy in the US - and thus typically pinching pennies - especially that for the vast majority of their lives it wasn't necessary.
My father had AC installed a several years ago due to his health and it was probably working overtime this season.
My mother lives in a commie block that is well insulated and surrounded by green spaces, so the heatwave didn't affect her nearly as much.
My college friend discovered his heat pump is actually reversible, so now instead of heated, they have cooled floors. Unfortunately the device wasn't smart enough to on one hand use the heat to heat up tap water and the cold to cool the surroundings, but I guess you can't have everything.
Because the Northern Europe didn't historically need it (average summer warm weather was like 75 degrees or less), so it was mostly seen as environmentally unfriendly and more of a stupid US indulgence, like being able-bodied but still going to the supermarket on a motorized wheelchair.
The South that did need it, has already had it for the most part.