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Comment by deadbunny | Hacker News Reader

Could you provide a link to people being shamed for using AC?

It’s becoming less, but the formerly widespread traditional view in Europe was that using AC is a frivolous waste of energy that contributes to environmental pollution and global warming.

Traditionally we didn't have 40c summers that required AC.

Indeed, but there is a significant latency between the climate changing and minds changing.

Its part of disrourse. Every left/communist says that AC will not solve the heat and we should not install it. We know it wont. But not having it makes the heats unbearable.

"We must absolutely not install air conditioning everywhere; that would only make things worse." The words of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the radical left La France Insoumise party, on Friday, June 19, in response to the far-right Rassemblement National (RN)'s large-scale air conditioning plan, reflect a widely held sentiment in France.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2026/06/20/is-...

I am not making stuff up, these people just have too much space in news.

Which part of his statement is a) incorrect b) shaming anyone at all for buying aircon?

Aircon uses a ton of electricity, electricity generation is, at present, hovering around 50% from fossil fuels (in the EU as a whole[1]) which means all other thing being equal you'll be still pumping more CO² into the atmosphere further exacerbating climate change.

So yes, installing aircon everywhere would only make things worse. Those are just verifiable facts.

But you'll note he's not shaming anyone, as per the original claim.

But thanks for the rant, it was highly amusing.

1. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/interactive-publications/e...

"As for me, I won't put my kid or my granddaughter or my great-granddaughter somewhere with air conditioning from morning to night!" declared Mélenchon

Yeah let them fry.. that is pure leftist bullcrap. Of course aircon uses energy. But in a grand scheme of things it is nothing. And we need to live with consequences of people like him who would fought nuclear energy.

"We must absolutely not install air conditioning everywhere" i dont agree with this, Aircon saves lives. The use of electricity is equivalent, maybe less than using heatpumps or heating houses in winter. Why dont we skip heating?

No they cannot, it’s just a right-wing strawman. And something that perturbs some Americans, for some reason. Another "proof" that Europe is a terrible place inhabited by clueless idiots.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2026/06/20/is-...

I don’t know if you read beyond the paywall and you don’t present a single argument, so I struggle to see your point. The article has fuck all to do with actually getting shamed for buying AC. Regulations need to change with the climate, that’s a different discussion altogether. The whole point of the article is a nuanced discussion about pros and cons, and why we are where we are.

I am on a bike and cannot properly do the research. But i have read no AC from german, french and brusels leftist think tanks all summer :) almost as it is a sin to have AC when the world is burning and we should suffer.

The article in Le Monde is actually insightful. The tradeoff is a bit more complicated, and "no AC" is not intrinsically a left-leaning position. It’s actually quite interesting to have self-identified right-wing people, who even now moan about woke heat pumps at the same time campaign for AC everywhere.

Personally I am a bit ambivalent. It’s not needed in most cases most of the time, but it could help transitioning en masse to reversible heat pumps, which would be a step in the right direction. What I worry is that it would be hailed as a silver bullet and detract from improving thermal insulation and mitigating techniques that would not require constant energy supply.

We need to see where we will be, not where we are. The electric grid is not going to get more stable in the next years and will get more and more strained as more and more of our economy has to use electricity. Reducing energy use where appropriate should be a higher priority than an AC band-aid.

But my observation of the media landscape is that right-wing politicians hop on everything that can be shown as boneheaded leftists who refuse progress. Of course, the usual useful idiots like Mélenchon are happy to oblige, but the mainstream left-leaning parties are not particularly anti-AC.

Yeah the heat pump is very easy: russia doesn’t want us using heat pumps, because it means using less gas. Same with nuclear. If you start looking at all issues as: what would benefit russia, its easy to spot left and right talking points.

I am in general right in economic and left in personal freedom. And currently i have no representation. Because both extremes are infested with ex KGB/FSB agents causing social unrest in europe. Same with waves of refugees.

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