Le estati europee stanno diventando brutalmente calde. Allora perché l’aria condizionata è così raro?
https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/02/climate/europe-air-conditioning-heat-wave-intl-latam
di ethereal3xp
Le estati europee stanno diventando brutalmente calde. Allora perché l’aria condizionata è così raro?
https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/02/climate/europe-air-conditioning-heat-wave-intl-latam
di ethereal3xp
37 commenti
Cause it ain’t cheap.
It’s not rare at all
Air conditioning is very common in Bulgaria, for example. It always surprises me when so many people die during heatwaves in western countries.
Because electricity is so expensive.
No one thinks they need it until they do. The year you finally decide that you’ve saved up money, there’s a mild summer and you think that it’s a waste to use for a few days a year and is utterly useless in the winter. Then you get five years of heat waves and bake.
And then you have landlords who won’t spend the money without a rent increase. Which you can’t always get depending on the country.
New buildings are increasingly built with it because they are already sold or rented at higher prices. But the old stuff will linger out there because no one is motivated to fix it.
Because we are trying to minimise our energy use by not resorting to energy hungry solutions when there are architectural solutions that work adequately.
I just read an article about the French take where one party wants to increase the number of places with AC, and another said AC will speed up climate change by the heat exhaust so therefore people should not have AC.
Odd arguments to me.
I use a new one in Germany and it costs far less than heat in the winter.
It seems I need to heat my home in winter and cool it down is summer. Unfortunately both are too expensive
Expensive electricity
People don’t think the investment is worth it because it’s only very hot in summer and the rest of the year would be of no use.
A lot of people go to colder areas in summer for holidays or just don’t think AC is worth it because they are not at home in summer.
People are used to hot summers and just live accordingly.
Workplaces have AC almost certainly
It’s like with your healthcare. We just accept our fate.
Because we are cheap and don’t have a lot of income after taxes to pay for expensive installation of aircos. Electricity is universally expensive.
Because we have a lot of renters who just cannot retrofit their home.
Because we don’t have those American style windows, where you can just place the unit in the window (not great but better than portable.)
Then we have the problems of German superstition.
Then we have the problems of historic preservation of views.
Then we have a bunch of greens saying we need to wait 20 years for GHG emission reductions, insulation retrofits, and should rearrange our lives around heat. But we can’t install aircos because of urban heat island effect. Which is weird because cities in Asia and the USA install aircos and don’t have mass casualty events.
Because just installing the AC in 3 bedrooms cost me 4000 euros and then there is the cost to run it. Which is fortunately covered by the solar panels. Which also cost 4000 euros.
Not everyone has that money to spend on something you’ll use 2 months a year.
There is absolutely no need for them in Ireland.
It is not rare here in Slovenia.
Why is Reddit insisting that air conditioning is rare in Europe? It’s definitely not rare in Italy anymore.
In Northern Europe, [air source heat pumps](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_source_heat_pump) are often installed for heating and they usually have a cooling function as well for the summer.
Here in Hungary we did not need them in the past. E.g. I moved into my apartment in 2009, then we had maximum 1 week that was extremely hot. Now it’s rather 2 months, so you cannot really live without them anymore…
Moved to a new place / new building, has an A/C.
It was on only during the winter/spring while the temperature was low and the central heating still offline.
Now in the mid of summer, the A/C is off, all windows open for air flow, all curtains down and a bonus the apartment faces North North West
So, just using statistics without context is misleading.
The article tried to offset this with examples like buildings in the south made for the heat i.e. Europe didn’t have A/C devices in the past, it factored in “natural” ways to cool off.
Because we didn’t need air con before that’s the main reason. We didn’t need it for decades simply wasn’t that hot, energy cost is a distant second reason.
In austria many many appartements are not rented but owned. To install AC you need the clearance of all owners in the building which is – often – not easy to get.
Living in northern Europe – bought a mobile ac unit for myself and parents.
I live in an old Soviet style apartment complex. 99% of apartments don’t have AC. You need permission from the cooperative (administrator of the buildings) to get one. Installing and buying one is pretty expensive (10k+ PLN, around 2,5k+ EUR, unit + installation). For a 2 person household, we pay around 20 EUR for electricity per month (we get billed every second month). If we had AC our bill would probably triple or quadruple. That’s not something we can afford. Also you just get used to the heat. Roll down the blinds, don’t open windows to let the hot air in, drink plenty of cold water. It’s not as unbearable.
It’s not that rare. I live in Belgium. I’ve had AC for over 25 years in the 3 places I lived. My parents and both SIL also have AC. Half of the new built houses have AC. They are also used for heating. They are running for free, because solar panels are mandatory. Since this year, heat pumps are mandatory for new houses. A heat pump is an AC.
Also the hardware needed is expensive
Not all countries in Europe are so backwards in their thinking and poisoned by the green ideology that demonises A/Cs. It’s mostly central and western Europe, particularly Germany , Austria, Switzerland and a couple of more. Everyone else has an aircon. But no worries, few more summers like this one and they will learn the hard way, as they always tend to do.
Many people here mention the cost, but it’s not as bad as it seems, for an apartment you will usually need just one unit in a key location that will cost you between 600-1000 eur and running it is also nowhere near as bad. You usually don’t run it 24/7, and it raises my electricity bill by about 20% when running 16h a day in July. It is also useful in winter as most units these days have the option to work in reverse as a heater.
If I can afford in Poland while by Western standards, my wage wouldn’t even be considered average, so it shouldn’t be a problem for the Westerners.
The problem, however, might be installing it in some buildings. In some apartment buildings, the management simply won’t allow drilling through any load-bearing wall or installing any units outside to preserve the look of the building. I didn’t have that problem but know a lot of people who are restricted.
I have one and use it a day or two every other year. But it’s ugly, noisy, hard on the environment and climate and it’s a tradition her to build to insulate from heat and cold anyway. We don’t need it 99% of the time.
because at least here in Germany it’s just now gettig barely hot enough for barely long enough to even start considering getting an AC unit. In the US the AC industry for home use had several decades to grow organically but it’s just not a thing here. Some office buildings or other workplaces might have an AC but in normal residential homes I’ve never seen an AC in my 30 years of life.
And in my current place I still wouldn’t need one, a normal desk fan is completely sufficient.
The reason probably differs between he southern and northern countries.
For the southern ones that always had very hot summers, the reason for not having one is probably the cost.
For the mid-northern ones, it is probably that till recently there was no need because temps were cool enough during summers , with the occasional heatwave for a day or two which was not justifying the purchase of an AC.
Depends on the country. In Romania it’s not uncommon in big cities. In Bucharest you’ll be pressed to find a place without one.
I don’t get it. I’m using this one: https://www.lidl.de/p/silvercrest-mobile-klimaanlage-9000-btu-wifi-a1/p100388754
It’s got an average consumption of 800 Watts per hour and it keeps one whole house floor cool. I only need it for around 4 weeks a year in germany and i can stow it away the rest of the time. No expensive installation needed.
Costs are
€220 unit price
€100 for a fitting window insert
€0.30 x 0.8kW x 12 x 28 x 5 = €450 for 5 years of usage
So in total I’m paying €140 a year to keep cool. If you install a 800W solar panel on the balcony you can reduce it further.
Because it’s
– expensive
– electricity is expensive too
– not every building allows it
– expensive
Electricity is expensive but for my comfort it can be even 100 euros ( which is not anyway) per month. Heat drives me insane, i can’t work cannot focus all my devices are hot and sometimes slow, so I have AC on 25 on since start of june. ( that is in Bucarest). Now I am in the mountains and we installed a 12 000 btu one even here as it is very very hot sometimes. Shits gonna to be really bad in the very near future
To me the question is how the heck do 90% of Americans have AC units even though they aren’t at all necessary in many northern states. To me the obvious answer is consumer culture : Americans buy what they are told they need to.
Maybe we should talk about city design, materials, and green spaces. AC is cheap nowadays so there’s no excuse to avoid it
Not im Croatia, here it is pretty much ubiquitous.