4 ms·
Air conditioning isn't needed in many EU countries except for a few days a year (so it's not worth to even install it in private homes, modern offices mostly ha
by ajuc 6y ago
Air conditioning isn't needed in many EU countries except for a few days a year (so it's not worth to even install it in private homes, modern offices mostly have them though for some reason).
Also depending on the country few people use cloth driers - you just hang your clothes on a cable and let them dry by themselves.
Houses in colder parts of EU are also usually better isolated than in US ([1] that's a typical Polish house for example), and more people live in flats in blocks instead of independent houses (so heat loses are vastly reduced because you only have 1 or 2 outdoors walls).
Homes are also simply bigger in US. Average home size (including flats) in my country is a little over 70 square meters. It's probably bigger in western Europe but not by that much.
Also big houses usually have 2/3 stories instead of being very "wide".
And electric heating/cooking isn't very popular, but I think that depends on the country.
It all goes back to electricity prices - in Poland in 1980s most houses had no isolation, everybody heated with coal which had fixed (and very low) prices. Then communism ended, prices were free to change with the market, some taxes were introduced, and suddenly everybody isolated their houses in like 10 years. Otherwise you burned money like crazy.
[1] https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pressland-cms/cache/__original__/tl/20503051-https-bi.jpeg https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pressland-cms/cache/__...
- baybal2 6y ago> ([1] that's a typical Polish house for example), I believe a typical Polish "house" will be an apartment.
- ajuc 6y ago42% of Poles live in apartaments. It was slightly above 50% several years ago.
- thesteamboat 6y agoSorry to nitpick, but I assume you mean EU houses are better insulated than those in the US, rather than isolated.
- r00fus 6y agoGlobal Warming is changing that. Anecdotally in my observations, more new houses in France now have AC whereas it was rare only 5 years ago.
- throwawayboise 6y agoPeople are also fatter and less tolerant of warm weather.
- polote 6y agoReversible ac are more energy efficient that heater, x3 I think
- bluGill 6y agoGlobal warming is not that much difference. People just can afford ac now so they buy it.
- r00fus 6y agoGiven I have skipped last year (due to COVID) but we'd been in France every summer for the previous 5 years and it's gotten hotter and hotter - resulting successive record breaking summers. I think the decline of the jet stream is a bigger deal for Europe than the US. Hotter summers and colder winters.
- mr_toad 6y agoHeat pumps are an efficient way of heating in the winter, and double as AC in the summer.
- twelvechairs 6y agoHouse size is basically proportional to the increased energy. The average US home is 2-2.5 larger than European homes [0]. This doesn't just mean more space to heat and cool but also more space for additional appliances. [0] https://i0.wp.com/shrinkthatfootprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Houseizem21.gif https://i0.wp.com/shrinkthatfootprint.com/wp-content/uploads...
- urthor 6y agoOffice buildings use them because the heating/cooling part is secondary. They need it for ventilation because 6th floor office windows don't open for obvious reasons.