US people call them heat pumps because they have been calling the non-reversible cold-only kind “air conditioner” so they needed a new term. In Europe most uni

US people call them heat pumps because they have been calling the non-reversible cold-only kind “air conditioner” so they needed a new term. In Europe most units are reversible cold/heat unit so “air conditioning” means making air both colder and hotter. We would call the ACs the Americans have “air coolers”, if we needed to make the difference.