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> I believe attitudes toward air-conditioning are class markers in many European countries. Air-conditioning is seen as prototypically American Anecdotally, fr

by retrac 1y ago

> I believe attitudes toward air-conditioning are class markers in many European countries. Air-conditioning is seen as prototypically American Anecdotally, from the Europeans I know, this is true. When the topic comes up, I will mention that we almost universally have air conditioning here in Canada. (As we do.) After any initial surprise fades over AC in a country generally known for being cold a retort comes usually along the lines of "well you're practically Americans culturally anyway". That may be part of it, sure. But I think it's mostly that electricity is cheap here, while it reaches almost 40 °C in summer. Speaking of electricity, the article doesn't really mention energy costs. Here in Canada I don't know many who don't have AC because they don't like it philosophically, but I know some people who don't have one, or who don't use their AC as much as they would like, because they just can't afford it. And it's not the AC itself. It's the electricity. A window unit running on high will consume its weight in electricity in one summer, or sooner. And that's at Canadian electricity prices, where we pay about 0.10 CAD (0.06 EUR / 0.07 USD) per kWh here. To run AC like Canadians do (often with central air to cool the entire home) could cost potentially thousands of dollars a year, if we paid German electric rates.

mitthrowaway2 1y ago
Air conditioning has long been very rare in homes in Vancouver, but that's been changing in the past decade after a series of summer heat waves and rising temperatures. It's become a problem as many landlords and stratas ban the installation or operation of air conditioners, especially in older buildings where the wiring wasn't intended to support air conditioning loads. This has led to recent court battles where renters try to fight the bans, and also resulted in British Columbia updating the building code to ensure that all new buildings have at least one climate-controlled room (although it can be passively cooled).
- mingus88 1y ago
  It’s the same story all along the west coast of the U.S. There are high CoL areas with many rentals where up until 10 years ago the climate has been mild all summer. Seattle, Portland, SF, down to LA. Landlords have no desire to update their properties. Why would they when the investment home they bought in 1980 for $70k is now worth 1.5M and bringing in $3000/mo in income? That’s just taking money out of their poor empty pockets. There are many trending indicators I can see building up toward a big anti-capitalist movement and this kind of thing is top of mind. The utter disregard some landlords have toward the well being of their tenants…
mytailorisrich 1y ago
It's because Europe has managed for the last, what, 30,000 years without AC even around the Med when "normal" temperatures reach 40C under the Sun in summer. When AC appeared it was a luxury that became affordable so people could do "like Americans". Now, serious heatwaves are become usual so this may change. But on the other hand, adequate architecture and practices may help, too. Even traditional ones vs "modern" overuse of glass, for example.
- ranger_danger 1y ago
  > It's because Why do you think it's "because" of this? Humans survived without computers for that long too... but I don't see anyone yelling to abolish them.
  - mytailorisrich 1y ago
    Because I am from Southern Europe so I do know that AC was inexistant in homes and even cars when I was growing up, and AC in homes appeared, not because they became needed, but because it was "cool", so to speak, people came to be able to afford it, and it spread from abroad. On top of that now AC also clashes with general policies in Europe to cut power use, and EVs take priority. Especially on the left AC is seen as very not green.
    - spwa4 1y ago
      Actually even the Roman empire had AC. Of course, not electrical, but they definitely designed buildings to naturally develop airflow in high temperatures. Basic systems were in place even in slave housing, where they used the water supply to cool things down (water flowed constantly 24/7/365 through toilets, and before getting to the toilet, cooled things down) There were even quite extreme air conditioning designs for the wealthy who had water flow through the walls and floors of entire buildings, even pumped systems that automatically switched from using heated water to cooled water depending on inside temperature. Long tunnels on higher floors with water cooling that got air from specific places to flow into rooms in villas. And, of course, the systems in Rome's palaces are extreme. So if what you're saying is true, without even passive cooling, your housing is worse than even the standards for Roman slaves.

by retrac 1y ago

mitthrowaway2 1y ago

Air conditioning has long been very rare in homes in Vancouver, but that's been changing in the past decade after a series of summer heat waves and rising temperatures. It's become a problem as many landlords and stratas ban the installation or operation of air conditioners, especially in older buildings where the wiring wasn't intended to support air conditioning loads. This has led to recent court battles where renters try to fight the bans, and also resulted in British Columbia updating the building code to ensure that all new buildings have at least one climate-controlled room (although it can be passively cooled).

mingus88 1y ago
It’s the same story all along the west coast of the U.S. There are high CoL areas with many rentals where up until 10 years ago the climate has been mild all summer. Seattle, Portland, SF, down to LA. Landlords have no desire to update their properties. Why would they when the investment home they bought in 1980 for $70k is now worth 1.5M and bringing in $3000/mo in income? That’s just taking money out of their poor empty pockets. There are many trending indicators I can see building up toward a big anti-capitalist movement and this kind of thing is top of mind. The utter disregard some landlords have toward the well being of their tenants…

mytailorisrich 1y ago

It's because Europe has managed for the last, what, 30,000 years without AC even around the Med when "normal" temperatures reach 40C under the Sun in summer. When AC appeared it was a luxury that became affordable so people could do "like Americans". Now, serious heatwaves are become usual so this may change. But on the other hand, adequate architecture and practices may help, too. Even traditional ones vs "modern" overuse of glass, for example.

ranger_danger 1y ago
> It's because Why do you think it's "because" of this? Humans survived without computers for that long too... but I don't see anyone yelling to abolish them.
- mytailorisrich 1y ago
  Because I am from Southern Europe so I do know that AC was inexistant in homes and even cars when I was growing up, and AC in homes appeared, not because they became needed, but because it was "cool", so to speak, people came to be able to afford it, and it spread from abroad. On top of that now AC also clashes with general policies in Europe to cut power use, and EVs take priority. Especially on the left AC is seen as very not green.
  - spwa4 1y ago
    Actually even the Roman empire had AC. Of course, not electrical, but they definitely designed buildings to naturally develop airflow in high temperatures. Basic systems were in place even in slave housing, where they used the water supply to cool things down (water flowed constantly 24/7/365 through toilets, and before getting to the toilet, cooled things down) There were even quite extreme air conditioning designs for the wealthy who had water flow through the walls and floors of entire buildings, even pumped systems that automatically switched from using heated water to cooled water depending on inside temperature. Long tunnels on higher floors with water cooling that got air from specific places to flow into rooms in villas. And, of course, the systems in Rome's palaces are extreme. So if what you're saying is true, without even passive cooling, your housing is worse than even the standards for Roman slaves.