6 ms·

I absolutely hate hot temperatures and find the summer truly horrendous because in England it's getting hotter and hotter, this year my apartment was over 35c /

I absolutely hate hot temperatures and find the summer truly horrendous because in England it's getting hotter and hotter, this year my apartment was over 35c / 95f on multiple days... but air conditioning just doesn't exist here, I've never known anyone to have it in their home. This article explains that air conditioning is inexpensive now, so why does America have such huge air con usage and England none? Was it a trend that coincided with a huge number of new houses being built in America, or did people start having it installed as the result of...? Some sort of nationwide air con thing? To go from <1% to 85% in ~40 years seems like something must have triggered it.

InclinedPlane 14y ago
Wealth. Per capita GDP in the US increased by 180% in the time period mentioned (in inflation constant dollars). Which means that in the regions of the country where it is hot for a considerable period of time almost everyone will have air conditioning, and in areas where it's hot only a few weeks out of the year a lot of people will have in-window air conditioning units, since they are so inexpensive. The UK's per capita GDP is only 3/4 that of the US so they don't have as much disposable income and the weather tends to be much colder there than the average in the US so there's not as much demand for AC.
- w1ntermute 14y ago
  Yeah, I love how in the US (in the Midwest) you can get a hermetically sealed McMansion on a developer's salary. I don't think you can get that anywhere else in the world. There's not enough land, energy costs are too high, and the cost of living in general is too high.
  - akgerber 14y ago
    The only downside is per-capita carbon usage higher than nearly every other country in the world: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dio...
  - 3825 14y ago
    A decent-sized house with a decent-sized lawn still costs around $200k.
    - w1ntermute 14y ago
      That is quite affordable to a developer in the Midwest.
    - alexjeffrey 14y ago
      sounds pretty good to me - a decent house in England anywhere except London will cost you at least £120,000, and developer salaries average out at £30,000. [edit] oh, and my impression is that a decent sized house here is quite a bit smaller than in the States.
      - w1ntermute 14y ago
        > my impression is that a decent sized house here is quite a bit smaller than in the States A decent-sized house in America is 2000-3000 sqft (185-275 sq meters). You will usually get two floors and a two car garage. And if you pay a little extra, a finished basement as well. And of course, the entire house, top to bottom, back to front, has central air-conditioning and heating, controlled from a single point. If you get fiber-glass insulation in the attic, properly insulated walls, and double-paned windows, you can easily survive a Midwestern summer (during which the number of days the temperature is above 40C can easily be a dozen or more) without ever opening a window or breaking a sweat, and you won't break the bank doing it. Not being able to do that in Europe is probably the biggest reason why I would never able to live there (or in places like Seattle, where central air isn't common). Even if it only gets hot occasionally, having to essentially "condemn" most of the house to the outside temperature and just sit inside one room the whole day is not a lifestyle I could tolerate.
        MattDL 14y ago
        It's not really too bad honestly, it's an acclimatisation thing. Spent a few holidays in places where it was regularly 35+ degrees and only really struggled for a day or two, I can't imagine it being worse for you if you live there full time since you'd be much more used to the weather.
- kirchhoff 14y ago
  While your second point (colder climate) is correct, suggesting that UK residents are too 'poor' to afford air conditioning is way off the mark.
revelation 14y ago
Electricity is vastly cheaper in the US. Its also hotter and substantially more humid. The quick adoption is probably just cheap mass availability of the technology? I share your sentiment, by the way. There are quite a few days in Germany where its unbearable in the summer. Alas, aircon here is mostly fans.
fragsworth 14y ago
Perhaps it has something to do with the vast differences in climate across the United States, and communication among homeowners between climates?
loeg 14y ago
I think that part of this is that most of the lower 48 US states (24-47° North) are closer to the equator than most of England (50-54° North). 95°F isn't an extremely hot day. We get 95°F days in the summer in Seattle, the city of perma-drizzle (47° North). From personal experience, most houses in this area don't have air conditioning. In the South, people regularly see much hotter days (I think Arizona (33°N) tops 110°F / 43°C during the summer).
- trafficlight 14y ago
  In Montana (mid 40°s North), people rarely have large, permanent air conditioners in their homes.
- nostromo 14y ago
  Seattle is a good example because its weather is similar to London. For what it's worth, A/C is also pretty rare in Seattle homes.
  - ronnier 14y ago
    I bought an AC for my home in Seattle before last summer. Cost about $4,200 and was worth it in my opinion.
    - Vitaly 14y ago
      crazy. here in Israel everyone have AC. There are cities where some kind of AC is mandated if you are bulding a house. And the price is rock botton. you can have a simple one that can cool a small to medium room for about 200$ and a bigger one for the main room is about 500-700$. installation is usually another 150$. 4200$?? - crazy.
      - nostromo 14y ago
        We have those in the US too -- but if you're trying to cool an entire house, you'd use a central air conditioner to get better efficiency. These are placed in the yard away from the house. Here's a picture: http://www.getgreenair.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/home_heating_airconditioning.jpg http://www.getgreenair.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/home_h...
jws 14y ago
You can get a free standing portable unit in the 9000 btu range[1] for ~£300. You will need to sit it near a window that opens as it has an air intake and exhaust that must go outside. It will take care of one small room. This will be your refuge. The units can also double as dehumidifiers which make the warm air more comfortable. Here in the states, my house had no AC, and we have weeks of >100°F/38°C summers with high humidity. All your fine mammal evolutionary adaptations are useless. Panting? Nope, air is hotter than you. Sweating? Nope, won't evaporate. Radiating from hairless skin? Nope. We did have a tiny window unit air conditioner that about half worked that came with the house. We'd build a tent over the bed and just barely stay comfortable. ␄ [1] But not many. I just looked in amazon uk, and your choices are slim compared to the states. I say free standing, because a window unit can tear up the window frame pretty badly and if you are renting that isn't polite. The free standing units just have an adjustable width panel with two holes that you shut in the window sash.
- raverbashing 14y ago
  Thanks. You just explained why heat is so annoying! It is not possible to deal with (humid heat) without modern technology. The only workable evolutionary way to do it would be to significantly shut down self-heat production, short of a biological heat pump (that does not exist AFAIK) But of course, in the UK, it's hot for a couple of weeks, as opposed to the US where depending of the region is hot from half-year to almost the whole year.
- dhughes 14y ago
  I bought my Dad a portable AC unit at Home Depot this past spring it's a great idea since it's an older house without central AC. In this area SE Canada summers are usually low 20s usually 25C is a typical hot summer day, but now 30C to 35C seems to be the new normal hot, I think it got to 38C this year. It's also very high in humidity here 80% to 90%, which makes sense being on an island. Anyway dad has a lung disease (IPF) and heart problems plus bearing 70 years old and overweight, this portable unit I see almost as life support. It would be bad for any elderly person to die due to the heat but I think in area where it only gets hot for a month or less it's deceptive. Most elderly would think it wasn't hot in the old days and they can't afford or pay for an AC unit and will probably die from heat stroke.
pcurve 14y ago
Average July high in New York City is 84. Boston 82. And these are relatively cool places compared to other parts of the U.S. London and Paris July average high is 73-75. And there's a world of difference between 75 and 83. Even if you go all the way down to Toulouse, it's still not as hot as New York. However, it is interesting to note that A/C sale in Europe has been taking off for the past 10-15 years, presumably because it is indeed getting hotter in Europe.
jdietrich 14y ago
Britain is much cooler during summer than anywhere in the lower 48. Most British houses resist hot weather very well, with thick brick walls and relatively small windows. You probably live in a modern apartment with a lot of glass and very little thermal mass. One key advantage of heat pump systems is that they can often be run in reverse, serving as both heating and air conditioning. Currently a heat pump is no cheaper to run than gas central heating, but that is set to change within the next few years.
hnriot 14y ago
I should have thought that the answer would have been obvious. In the US, it stays summer for months, it's hot as hell for months. 95 is not even worth bothering to get up and switch the AC on. tl;dr, it was hotter and for longer and English houses were not already better suited to keeping heat in and out, you'd likely see more air conditioners. Meanwhile, you can buy one on Amazon if you can't keep your curtains closed for those multiple days of 95f. "England it's getting hotter and hotter" - Wolfram Alpha would disagree with you there. At least it hasn't averaged any hotter since the 70's.
forgottenpaswrd 14y ago
"why does America have such huge air con usage and England none?" Because a significant part of America is hot, and England is not(I had lived in England for years). It is not an "It will be fine if we install AC", but an "if we don't install air conditioner we will die" and I am being serious here, Las Vegas would be inhabited without AC . Also England is wet so this means that before cooling the air, you will have to condense the water, and that takes lots of energy, making them inefficient in UK. South of North America is very hot in summer but also dry, so it is very efficient in energy consumption. 35c on multiple days!! That is nothing. In most of Spain you will get 40-45 peaks with 35c minimum over months in summer, very few clouds for three months.
saosebastiao 14y ago
Not many people realize this, but Seattle is the highest latitude major city in the US, at approximately the same latitude as Paris. Most Seattlites also do not have air conditioning. But most everywhere else does. The vast majority of American cities have climates much closer to Madrid or Rome.

InclinedPlane 14y ago

Wealth. Per capita GDP in the US increased by 180% in the time period mentioned (in inflation constant dollars). Which means that in the regions of the country where it is hot for a considerable period of time almost everyone will have air conditioning, and in areas where it's hot only a few weeks out of the year a lot of people will have in-window air conditioning units, since they are so inexpensive. The UK's per capita GDP is only 3/4 that of the US so they don't have as much disposable income and the weather tends to be much colder there than the average in the US so there's not as much demand for AC.

w1ntermute 14y ago
Yeah, I love how in the US (in the Midwest) you can get a hermetically sealed McMansion on a developer's salary. I don't think you can get that anywhere else in the world. There's not enough land, energy costs are too high, and the cost of living in general is too high.
- akgerber 14y ago
  The only downside is per-capita carbon usage higher than nearly every other country in the world: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dio...
- 3825 14y ago
  A decent-sized house with a decent-sized lawn still costs around $200k.
  - w1ntermute 14y ago
    That is quite affordable to a developer in the Midwest.
  - alexjeffrey 14y ago
    sounds pretty good to me - a decent house in England anywhere except London will cost you at least £120,000, and developer salaries average out at £30,000. [edit] oh, and my impression is that a decent sized house here is quite a bit smaller than in the States.
    - w1ntermute 14y ago
      > my impression is that a decent sized house here is quite a bit smaller than in the States A decent-sized house in America is 2000-3000 sqft (185-275 sq meters). You will usually get two floors and a two car garage. And if you pay a little extra, a finished basement as well. And of course, the entire house, top to bottom, back to front, has central air-conditioning and heating, controlled from a single point. If you get fiber-glass insulation in the attic, properly insulated walls, and double-paned windows, you can easily survive a Midwestern summer (during which the number of days the temperature is above 40C can easily be a dozen or more) without ever opening a window or breaking a sweat, and you won't break the bank doing it. Not being able to do that in Europe is probably the biggest reason why I would never able to live there (or in places like Seattle, where central air isn't common). Even if it only gets hot occasionally, having to essentially "condemn" most of the house to the outside temperature and just sit inside one room the whole day is not a lifestyle I could tolerate.
      - MattDL 14y ago
        It's not really too bad honestly, it's an acclimatisation thing. Spent a few holidays in places where it was regularly 35+ degrees and only really struggled for a day or two, I can't imagine it being worse for you if you live there full time since you'd be much more used to the weather.
kirchhoff 14y ago
While your second point (colder climate) is correct, suggesting that UK residents are too 'poor' to afford air conditioning is way off the mark.

revelation 14y ago

Electricity is vastly cheaper in the US. Its also hotter and substantially more humid. The quick adoption is probably just cheap mass availability of the technology? I share your sentiment, by the way. There are quite a few days in Germany where its unbearable in the summer. Alas, aircon here is mostly fans.

fragsworth 14y ago

Perhaps it has something to do with the vast differences in climate across the United States, and communication among homeowners between climates?

loeg 14y ago

I think that part of this is that most of the lower 48 US states (24-47° North) are closer to the equator than most of England (50-54° North). 95°F isn't an extremely hot day. We get 95°F days in the summer in Seattle, the city of perma-drizzle (47° North). From personal experience, most houses in this area don't have air conditioning. In the South, people regularly see much hotter days (I think Arizona (33°N) tops 110°F / 43°C during the summer).

trafficlight 14y ago
In Montana (mid 40°s North), people rarely have large, permanent air conditioners in their homes.
nostromo 14y ago
Seattle is a good example because its weather is similar to London. For what it's worth, A/C is also pretty rare in Seattle homes.
- ronnier 14y ago
  I bought an AC for my home in Seattle before last summer. Cost about $4,200 and was worth it in my opinion.
  - Vitaly 14y ago
    crazy. here in Israel everyone have AC. There are cities where some kind of AC is mandated if you are bulding a house. And the price is rock botton. you can have a simple one that can cool a small to medium room for about 200$ and a bigger one for the main room is about 500-700$. installation is usually another 150$. 4200$?? - crazy.
    - nostromo 14y ago
      We have those in the US too -- but if you're trying to cool an entire house, you'd use a central air conditioner to get better efficiency. These are placed in the yard away from the house. Here's a picture: http://www.getgreenair.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/home_heating_airconditioning.jpg http://www.getgreenair.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/home_h...

jws 14y ago

You can get a free standing portable unit in the 9000 btu range[1] for ~£300. You will need to sit it near a window that opens as it has an air intake and exhaust that must go outside. It will take care of one small room. This will be your refuge. The units can also double as dehumidifiers which make the warm air more comfortable. Here in the states, my house had no AC, and we have weeks of >100°F/38°C summers with high humidity. All your fine mammal evolutionary adaptations are useless. Panting? Nope, air is hotter than you. Sweating? Nope, won't evaporate. Radiating from hairless skin? Nope. We did have a tiny window unit air conditioner that about half worked that came with the house. We'd build a tent over the bed and just barely stay comfortable. ␄ [1] But not many. I just looked in amazon uk, and your choices are slim compared to the states. I say free standing, because a window unit can tear up the window frame pretty badly and if you are renting that isn't polite. The free standing units just have an adjustable width panel with two holes that you shut in the window sash.

raverbashing 14y ago
Thanks. You just explained why heat is so annoying! It is not possible to deal with (humid heat) without modern technology. The only workable evolutionary way to do it would be to significantly shut down self-heat production, short of a biological heat pump (that does not exist AFAIK) But of course, in the UK, it's hot for a couple of weeks, as opposed to the US where depending of the region is hot from half-year to almost the whole year.
dhughes 14y ago
I bought my Dad a portable AC unit at Home Depot this past spring it's a great idea since it's an older house without central AC. In this area SE Canada summers are usually low 20s usually 25C is a typical hot summer day, but now 30C to 35C seems to be the new normal hot, I think it got to 38C this year. It's also very high in humidity here 80% to 90%, which makes sense being on an island. Anyway dad has a lung disease (IPF) and heart problems plus bearing 70 years old and overweight, this portable unit I see almost as life support. It would be bad for any elderly person to die due to the heat but I think in area where it only gets hot for a month or less it's deceptive. Most elderly would think it wasn't hot in the old days and they can't afford or pay for an AC unit and will probably die from heat stroke.

pcurve 14y ago

Average July high in New York City is 84. Boston 82. And these are relatively cool places compared to other parts of the U.S. London and Paris July average high is 73-75. And there's a world of difference between 75 and 83. Even if you go all the way down to Toulouse, it's still not as hot as New York. However, it is interesting to note that A/C sale in Europe has been taking off for the past 10-15 years, presumably because it is indeed getting hotter in Europe.

jdietrich 14y ago

Britain is much cooler during summer than anywhere in the lower 48. Most British houses resist hot weather very well, with thick brick walls and relatively small windows. You probably live in a modern apartment with a lot of glass and very little thermal mass. One key advantage of heat pump systems is that they can often be run in reverse, serving as both heating and air conditioning. Currently a heat pump is no cheaper to run than gas central heating, but that is set to change within the next few years.

hnriot 14y ago

I should have thought that the answer would have been obvious. In the US, it stays summer for months, it's hot as hell for months. 95 is not even worth bothering to get up and switch the AC on. tl;dr, it was hotter and for longer and English houses were not already better suited to keeping heat in and out, you'd likely see more air conditioners. Meanwhile, you can buy one on Amazon if you can't keep your curtains closed for those multiple days of 95f. "England it's getting hotter and hotter" - Wolfram Alpha would disagree with you there. At least it hasn't averaged any hotter since the 70's.

forgottenpaswrd 14y ago

"why does America have such huge air con usage and England none?" Because a significant part of America is hot, and England is not(I had lived in England for years). It is not an "It will be fine if we install AC", but an "if we don't install air conditioner we will die" and I am being serious here, Las Vegas would be inhabited without AC . Also England is wet so this means that before cooling the air, you will have to condense the water, and that takes lots of energy, making them inefficient in UK. South of North America is very hot in summer but also dry, so it is very efficient in energy consumption. 35c on multiple days!! That is nothing. In most of Spain you will get 40-45 peaks with 35c minimum over months in summer, very few clouds for three months.

saosebastiao 14y ago

Not many people realize this, but Seattle is the highest latitude major city in the US, at approximately the same latitude as Paris. Most Seattlites also do not have air conditioning. But most everywhere else does. The vast majority of American cities have climates much closer to Madrid or Rome.