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[NeoIkaruGAF]

Summer in northern Italy used to be very mild until a few years ago, less than a decade really, and AC was never really necessary even in big cities.

But now the weather has changed. These last few years we've experienced temperatures around 10°C higher than before. We used to really feel the heat just in late July and early August, with 35°C being about the worst you could get for a week or two. Now we get into the 30s since mid-late June well into August.

My family has a house in the mountains, around 1400m high. Even 20 or 15 years ago, we had to use blankets at night up there even in early August. In the morning you'd feel cold getting out. Now we sleep with barely a shirt on, and in the morning we can get out of the house naked and it's not cold. A couple of summers ago, the temperature reached 35°C at 1500m of altitude. In the cities, we got 32°C at 6 in the morning. It's crazy.

Last year I had two split AC units mounted even if I'm renting. In the summer of 2023 I basically spent every waking moment of a whole month panting and sweating on the sofa, with a fan working all day long. I couldn't endure another summer like that. AC saved me last year.

 

[EviLore]

Summer in northern Italy used to be very mild until a few years ago, less than a decade really, and AC was never really necessary even in big cities.

But now the weather has changed. These last few years we've experienced temperatures around 10°C higher than before. We used to really feel the heat just in late July and early August, with 35°C being about the worst you could get for a week or two. Now we get into the 30s since mid-late June well into August.

My family has a house in the mountains, around 1400m high. Even 20 or 15 years ago, we had to use blankets at night up there even in early August. In the morning you'd feel cold getting out. Now we sleep with barely a shirt on, and in the morning we can get out of the house naked and it's not cold. A couple of summers ago, the temperature reached 35°C at 1500m of altitude. In the cities, we got 32°C at 6 in the morning. It's crazy.

Last year I had two split AC units mounted even if I'm renting. In the summer of 2023 I basically spent every waking moment of a whole month panting and sweating on the sofa, with a fan working all day long. I couldn't endure another summer like that. AC saved me last year.

That's a huge difference in such a short time frame…

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

Would be news to me, that window air conditioning units are banned. They are just useless here, because we don't have your type of windows that slide vertically. The hose exhaust type is the best solution when you rent your apartment or need a cheap solution. But it requires some tinkering for best performance. Heat pumps and mini split are the best performing solutions here. In germany this can get quite expensive (4000€-30000€).

That cost is insane....is that WITH install?

You can get an air compressor ($1200) and an 18000 btu minisplit "wall cassette" AC unit ($1450) at home depot here in the states. That does not include install however.

 

[Zathalus]

That's a huge difference in such a short time frame…

Well, another anecdotal story from my Dutch neighbour. As a child he used to ice skate to school in winter as almost all the canals were frozen over. I've been here 3 years and I have seen it frozen over for only two days. It is why the Elfstedentocht (ice skating between the major cities) hasn't taken place in almost 30 years. Many here doubt it will ever happen agin.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

That's a huge difference in such a short time frame…

Yep, and it's happened a little too fast for people to take in the idea that AC may be useful for more than a week or two a year. Plus, energy bills have really gone up since the COVID / Ukraine war combo landed. The average bill where I live is nowhere near the $350/month someone posted it, but always keep in mind that salaries here are very different from the US. People in Italy would see an average US salary as MD or lawyer territory.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Would be news to me, that window air conditioning units are banned. They are just useless here, because we don't have your type of windows that slide vertically. The hose exhaust type is the best solution when you rent your apartment or need a cheap solution. But it requires some tinkering for best performance. Heat pumps and mini split are the best performing solutions here. In germany this can get quite expensive (4000€-30000€).

That cost is insane....is that WITH install?

You can get an air compressor ($1200) and an 18000 btu minisplit "wall cassette" AC unit ($1450) at home depot here in the states. That does not include install however.

Crazy cost in Germany.

In Canada, you can get an AC unit installed for between $5000-$10000, and that includes a big central air system AC (not a windows one) hooked up to all the ductwork. And $10k is a stretch unless someone's got a giant house and needs a powerful unit and hardcore installation.

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

We are like brothers, except I am old and fat and you are a professional athlete. Brothers like in the movie Twins. I am the Danny Devito though.

I want in on this...had two farms growing up..my house I grew up in was built in 1852 and has/had no power sockets on the second floor. Spent my summers mowing grass, picking weeds, harvesting corn, squashing grapes, and tubing my fat ass down rivers.

GitGud EU?!?

 

[AJUMP23]

I want in on this...had two farms growing up..my house I grew up in was built in 1852 and has/had no power sockets on the second floor. Spent my summers mowing grass, picking weeds, harvesting corn, squashing grapes, and tubing my fat ass down rivers.

GitGud EU?!?

Tubing down rivers is amazing. I love that stuff.

 

[Dr.Guru of Peru]

For you guys who replied above, that's nuts. I never thought of AC in Europe, but if I had to guess before Evil's post I would had first guessed it was common except for any old homes since Europe has so much historic culture and buildings. So for those old buildings, just do an AC unit against a window. But I didnt know it was still uncommon as a whole.

To give you an idea in Canada:

- Every home I know has AC (and heating too of course). It'll likely be a central heating/AC system
- Homes are designed to have air circulating through metal ductwork in your walls and under your floors (probably aluminum tubes). So when you adjust your thermostat to hot or cold, it all works and heats or cools your home as it pumps out the air through little vents on the floor (or some are high on the walls like ceiling-ish vents)
- The main AC unit is outside your house (backyard). It takes the hot air in your house and flushes it outside leaving colder air in your home which is cooled through more AC gear near your furnace (hot air is pulled through evap coils)
- New apartments/condos are designed to have everything integrated in the building
- Really old buildings or houses can still have old school AC units hanging outside the window as the home wasnt designed with ductwork
- Heating can be different as some older homes I think use gas or electricity and heat radiators or something along your walls. So the heat doesnt come through vents in every room. But if it's a central air system, every room should have at least one vent for the ductwork

You and your friends doesn't equal all of Canada.
The situation is different on the west coast where even newer build rarely have AC. It's actually very difficult to find apartments or condos in BC that have AC, even with newer units. It didn't become mandatory until 2024, so most developers skipped on it. This is despite the fact that we have regular forest fires and entire towns burn down due to the heat in the summer.

As far as the differences between the US and EU go, the numbers being compared are not the same. The WHO is an excess death statistic, whereas the US CDC statistic is reported deaths.

 

[EviLore]

As far as the differences between the US and EU go, the numbers being compared are not the same. The WHO is an excess death statistic, whereas the US CDC statistic is reported deaths.

Three different stats were cited for Europe

 

[Zathalus]

GitGud EU?!?

Depends on where in the EU you are. Yesterday it was 110 Fahrenheit in some parts of Spain. In early summer. It went up to almost 115 last year.

 

[Donald mac Ronald]

Homes in the UK do not have AC. Some odd person maybe a rich person but even rich people don't get it. Honestly it's not that needed.

A cheap fan will usually do.

Shops and public businesses and buildings have AC.

If people are dying from heat in europe it's definitely while they're outside. These people aren't dying on the floor, crawling to the none existing AC switch with their last breath.

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

Depends on where in the EU you are. Yesterday it was 110 Fahrenheit in some parts of Spain. In early summer. It went up to almost 115 last year.

I feel that pain. Houston is a humid heat dome suffering dried up swap (its 99 rn)...all I see outside my window is lizards waiting for me to walk outside. Nah bruh...fuck you lizards.

 

[Forsete]

The Panasonic heat pump was so worth it.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

It is bs. Would you not use the Air conditioner unit year after year for 10-20 years. Are you going to throw it out at the end of summer?

It remains impractical, it costs thousands to install one, on top of the yearly maintenance costs, just so you can drop your indoor temps by 5 degrees for a couple weeks while increasing your power bill by quite a lot.

 

[Days like these...]

I feel that pain. Houston is a humid heat dome suffering dried up swap (its 99 rn)...all I see outside my window is lizards waiting for me to walk outside. Nah bruh...fuck you lizards.

I live in Houston too the heat is horrible it's like living in a jungle with out the jungle. It always feels about 10° hotter than it actually is.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

It remains impractical, it costs thousands to install one, on top of the yearly maintenance costs, just so you can drop your indoor temps by 5 degrees for a couple weeks while increasing your power bill by quite a lot.

There's yearly maintenance costs for AC units?

Maybe you cant do it in Europe, but if someone doesn't have AC and wants it in Canada you can always just rent one from the heating/AC company too. Similar to renting a hot water tank. Any repairs needed are covered. You dont have to outright buy one. But you'll be hit with a 10+ year contract.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

There's yearly maintenance costs for AC units?

Friend of mine just installed one at it cost him 10k+€ and he'll pay like 500 in maintenance every year.

 

[EviLore]

Friend of mine just installed one at it cost him 10k+€ and he'll pay like 500 in maintenance every year.

For split ducts?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Friend of mine just installed one at it cost him 10k+€ and he'll pay like 500 in maintenance every year.

Interesting.

In Canada, if you own your AC unit youre on youre own for maintenance/repair fees unless it's new under warranty. But under normal conditions, there's no scheduled maintenance fees to pay for unless someone wants to be proactive and call someone to check it. I dont bother since my AC unit is fairly new. At some point, I'll get it checked. But I think it's a waste of money to get it checked every year.

If you rent a unit under contract, all repair and maintenance fees should be covered.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

For split ducts?

I believe so, they are installing it on the roof and need to run pipes everywhere.

 

[Connificent]

I feel that pain. Houston is a humid heat dome suffering dried up swap (its 99 rn)...all I see outside my window is lizards waiting for me to walk outside. Nah bruh...fuck you lizards.

Why don't you catch Plies outside

 

[EviLore]

I believe so, they are installing it on the roof and need to run pipes everywhere.

Ah.The central air systems typical in the US usually don't require expensive annual maintenance, just periodic filter changes. They die after 10-20 years and need full replacements ($10k-$20k) but by then energy efficiency has improved a lot and it's usually time for an upgrade anyway.

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

Why don't you catch Plies outside

HA!

I only go outside when the sun is down (j/k...but not during August..im inside all day).

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

Ah.The central air systems typical in the US usually don't require expensive annual maintenance, just periodic filter changes. They die after 10-20 years and need full replacements ($10k-$20k) but by then energy efficiency has improved a lot and it's usually time for an upgrade anyway.

Can confirm. Just replaced my 10 year old compressor on my House...$3k but worth it.

Spent 10k on AC install for my connected office, those are cassettes. I like them but should have done traditional duct AC. With solar panels (in houston at least) your ac costs get massively offset in the summer months.

 

[DragoonKain]

Air conditioning is the greatest invention in history. I have no idea how people in climates that can get really hot survive without it. Throughout history, they have my respect. I run hot and I get uncomfortable in the high 70s. The heat can just be unbearable.

The cold can be brutal too, but I've always had more of a tolerance to it.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

Ah.The central air systems typical in the US usually don't require expensive annual maintenance, just periodic filter changes. They die after 10-20 years and need full replacements ($10k-$20k) but by then energy efficiency has improved a lot and it's usually time for an upgrade anyway.

That doesn't sound so bad, especially if you're using it regularly, I also don't think he has to do yearly maintenance, but it's what they recommended because if something does break it will cost much more to fix; he's gonna try and find someone to explain it to him so he can just do it himself instead.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Air conditioning is the greatest invention in history. I have no idea how people in climates that can get really hot survive without it. Throughout history, they have my respect. I run hot and I get uncomfortable in the high 70s. The heat can just be unbearable.

The cold can be brutal too, but I've always had more of a tolerance to it.

Some of my coworkers who came from South Asian area (Malaysia/Indonesia) say that it's basically year round hot and humid there. AC is definitely not the norm (a lot of people dont have money anyway), and the heat even goes all through the night.

Sounds like torture.

So when some of us would ask how people can take it, all they can say is if youre born there you just get used to it. Then it can be a nice 20-25C day outside here, t-shirt weather, no humidity, and their visiting parents will say it's a little cold!

 

[EviLore]

That doesn't sound so bad, especially if you're using it regularly, I also don't think he has to do yearly maintenance, but it's what they recommended because if something does break it will cost much more to fix; he's gonna try and find someone to explain it to him so he can just do it himself instead.

Ah, probably massively overpriced optional maintenance tacked on by the installers then yeah.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Air conditioning is the greatest invention in history. I have no idea how people in climates that can get really hot survive without it. Throughout history, they have my respect. I run hot and I get uncomfortable in the high 70s. The heat can just be unbearable.

The cold can be brutal too, but I've always had more of a tolerance to it.

2-3 showers a day. Having a swimming pool nearby also helps. From july to September I sleep with a fan on my bedside table.

The problem where I live is the hot winds blowing from Africa. During couple of weeks in August the air is burning, its like being inside an oven and even at night the atmosphere feels "full".

 

[AJUMP23]

We can save Europe again.

 

[DragoonKain]

2-3 showers a day. Having a swimming pool nearby also helps. From july to September I sleep with a fan on my bedside table.

The problem where I live is the hot winds blowing from Africa. During couple of weeks in August the air is burning, its like being inside an oven and even at night the atmosphere feels "full".

I remember as a kid not having AC in the top floor of my bedroom for much of my childhood. And basically everyday in the summer it was switching positions to the cooler side of the bed and flipping the pillows around all night and getting terrible sleep. I dreaded the summer year round because of it.

Then having a window unit in 2011 when the US had that major heat wave that impacted the midwest and northeast where it was like 105 with 95% humidity during the day and like 95 at night. Worst heat wave ever. At that point in my life I had AC, but I actually didn't have it hooked up yet for that summer when that heat wave hit so I tried wetting and freezing a t shirt and then putting on a frozen shirt to bed to cool me down. Didn't work. The shirt warmed up in seconds and I was just warm and wet. I ended up hooking the AC unit up at like 2 am that night.

 

[p_xavier]

Interesting.

In Canada, if you own your AC unit youre on youre own for maintenance/repair fees unless it's new under warranty. But under normal conditions, there's no scheduled maintenance fees to pay for unless someone wants to be proactive and call someone to check it. I dont bother since my AC unit is fairly new. At some point, I'll get it checked. But I think it's a waste of money to get it checked every year.

If you rent a unit under contract, all repair and maintenance fees should be covered.

I never got mine inspected. I mean if it breaks it breaks and you change it. Same for water heaters, there used to be inspections when I was younger, now why bother, just get a new unit if it leaks or elements fail.

 

[Boralf]

Yep what a great comparison. Lets throw some opioids in the mix too why don't we?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I never got mine inspected. I mean if it breaks it breaks and you change it. Same for water heaters, there used to be inspections when I was younger, now why bother, just get a new unit if it leaks or elements fail.

Years ago, my AC wasnt working. Called a guy and he replaced the A-coil. He showed me the part and it looked like a disaster. I think it cost me $400 all in. He checked the unit in the backyard and everything was good. AC been fine ever since.

 

[EverydayBeast]

It's a mindset and at the same time preventable

 

[SpiceRacz]

1. A/C is not needed because for vast majority in Europe you don't need them for a long time - even with crazy heat we are talking about 2-3 weeks a year tops.
2. Portable A/C machines are not useless, I have one, works great. You just need to buy one for 500€ and not 50€.
3. A/C solutions are not banned, no problem installing them in many places - however yes, in some others there are various laws against them e.g. in Paris the main concern is architectural integrity, A/C units on the facade really make that Haussmannian building ugly

Banned: Dismissing concerns about Air Conditioning representation.

 

[Plies]

Why don't you catch Plies outside

 

[Unknown Soldier]

The reality is that the US has a relatively low murder rate (#10 among developed nations) and over 3/4 of gun related fatalities in the US are suicide not murder. The majority of homicides are due to drug or gang activity, ordinary Americans are not murdering each other with guns and never have been

The suicide rate in the US is not significantly higher than the rest of the G8. The highest suicide rate in the developed world by far belongs to South Korea, a country where guns are completely banned for civilian ownership. #2 is Japan, another nation where guns are almost completely banned

There's never been a problem with guns in the US in all of the nations history. The heavily media publicized mass shootings which rarely occur are actually so rare that statistically they are background noise in the historical homicide data. Europeans are more likely to die in a car ramming attack than Americans are in a mass shooting

Gun control has nothing to do with guns and everything to do with control

 

[Wildebeest]

Europeans spend less time in their air conditioned cars than Americans and the heat can catch up on you fast when walking. Remember to not only stay hydrated but to replenish your electrolytes. Heatwave isn't a time to stick to a low sodium diet.

 

[calico]

I mean, you aren't going to really prevent those deaths per se because the average age of them is probably 80+ and they were one sunny day away from dying, but you might be able to delay them a bit so that they get spread out enough for the gap between the baseline figure and the excess figure (which is how they arrive at these ridiculous numbers) to disappear.

Close that gap and you have successfully 'solved' what they are spuriously counting as deaths caused by heat, even if the total number of deaths remains the same.

I also suspect that the average age of those 'excess deaths' during a heatwave is about 40 years higher than the average gunshot death.

 

[Lunarorbit]

WHO estimates 175,000 people per year in the European Region die from heat-related causes. Lower bounds are at 50,000-60,000 per year from EEA and Nature studies.

There are 48,000 gun related deaths in the USA each year, including suicides. The CDC reports 1600 heat-related deaths per year in the United States, mostly in the desert regions like Arizona and Nevada.

Window air conditioning units, the cheap, convenient, effective cooling solution in response to a heat wave, are effectively banned in Europe due to EU regulations on energy efficiency and noise (and having anything stick out of your window, and probably several other regulations I'm not aware of). Portable hose-exhaust type AC units are sold in stores, passing regulation for some reason, despite being almost useless. The typical recommended solution is a split duct wall-mounted AC, which is not a viable solution for renters lacking AC.

This seems...unreasonable.

You must have had some shitty portable ac units then EviLore . Ive had luck with them and in window units

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

It remains impractical, it costs thousands to install one, on top of the yearly maintenance costs, just so you can drop your indoor temps by 5 degrees for a couple weeks while increasing your power bill by quite a lot.

It cost me €3000 to have two splits installed in my house (job was done in 5 hours flat by just two people). And to me, in the last two summers, those 5 degrees have been the difference between living a normal indoor life and actually getting shit done vs gasping on the sofa and sweating the entirety of my body fluids every single day for weeks. Yes, the power bill went up a bit. Still totally worth it.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

It cost me €3000 to have two splits installed in my house (job was done in 5 hours flat by just two people).

I don't know the specifics, but he has three floors, and all three will have AC when it's done.

And to me, in the last two summers, those 5 degrees have been the difference between living a normal indoor life and actually getting shit done vs gasping on the sofa and sweating the entirety of my body fluids every single day for weeks.

it varies from person to person I'm sure, it's currently 28C in the room I'm sitting in and it doesn't bother me at all, nor am I sweating.

 

[Denton]

This week is the first week this entire year when I spend every day in the office, because of the AC there.
But, I got some parasol on my balcony recently which blocks lot of the sun coming into my living room, that combined with a fan makes the heat bearable now. I can even game on my 200W plasma, it's ok.

 

[kpopSuperstar]

Summer in northern Italy used to be very mild until a few years ago, less than a decade really, and AC was never really necessary even in big cities.

But now the weather has changed. These last few years we've experienced temperatures around 10°C higher than before. We used to really feel the heat just in late July and early August, with 35°C being about the worst you could get for a week or two. Now we get into the 30s since mid-late June well into August.

My family has a house in the mountains, around 1400m high. Even 20 or 15 years ago, we had to use blankets at night up there even in early August. In the morning you'd feel cold getting out. Now we sleep with barely a shirt on, and in the morning we can get out of the house naked and it's not cold. A couple of summers ago, the temperature reached 35°C at 1500m of altitude. In the cities, we got 32°C at 6 in the morning. It's crazy.

Last year I had two split AC units mounted even if I'm renting. In the summer of 2023 I basically spent every waking moment of a whole month panting and sweating on the sofa, with a fan working all day long. I couldn't endure another summer like that. AC saved me last year.

I am still doing the fucking fan, and I just about had it. Granted I don't live in an extreme heat place like you, but when it gets too hot, everything fucking sucks. Watching tv, playing games, sleeping, eating, everything fucking sucks.

 

[kevboard]

A lot of people in Europe dont have AC? That's nuts

we didn't need it until around the late 2000s.
climate change is hitting us hard since then.

if there was a day with 31° in July 20 years ago, it was literally news worthy...
now we already had days with 37° this year.
basically, these days June is as hot as July was in like 2010... and July is hotter than it ever was back then.

so more and more people buy portable ACs now, as the heat is getting worse each and every year.
while up until like 2008 or so, heat was never really an issue... and in the 90s it really wasn't an issue whatsoever.

 

[ForAcademicPurposes]

You're telling me that I can get a mirror from IKEA and legally blast somone's ass with photosynthesis (that's not how it works) and shit until they die?

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Probably working out the way the EU wants it to. Over-regulating, un-elected bureaucrats preventing people from doing what they want with their money all under the guise of saving a planet. They have tried to kill European farming too with their regulation. Intelligent fools with what they consider honorable intentions destroying a continent for cheap labor and environmental policy.

Sometimes they do have good consumer protections with Return policies, Banned chemicals in food (The US should adopt these) and phone port standardization.

"I'm going to die of heatstroke but at least I can plug my phone into any available USB-C charger"

 

[The Cockatrice]

It's not the lack of AC thats the problem here. It's the amount of their power consumption and the severe increase in cost for electricity. You can literally end up paying 1k euros if you leave that shit for too long so most of us, including me, just gotta live without it or turn it on for like a minute or so and thats it.