- Overall, it's safe to say that Europe thinks America's love of air-conditioning is actually quite daft. Europeans have wondered about this particular U.S. addiction for a while now: Back in 1992, Cambridge University Prof. Gwyn Prins called America's love of air-conditioning the country's "most pervasive and least-noticed epidemic," according to the Economist. And according to the Environmental Protection Agency, it's getting worse: American demand for air-conditioning has only increased over the past decades.
Fuckin' AmazonPost.com sure is turning into a barrel-scraping shitshow. Let's check the AmazonPost from LAST MONTH about Europe's new crippling heat waves, something they've never encountered before. Then let's look at the Washington Post, prior to Bezos buying it, talking about the human impacts of global warming on temperatures in Europe. If you dig into the heat wave of 2003 you'll find estimates between 35,000 and 70,000 deaths. That's somewhere between double and quadruple the death toll from the Tohoku quake. This is a sham hitpiece assembled from two experts and a poll with no American component that has been glued together with two pointless quotes. It's not news, unless you think it's surprising that Europeans are having to suddenly wrap their heads around air conditioning because of globlal warming, or that it's surprising that socialist-leaning societies expect more government intervention in large policy decisions. "If the developing world were to use energy at the same pace as the United States the globe would go up in an incandescent cinder," said every climate scientist since the beginning of the industrial revolution.The three British authors -- Peter A. Stott of the University of Reading, and D.A. Stone and M.R. Allen of Oxford University -- used two computer models to assess the likelihood that a summer like that in 2003, which was Europe's hottest in centuries and was blamed for at least 35,000 deaths, would have occurred without human influences. They concluded, at a confidence level of more than 90 percent, that human activity doubled, if not quadrupled, the chances of "a heat wave exceeding this threshold magnitude."
"The bottom line is that America's a big, rich, hot country," Cox told The Post. "But if the second, fourth, and fifth most populous nations -- India, Indonesia, and Brazil, all hot and humid -- were to use as much energy per capita for air-conditioning as does the U.S., it would require 100 percent of those countries' electricity supplies, plus all of the electricity generated by Mexico, the U.K., Italy, and the entire continent of Africa," he added.
I have more or less stopped reading the Post. And NPR, and even the Times. When you follow them on facebook and get constant articles in your feed rather than seeking out the occasional article fit to your interests, you realize how damn stupid 90 percent of their coverage is. These days I've pretty much quit. I read whatever longreads sends me, War Nerd, New Yorker human interest pieces, and the TLS/NYmag culture stuff. Periodically the FT/WSJ money combo. I dunno why anyone still reads the Post.
Hey friend. Baton Rouge here. Can confirm. Ungodly hot. 95 and up all July and the lows never below 80, even at night. The humidity makes it feel more like 110. I work outside at a plant and I absolutely hate this time of year. Counting the days until late September.
My job is very physical. My work space is not temperature controlled. If it is 105° outside, you can add another 15° or 20° by virtue of the fact that I'm inside a metal trailer receiving sunlight. We have fans at the door, but they only move air in the first half of the trailer. Loading up at the nose? Tough. The thing I've learned from working like that is this: Once you acclimatize, it isn't as bad as that sounds. I'm not saying don't use the AC. But maybe we shouldn't be so adverse to discomfort. Especially when it's a discomfort that we can adjust to over time. There is a huge gap between expecting to live in spring like temperatures year round and not dying of heat stroke.
This article is ridiculous. You can't say an entire country is "daft" because people there like to be comfortable and have the freedom to choose to be it with the aid of AC in hot weather, especially when you're in a generally cooler natural climate. And wtf is this:
It keeps getting better.
Of course, Northern Europe is still colder than most regions within the United States and some countries, such as Italy or Spain, have recently seen an increase in air-conditioning. "The U.S. is somewhat unusual in being a wealthy nation much of whose population lives in very warm, humid regions," Cox told The Washington Post in an e-mail. However, the differences in average temperatures are unlikely to be the only reason for Europeans' reluctance to buy cooling systems. It's also about cultural differences.
Consequently, while indoors, Europeans wear sweaters in winter, while American wear sweaters in summer," Sivak told The Washington Post.
Studies clearly show that cooling improves work efficiency during summers as well as sleep patterns, and even reduces mortality. So why would Europeans simply relinquish such advantages?
This past February I visited Miami with my girlfriend, who grew up there. We currently live in Albany, NY and I grew up in Buffalo, NY. I was excited to visit because, hey, its f'n freezing in NY in February. I excitedly packed all my shorts and t-shirts, seeing that the forecast called for temps between 70 and 80 the duration of our stay. The only warm clothing I brought with me was the sweater I wore to the airport. BIG MISTAKE. Her family, and apparently, the rest of Miami, LOVES to keep their homes air conditioned down to balls freezing temperatures. I'm talking like 60, sometimes 55 degrees. So instead of bundling up to go outside like I did in NY, I had to bundle up to go INSIDE in Miami. I also had to borrow sweat pants and a whole bunch of blankets to avoid shivering at night. So, uh, moral of the story is that temperature preference is indeed cultural. Even now that were back in NY in mid July, she has to keep her room cooled to 60 degrees to be able to sleep. I, on the other hand, am fine with sleeping in sweaty and stifling conditions in my room. Not that I mind sleeping in cool temperatures, hence we find ourselves at her place most nights.
This type of attitude in the U.S is looked on apathetically. We would love to "save the environment", but the reality is, most of us won't even go outside to protest because it's too uncomfortable. The reality of our social unrest is sadCooling uses much more energy than heating, which is why many Europeans prefer sweating for a few days over continuously suffering under the effects of global warming in the future.
Cf. Meriadoc: "my outfits are limited to "literally the least I can get away with wearing" while keeping a jacket and winter socks at work because my office is an icebox.""Americans tend to keep their thermostats at the same temperature all year around. In contrast, Europeans tend to set their thermostats higher in summer and lower in winter. Consequently, while indoors, Europeans wear sweaters in winter, while American wear sweaters in summer," Sivak told The Washington Post.
I don't even believe this to be true. I've always accepted the typical summer thermostat setting to be 76-78°F and only 66-68°F in the winter time. That's also what the Department of Energy recommends in any official publication I've ever seen.[0] Who are these mythical Americans who leave their thermostat at 74°F forever? [0]http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/publications/pubdocs/HeatingCoolingGuide%20FINAL_9-4-09.pdfAmericans tend to keep their thermostats at the same temperature all year around.
See. I find this weird. Up here in Canada, we keep our thermostat about 21°C year round (at least in my experience) with some reductions midday while everyone is out. Insulation is huge, but I don't know if I've ever met someone with A/C, likely because it doesn't really get above 30°C. I imagine it would be similar in the northwestern states.
I think this fails to factor some things in overall. Mainly humidity is a very difficult thing to work with, and a problem with America is the structures. If you look at Arizona, native housing there is built with adobe, because it's a natural insulator. It keeps the heat out or in, depending on what you need in winter or summer. But that's not how America was built, which is to say, quickly, cheaply, pre-fabricated, and meant to match or expand growth. So you're left with houses made of wood and drywall that have no business being in that environment. And there's very little differentiation across the country. It's not the fault of the dwellers that we rely on AC, it's that we don't have the benefit of houses built to their situations. On a side note, I wish there was a way to control my office's temperature. It's all one system though, for a very large building. A dormitory, in fact. My office being the basement level, where most of the ventilation systems lie tends to make it.... much colder than what the building is attempting to reach.
There's a weird phenomenon that surrounds this difference between the two places. There's actually a German superstition that moving air causes illnesses, such as heart disease, pneumonia, and the flu. A lot of them open windows to air a room out, but they're afraid of opening windows on moving cars and trains - and there's not a lot of air conditioners in buildings. It's a weird thing my German teacher told us a while ago. Here's a couple articles on it. The weather in Washington, D.C., and Berlin, Germany, has been pretty similar recently. There is one striking difference between the two capitals, though: Whereas many Americans would probably never consider living or working in buildings without air conditioning, many Germans think that life without climate control is far superior.
Wow what a terrible article. People in the US work from home, and in my experience in the EU they don't or rarely do. I grew up in a desert where stretches of weeks on end over 100F were the norm, and a week of 110F was not unusual at least once a year. And if you live south of the Ohio river and don't have A/C? Yea, no thanks. Remember, Spain is north of St. Louis, MO, and almost as far south as Indianapolis, IN. I would like to see the US move to a more dense zoning philosophy and make more taller buildings; taller buildings are easier to heat and cool than single family dwellings. And we get the benefits of more mass transit. And condensers are becoming more and more efficient every few years. My electric bill dropped 10% in a very hot summer when I got the model from the 60's swapped out with a new one. And last thing to rant about, the US should be moving to solar more and more where the A/C is needed. This is probably a whole topic in of itself.
Over here (part of EU) every modern commercial building (let's say built or renovated within the last decade) has air conditioning, but pretty much no residental building has them, maybe excluding the seriously riches. The funny thing is, I wouldn't work in an uncoditioned office, but at the same time wouldn't even dream about having AC at home (well... okay, I'll admit, I dream about it on some summers).
Interesting perspective, and to an extent I agree with it. Only thing I don't agree with is Europe being critical of our use. Most of the climate in Europe is pretty chill, and rarely get's to really nasty temperatures. If I lived in climate that tended to be between 20°C and 30°C I would probably never use my air conditioner.