Installing AC feels like admitting defeat. 30 years ago we thought we could stop this thing. Our world leaders came together, listened to scientists and agreed targets.
Sadly we failed. Now I’m going to have to buy AC and make an even bigger contribution to global warming.
Solar panels + cooling + heating heat pump is the most logical combination as we are past the point of no return on global warming.
And there's no need to be like the Americans that cool down to 18°C when the outside is > 35°C: simply decreasing the indoor temperature to saner numbers like 26°C is enough, it's summer after all. Less energy usage and it is enough for the body to be happy.
Americans aren't cooling their homes to 64F in the summer, I have no idea where you get that idea. Generally people will cool their homes to somewhere around 72-78F, which is 22.22-25.56C.
In my experience they absolutely do. The houses by and large aren't very well designed or insulated, and electricity isn't that cheap. In the southeast I rarely see home thermostats set to the 60s or low 70s. Office settings are a different question, though.
It's hard to accurately generalize an entire country, of course. But in my experience people generally are in the range I stated. I'm sure that there exist people who turn their AC down below 70F, but I've never personally encountered one. And even the low end of my range, 72F, is uncommon in my experience.
> Solar panels + cooling + heating heat pump is the most logical combination as we are past the point of no return on global warming.
I’ve been feeling confused lately about the news that the far-right parties in UK & France want more AC and the left-wing complain it’s not solving the root problems.
Are people just not aware that heat pumps are a great solution for both heating and cooling, saving energy on heating during winter?
Far right parties want more fossil fuels burning for cooling and heating (more coal, more gas, more oil, more water pollution).
And I think that parties saying burning more fossil fuels doesn't fix the problem, like, at all, aren't particularly wrong? And they're also the ones trying to push for more solar/wind energy generation and more heat pumps (that can heat in the winter and cool in the summer).
Not sure what you're trying to convey or where you're taking your data from?
> Are people just not aware that heat pumps are a great solution
In my European country, people struggle to buy houses, nobody is rushing to do a full house renovation.
Furthermore, the consensus is: heat pumps are great for a new home or a full renovation. Installing a heat pump with old-style radiators makes no sense, because the heat pump heats to a low temperature.
That's mostly outdated info, modern heat pumps can heat to high temps. They are more efficient if run at lower temps but so are condensing gas boilers, which are the most directly competing technology.
Tech to combine radiator based heat pump heating with cooling is relatively new to the market.
I would have assumed air-con was standard in new built homes in southern Europe and less so once you get to more northern places where the load is mostly heating.
Then there are refits, which add another dimension of cost and difficulty.
The leftists are free to sweat or freeze to the point of exhaustion then. Modern AC units with heat pumps are just great. I'm going to install one myself soon.
Central-western Europe will have to massively install ACs, sooner or later, either only for cooling or both. They will not resist the summer heat in the coming years. Good for the AC companies.
The most difficult step is to accept the ugliness of the external unit to their beautiful buildings. Imagine Paris with a gray box hanged out of each 35m2 apartment.
I always struggle to take these sort of posts from people who don't live in "Europe" seriously. Europe is not a unit like the USA is, it's very diverse, and you generally can't neatly extrapolate your observations from one country to all others.
It hasn't ever been this hot, this regularly, especially in the northen parts of the continent. Add that to the number of historical building, streets, etc, that really can't (or shouldn't) get littered with eyesores on every balcony, and you can understand why AC units never picked up much steam in a lot of places. But that doesn't mean people have some twisted aversion to the technology, in fact, it already exists in many places. Where I'm from (a southern country), it's more common for a public place (buildings, transport, and so on) to have AC than to not have it. On people's homes, it's less common, but there's been a natural increase in demand. Unfortunately, many can't justify the investment to retrofit it into existing buildings, though new ones are likely to be built with central HVAC systems.
I don't know, it feels weird to read pieces like this one. It seems clear the author does not live over here and has a skewed conception of what Europe is and the peculiarities of each country and region. His previous post on the topic even goes as far as calling out some form of resistant to "foreign technology"...
It's easy to make blanket assumptions, but a bit of empathy and a more careful approach into these issues would go a long way.
Europe is usually not this hot, hence lack of AC in many places. Floods and earthquakes are also uncommon, hence the buildings in most places are not up to code against, say, Japanese standards.
The primary difference being, Europe is not increasing their number of fault lines or bodies of water. The number of days of moderate to extreme heat in Europe have already significantly increased and will continue to.
Furthermore, the costs of modern cooling are infinitely cheaper than solutions, if they exist, for other natural disasters.
I lived in both Europe and the United States and traveled around the world. This article makes a lot of sense to me.
Keeping out of the heat: Avoid going out and undertaking strenuous activities when the sun’s at its hottest. Stay in the shade and do not leave children or animals in parked vehicles. If necessary and possible, spend two to three hours in a cool place, such as a supermarket or cinema
Sounds like the issue is not hot homes but people simply not knowing how dangerous being outside under the sun under such temperatures can be
The tell here is that it doesn't just say 'stay at home'.
Most upper latitude European homes have been designed for mid-century cool(er) climates. They are extremely efficient at trapping and holding on to heat. Go look at any sub-reddit for central European cities over the past few days and you'll find multiple reports of 35+C conditions inside homes.
Furthermore, you can find plenty of examples over the past week in those same cities of supermarket and cinema ACs in total failure modes. Not to mention most supermarkets are closed on Sundays.
One real problem outside of the home is that there have been plenty of reported cases of drowning. Unclear if this is just statistical with the mobs of people (some of whom cannot swim, or swim well) who are forced to leave their homes to find relief.
Salient point (for me) from TFA regarding the number of heat-related deaths in Europe:
> So the death rate from heat in Europe is almost twice the death rate from guns in America. If you think guns are an emergency in the U.S., you should think that heat in Europe is an even bigger emergency.
That's because the US and Europe count heat-related deaths differently. In the US they count deaths caused by heat. In Europe they count deaths worsened by heat.
Also many old houses & modern insulated buildings have a significant heat inertia - so if the heat wave is not too long & you do sane heat management (open windows during the night to cool down the flat/house, keep windows closed during the day) then you will hardly notice the heat in an European home.
It's interesting that you found the author smug, rather than informative or maybe prosecutorial toward the European elites who ostensibly want to sacrifice the masses at the altar of degrowth.
AC is far more efficient than most heating methods, but there isn't the same level of censure applied to traditional heating technologies. If you listen, people talk about AC like it's inherently polluting, like it's something to moralize.
Europe historically has not been this hot, but they regularly have heat waves. I remember a 40C heat wave more than a decade ago! That's enough time to add emergency infrastructure, unless you're hoping to snuff old people. When you get your third hundred year flood in a decade it's time to update your priors.
I have seen more criticism of resistance against AC than people actually arguing against AC.
Maybe there is a group of loud AC resistors somewhere that I managed to avoid this whole time? Or maybe the pundits are pushing a narrative to rile people up and drive their substack income like they always do? Who knows!
From this limited sample, I’d imagine there was a groups of advocates arguing for anti-AC policies, but that this is now shifting with as climate change develops.
Questionable (albeit maybe defensible) degrowth policies are not unheard of in the EU. Most famously is Germany’s move away from nuclear which forced their dependence on Russian natural gas. So there is probably truth that people used to be somewhat anti-AC. But, I’d share your skepticism if there are large groups of people who still believe in anti-AC policies. The article I share would suggest many of these people have updated their priors.
I can relate to a certain type of reluctance, in that I live in a part of the US that has never needed air conditioning. I don't look forward to the hassle and expense of installing a heat pump. I don't look forward to the cost of running one. And I won't like resigning to the fact that the summers I've experienced my whole life, as did my ancestors, are over forever.
Of course when it's regularly in the upper 80sF / 30C I will give in. I just empathize.
I am curious about the power grid situation in Europe. Assume the rate of AC usage was as high as the US (or god forbid Japan), how far behind is the grid infrastructure from where it needs to be?
ERCOT (Texas) has daily swings of up to 50 gigawatts of power in the summer. I am pretty sure it is the most volatile US grid in terms of the demand side. A lot of the transmission infrastructure is purpose built for this exact problem.
There are massive distributed solar deployments (eg. people putting cheap solar panels on their roofs, often backed by batteries) happening right now, those should help offset AC demands quite nicely.
The problem with solar (at least in Texas) is that the buildings store heat long enough that the peak of the HVAC demand curve coincides with when solar begins to taper off really hard. 5-6pm is when maximum HVAC demand occurs around here.
They don't have any problem with impact from EVs on the grid, but god forbid AC units. One could obviously solve the peoblem with rooftop solar, which peaks just when you need AC the most.
> sunlight causes most of the heat issues; cloudy days are unlikely to be extremely hot
> solar panels convert sunlight to electricity
> AC converts electricity to cooler air indoors
Ah, if only there was a way to solve those three problems at once. Alas...
As to the "resistance" to AC: is this an actual thing or just something the media made up? It seems that for the most part anyone who wants AC can just buy it, barring exceptions like historical buildings. If people want to cook themselves alive I’m not really seeing the issue, as they only harm themselves (unlike, say, with vaccines where herd immunity is important).
How is it a meme? The article literally lists instances of European elites chiding the lower classes for wanting AC, and spreading misinformation about portable units. It even recounts an instance of the AC being turned off during a heatwave on the floors of Ursula von der Leyen's building for regular staff, while the floors with chancellors and von der Leyen were prioritized and kept their AC. As the article notes: for all the talk about late-stage capitalism and elites, it's hard to imagine that happening in the US.
European elites as in a couple media figures and fellow extremely online people that professional internet opinion havers like him have convinced themselves control the world narrative. In reality AC is very common in Europe except in old buildings or poorer households, same as everywhere else.
This is the same level of analysis as Europeans on 4chan saying >be Amerifat >get shot, you're supposed to grow out of meme thinking upon becoming a mature adult
I can’t hear this degrowth strawman anymore. There are probably 20 people complaining about people wanting degrowth for everyone who actually advocates for that. It’s not like every politician in Europe is advocating for that.
Degrowth is absolutely not niche in Western Europe. In Germany and NL, it is the new religion along with free Palestine movement.
Take any moderately educated Zillenial and ask them what they feel passionately about.
People are feeling more and more alienated from large scale projects of humanity. They have also given up on religion itself. What remains is a facade of religion where degrowth and Palestine take act as Pseudo Religion.
Here in Germany I see stickers and Graffiti all the time.
“Fuck the big Tech”
“Fuck big oil”
“ChatGPT bad”
These are the kind of flyers I see. Of course I’m leaving out the Palestine stuff here.
There are close to Zero educated people excited about the idea of growth. Ask them and they would tell you they’d rather have all capitalists done away with return to a past when we were all peaceful and not “destroying the planet”.
Obviously I’m not claiming degrowth is majority. I’m claiming that at least within my bubble, zero people are excited about the potential of growth. And non trivial number of people want to kill growth.
I'm old enough to remember the 1980's when people largely adopted a strikingly similar "new religion" that advocated for a free South Africa.
The Free Tibet "religion" was also a huge thing for a while in the 90's.
There are countless other examples. All with varying degrees of success.
The point is, there's nothing new about people being passionate about human rights. It has absolutely nothing to do with... well... whatever "degrowth" is.
You may not see it but I see the parallels between degrowth and Palestine. Both are sad attempts at replacing religion. Something that brings people together for a common cause.
In Germany I had a dentist appointment and I was soaked with Sweat by the end. Climate activism has taken the place of religion here.
It’s annoying to see peers lecturing others about Climate change and resistance to growth. What’s strange is that the same people have weekly vacations to south of France without any hesitation.
I’m sorry to hear about your very odd friends, but I suggest you consider traveling more yourself and gather some personal insights of the world. You should very quickly come to realize that Europe is not one place, one kind of people. This isn’t really something one would say, having spent even just a minute in one or two places here that aren’t Germany or France. Odd to read that.
Then you are being ripped off - I have seen 40000 Kč for a combined heat-pump/AC air/air unit here in the Czech Republic, which is about 1600 EUR. And you are getting a very efficient modern AC & heat pump.
Installing AC feels like admitting defeat. 30 years ago we thought we could stop this thing. Our world leaders came together, listened to scientists and agreed targets.
Sadly we failed. Now I’m going to have to buy AC and make an even bigger contribution to global warming.
Solar panels + cooling + heating heat pump is the most logical combination as we are past the point of no return on global warming.
And there's no need to be like the Americans that cool down to 18°C when the outside is > 35°C: simply decreasing the indoor temperature to saner numbers like 26°C is enough, it's summer after all. Less energy usage and it is enough for the body to be happy.
Americans aren't cooling their homes to 64F in the summer, I have no idea where you get that idea. Generally people will cool their homes to somewhere around 72-78F, which is 22.22-25.56C.
In my experience very few Americans set their A/C to anything above 75F.
In my experience they absolutely do. The houses by and large aren't very well designed or insulated, and electricity isn't that cheap. In the southeast I rarely see home thermostats set to the 60s or low 70s. Office settings are a different question, though.
It's hard to accurately generalize an entire country, of course. But in my experience people generally are in the range I stated. I'm sure that there exist people who turn their AC down below 70F, but I've never personally encountered one. And even the low end of my range, 72F, is uncommon in my experience.
+ it lowers humidity and moves air.
> Solar panels + cooling + heating heat pump is the most logical combination as we are past the point of no return on global warming.
I’ve been feeling confused lately about the news that the far-right parties in UK & France want more AC and the left-wing complain it’s not solving the root problems.
Are people just not aware that heat pumps are a great solution for both heating and cooling, saving energy on heating during winter?
Far right parties want more fossil fuels burning for cooling and heating (more coal, more gas, more oil, more water pollution).
And I think that parties saying burning more fossil fuels doesn't fix the problem, like, at all, aren't particularly wrong? And they're also the ones trying to push for more solar/wind energy generation and more heat pumps (that can heat in the winter and cool in the summer).
Not sure what you're trying to convey or where you're taking your data from?
> Are people just not aware that heat pumps are a great solution
In my European country, people struggle to buy houses, nobody is rushing to do a full house renovation.
Furthermore, the consensus is: heat pumps are great for a new home or a full renovation. Installing a heat pump with old-style radiators makes no sense, because the heat pump heats to a low temperature.
You can keep the radiators in place when using mini-split heat pumps..
That's mostly outdated info, modern heat pumps can heat to high temps. They are more efficient if run at lower temps but so are condensing gas boilers, which are the most directly competing technology.
Tech to combine radiator based heat pump heating with cooling is relatively new to the market.
I would have assumed air-con was standard in new built homes in southern Europe and less so once you get to more northern places where the load is mostly heating.
Then there are refits, which add another dimension of cost and difficulty.
The leftists are free to sweat or freeze to the point of exhaustion then. Modern AC units with heat pumps are just great. I'm going to install one myself soon.
Central-western Europe will have to massively install ACs, sooner or later, either only for cooling or both. They will not resist the summer heat in the coming years. Good for the AC companies.
The most difficult step is to accept the ugliness of the external unit to their beautiful buildings. Imagine Paris with a gray box hanged out of each 35m2 apartment.
I always struggle to take these sort of posts from people who don't live in "Europe" seriously. Europe is not a unit like the USA is, it's very diverse, and you generally can't neatly extrapolate your observations from one country to all others.
It hasn't ever been this hot, this regularly, especially in the northen parts of the continent. Add that to the number of historical building, streets, etc, that really can't (or shouldn't) get littered with eyesores on every balcony, and you can understand why AC units never picked up much steam in a lot of places. But that doesn't mean people have some twisted aversion to the technology, in fact, it already exists in many places. Where I'm from (a southern country), it's more common for a public place (buildings, transport, and so on) to have AC than to not have it. On people's homes, it's less common, but there's been a natural increase in demand. Unfortunately, many can't justify the investment to retrofit it into existing buildings, though new ones are likely to be built with central HVAC systems.
I don't know, it feels weird to read pieces like this one. It seems clear the author does not live over here and has a skewed conception of what Europe is and the peculiarities of each country and region. His previous post on the topic even goes as far as calling out some form of resistant to "foreign technology"...
It's easy to make blanket assumptions, but a bit of empathy and a more careful approach into these issues would go a long way.
I don't understand this article.
Europe is usually not this hot, hence lack of AC in many places. Floods and earthquakes are also uncommon, hence the buildings in most places are not up to code against, say, Japanese standards.
The primary difference being, Europe is not increasing their number of fault lines or bodies of water. The number of days of moderate to extreme heat in Europe have already significantly increased and will continue to.
Furthermore, the costs of modern cooling are infinitely cheaper than solutions, if they exist, for other natural disasters.
I lived in both Europe and the United States and traveled around the world. This article makes a lot of sense to me.
> Europe is usually not this hot, hence lack of AC in many places.
Europe averages 53k to 175k heat-related deaths per year. The difference depends on whether you listen to the EC or the UN. https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/08/1152766
The comparable number for the US is 4-11k, albeit with about 20% fewer people.
Note that the US is further south than Europe and generally has higher temperatures.
#1 recommendation from the same link:
Sounds like the issue is not hot homes but people simply not knowing how dangerous being outside under the sun under such temperatures can beThe tell here is that it doesn't just say 'stay at home'.
Most upper latitude European homes have been designed for mid-century cool(er) climates. They are extremely efficient at trapping and holding on to heat. Go look at any sub-reddit for central European cities over the past few days and you'll find multiple reports of 35+C conditions inside homes.
Furthermore, you can find plenty of examples over the past week in those same cities of supermarket and cinema ACs in total failure modes. Not to mention most supermarkets are closed on Sundays.
One real problem outside of the home is that there have been plenty of reported cases of drowning. Unclear if this is just statistical with the mobs of people (some of whom cannot swim, or swim well) who are forced to leave their homes to find relief.
Salient point (for me) from TFA regarding the number of heat-related deaths in Europe:
> So the death rate from heat in Europe is almost twice the death rate from guns in America. If you think guns are an emergency in the U.S., you should think that heat in Europe is an even bigger emergency.
That's because the US and Europe count heat-related deaths differently. In the US they count deaths caused by heat. In Europe they count deaths worsened by heat.
Also many old houses & modern insulated buildings have a significant heat inertia - so if the heat wave is not too long & you do sane heat management (open windows during the night to cool down the flat/house, keep windows closed during the day) then you will hardly notice the heat in an European home.
How many old people need to die in heatwaves before you accept that the climate is changing?
An American decided to be smug because Europe suddenly passed the threshold where aircon went from a nice to have to a necessity.
It's interesting that you found the author smug, rather than informative or maybe prosecutorial toward the European elites who ostensibly want to sacrifice the masses at the altar of degrowth.
There is no "altar" of degrowth in Europe.
it's interesting that Americans take such an "I told you so" attitude towards disasters they had such a disproportionate hand in creating.
AC is far more efficient than most heating methods, but there isn't the same level of censure applied to traditional heating technologies. If you listen, people talk about AC like it's inherently polluting, like it's something to moralize.
Europe historically has not been this hot, but they regularly have heat waves. I remember a 40C heat wave more than a decade ago! That's enough time to add emergency infrastructure, unless you're hoping to snuff old people. When you get your third hundred year flood in a decade it's time to update your priors.
I have seen more criticism of resistance against AC than people actually arguing against AC.
Maybe there is a group of loud AC resistors somewhere that I managed to avoid this whole time? Or maybe the pundits are pushing a narrative to rile people up and drive their substack income like they always do? Who knows!
This other article mentioned that France’s left party was anti-AC but are now starting to change their policy positions:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48661506
From this limited sample, I’d imagine there was a groups of advocates arguing for anti-AC policies, but that this is now shifting with as climate change develops.
Questionable (albeit maybe defensible) degrowth policies are not unheard of in the EU. Most famously is Germany’s move away from nuclear which forced their dependence on Russian natural gas. So there is probably truth that people used to be somewhat anti-AC. But, I’d share your skepticism if there are large groups of people who still believe in anti-AC policies. The article I share would suggest many of these people have updated their priors.
I can relate to a certain type of reluctance, in that I live in a part of the US that has never needed air conditioning. I don't look forward to the hassle and expense of installing a heat pump. I don't look forward to the cost of running one. And I won't like resigning to the fact that the summers I've experienced my whole life, as did my ancestors, are over forever.
Of course when it's regularly in the upper 80sF / 30C I will give in. I just empathize.
I am curious about the power grid situation in Europe. Assume the rate of AC usage was as high as the US (or god forbid Japan), how far behind is the grid infrastructure from where it needs to be?
ERCOT (Texas) has daily swings of up to 50 gigawatts of power in the summer. I am pretty sure it is the most volatile US grid in terms of the demand side. A lot of the transmission infrastructure is purpose built for this exact problem.
There are massive distributed solar deployments (eg. people putting cheap solar panels on their roofs, often backed by batteries) happening right now, those should help offset AC demands quite nicely.
The problem with solar (at least in Texas) is that the buildings store heat long enough that the peak of the HVAC demand curve coincides with when solar begins to taper off really hard. 5-6pm is when maximum HVAC demand occurs around here.
They don't have any problem with impact from EVs on the grid, but god forbid AC units. One could obviously solve the peoblem with rooftop solar, which peaks just when you need AC the most.
> sunlight causes most of the heat issues; cloudy days are unlikely to be extremely hot
> solar panels convert sunlight to electricity
> AC converts electricity to cooler air indoors
Ah, if only there was a way to solve those three problems at once. Alas...
As to the "resistance" to AC: is this an actual thing or just something the media made up? It seems that for the most part anyone who wants AC can just buy it, barring exceptions like historical buildings. If people want to cook themselves alive I’m not really seeing the issue, as they only harm themselves (unlike, say, with vaccines where herd immunity is important).
It's just a meme but too-online professional opinion-havers memed themselves into taking it seriously. Many such cases unfortunately
How is it a meme? The article literally lists instances of European elites chiding the lower classes for wanting AC, and spreading misinformation about portable units. It even recounts an instance of the AC being turned off during a heatwave on the floors of Ursula von der Leyen's building for regular staff, while the floors with chancellors and von der Leyen were prioritized and kept their AC. As the article notes: for all the talk about late-stage capitalism and elites, it's hard to imagine that happening in the US.
European elites as in a couple media figures and fellow extremely online people that professional internet opinion havers like him have convinced themselves control the world narrative. In reality AC is very common in Europe except in old buildings or poorer households, same as everywhere else.
This is the same level of analysis as Europeans on 4chan saying >be Amerifat >get shot, you're supposed to grow out of meme thinking upon becoming a mature adult
I can’t hear this degrowth strawman anymore. There are probably 20 people complaining about people wanting degrowth for everyone who actually advocates for that. It’s not like every politician in Europe is advocating for that.
Degrowth is absolutely not niche in Western Europe. In Germany and NL, it is the new religion along with free Palestine movement.
Take any moderately educated Zillenial and ask them what they feel passionately about.
People are feeling more and more alienated from large scale projects of humanity. They have also given up on religion itself. What remains is a facade of religion where degrowth and Palestine take act as Pseudo Religion.
Here in Germany I see stickers and Graffiti all the time.
“Fuck the big Tech”
“Fuck big oil”
“ChatGPT bad”
These are the kind of flyers I see. Of course I’m leaving out the Palestine stuff here.
There are close to Zero educated people excited about the idea of growth. Ask them and they would tell you they’d rather have all capitalists done away with return to a past when we were all peaceful and not “destroying the planet”.
Obviously I’m not claiming degrowth is majority. I’m claiming that at least within my bubble, zero people are excited about the potential of growth. And non trivial number of people want to kill growth.
As a Dutchman, I was so surprised by the contents of this comment that I finally decided to make an account.
Bringing up Palestine in this discussion is definitely a choice. Relating them as you have is special.
The amount of public figures advocating degrowth is low and declining. And I follow a lot of climate voices.
170k people protested against Israel. Not once. Not twice. Multiple times. For an issue that’s not even in the same continent as them.
Everywhere you go you see people’s homes hoisting Palestine flags. You see it in restaurants. Cafes. You see graffiti and flyers.
It is definitely not normal levels of interest. It is religious levels of interest. I’m not saying it’s wrong however.
The only other event that brings this much passion is maybe Kings Day or Pride Parade. Neither come close
Here in Germany, not a single person I know is excited about the idea of growth. And a lot of people, even in tech are disgusted by generative AI.
As a Dutchman, what do you think is the sentiment?
Here’s a pic a mate from uni sent me (probably from Den Haag) https://imgur.com/a/HlTdw4P
> The duck says: QUACK ChatGPT into the trash bin.
This would be considered ridiculous to even protest about in third world countries like Syria/Iraq.
Well we’re both German and my experience is different. Stickers don’t really tell me anything and the rest is just anecdote.
I'm old enough to remember the 1980's when people largely adopted a strikingly similar "new religion" that advocated for a free South Africa.
The Free Tibet "religion" was also a huge thing for a while in the 90's.
There are countless other examples. All with varying degrees of success.
The point is, there's nothing new about people being passionate about human rights. It has absolutely nothing to do with... well... whatever "degrowth" is.
You may not see it but I see the parallels between degrowth and Palestine. Both are sad attempts at replacing religion. Something that brings people together for a common cause.
In Germany I had a dentist appointment and I was soaked with Sweat by the end. Climate activism has taken the place of religion here.
It’s annoying to see peers lecturing others about Climate change and resistance to growth. What’s strange is that the same people have weekly vacations to south of France without any hesitation.
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I remember someone posting their estimated cost of operating a 5090 in Europe and I chuckled.
Why do Europeans keep voting to be poor and miserable I’ll never understand. Anti-nuclear, anti technology.
A few of my friends went to Europe the past year and almost all of them came back disgusted at European outlook on growth and technology.
I’m sorry to hear about your very odd friends, but I suggest you consider traveling more yourself and gather some personal insights of the world. You should very quickly come to realize that Europe is not one place, one kind of people. This isn’t really something one would say, having spent even just a minute in one or two places here that aren’t Germany or France. Odd to read that.
Europe is not a country. Given how many times we must have this conversation, I wonder if you guys are even taught geography in school?
Not yet, at least, but close to (thanks, POTUS).
Back to AC... I have to fork out 4000€ to replace an aging AC in a small flat 60sqm (650 sq feet).
Just looking out of my window right now I can see 600 similar places, so that's 2.4mil EUR for a couple of (city) blocks.
As AC is to be added as it won't replace the winter central heating system we got in most condos -- well that's a lot of money.
Then you are being ripped off - I have seen 40000 Kč for a combined heat-pump/AC air/air unit here in the Czech Republic, which is about 1600 EUR. And you are getting a very efficient modern AC & heat pump.
Why won't it replace the winter central heating? Can't turn it off?
Or is it because you're in germany and the taxes on electricity actually offset your CoP (Coefficient of Performance)?
Wasn’t so long ago that you were rather down on the American alternative:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43167215
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"disgusted at European outlook on growth"?
Well, cancer is growth, nature and vitality, but not quite positive, is it?
I can live without AC, because i'd only 'need' it, for a couple of weeks in the year... and i doubt it'll be worth it tbh