No wonder Brits here for the World Cup sometimes praise our air conditioning
I had noticed that a number of those YouTube paeans to the wonders of the USA mention the fabulous air conditioning that seems to be ubiquitous here. This puzzled me a bit, but article such as this go a long way towards explaining it:
Homeowners are being forced to tear out air conditioning from their private properties under climate laws, despite rising temperatures.
Council planning officers ordered residents to remove air-con units over fears they produce too much carbon dioxide, stating they should only be used as a “last resort”.
The net zero clampdown is part of building regulations that state “active cooling” should only ever be allowed when all other means of “passive cooling”, such as opening windows or using fans, have been exhausted.
The Tories said Britain was being “kept in the dark ages” under a net zero mindset that denies people “modern conveniences that are completely normal in other countries”.
It’s not happening everywhere in Britain, but it’s happening. And it’s a reminder that the commitment to liberty in Britain and in much of Europe is lukewarm at best.
Of course, our own leftists are salivating at the chance to do the same here – to exercise more and more control over every aspect of people’s lives “for our own good.”
Plus, Europe has been experiencing a heat wave of major proportions:
Temperatures soared to record highs from Switzerland to the Czech Republic and Denmark on Saturday, as a heat wave that baked western European countries this week moved to central and eastern parts of the continent.
Unusually high temperatures were recorded even in the Nordic countries not known for sweltering summers. Denmark’s Meteorological Institute reported a record 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in Ødum north of Aarhus — the warmest day since records there began in 1874. …
Germany’s famous Autobahn was overwhelmed, too, as temperatures were expected to hit 40 C (104 F). In two places outside Berlin, the concrete of the A2 burst due to the high temperatures and the highway had to be closed. …
The Czech Republic also saw its hottest day on record, with 40.8 C (105.4 F) in the northern town of Doksany. Forecasters said it may still rise.
That’s hot, all right. But in the US, not all that unusual. Even the New England states reach high levels at times, with record highs generally more in the 105-107 vicinity.
As a young child, I lived without air conditioning in New York, in a home that didn’t have much cross-ventilation. It was pretty brutal at times in the summer. I also remember that a lot of homes had awnings on the windows that went up in the summer, to create at least a slightly cooling effect. On very hot days, sometimes we’d go to the movies – thirty-five cents admission – because they were usually air conditioned. Ah, the relief!
As my days in England was in the summer that wasn’t 1979-80 I don’t remember missing air conditioning.
Maybe the Europeans visiting here might get some ideas. And by YouTube it seems they are here by the thousands.
I saw a post about a cardiac recovery unit in a hospital in Germany with an internal temperature of 100.4º F. The hospital is only ten years old; built without AC.
Seems the powers that be in EU, and those who vote to elect them, would rather suffer (and die) now, than risk the uncertainty that earth will be 1 or 2 degrees warmer long after they’ve died.
If only they knew that their sacrifice is useless and meaningless. Our atmosphere is beyond man’s control.
We were in England and France for the Women’s World Cup final in Lyon in 2019…the last big heat wave there. No AC at all in the hotels etc. Not only that, Lyon had 8 years to plan for the final yet put no effort to accommodate 50k visitors. The stadium is 5 miles on the outskirts of the city. The games ended at around 11pm and the city shut down all public transportation at 11. Thousands of people trying to find a way back to their hotel. Oh. And no restaurants open on Sunday. The French…gahh!
At least we saw the US win.
Reminds me of the time I stopped.in Leadville Co. I couldn’t find the.thermostat and called the desk. They said open a windows sir it’s Leadville we’re at 10000′.
physicsguy
The games ended at around 11pm and the city shut down all public transportation at 11. Thousands of people trying to find a way back to their hotel. Oh. And no restaurants open on Sunday. The French…gahh!
Given my experience with the French, I am not all all surprised. 🙂
Neo
That’s hot, all right. But in the US, not all that unusual. Even the New England states reach high levels at times…
My recollection of summers in southern NE was that there would be two weeks of 90 degree weather. That’s a trivial amount compared to 3-4 months in Texas, but still noticeable. I recall with fondness the precursor to fall—blue sky, low humidity & cooler at the end of August. I imagine that nowadays there are more 90 degree days in southern NE.
One more example of Britain being turned into a slave state.
From the good old days: Rule Britannia
But Kate the hospital looked……
…..European!
”Seems the powers that be in EU…would rather suffer…”
Oh, no, not the elite powers that be. They will not suffer. Just the proles.
Reports from Europe are saying that during the recent heat wave the EU elites ordered the air conditioning in their main headquarters building to be turned off…..but only for the lower seven floors where the ordinary people worked. The air conditioning remained on for the upper floors where the European elite dwelled. Some European animals are more equal than others.
”Not only that, Lyon had 8 years to plan for the final yet put no effort to accommodate 50k visitors.”
50,000 visitors? That’s it? The city of Oshkosh, Wisconsin — a city of only 50,000 people — gets 700,000 visitors every summer for the annual EAA convention and air show. It’s timed for the hot part of the summer — the only two weeks of the year in that part of the country to see upper 80s or 90s — yet all accounts are that the city and surrounding region handle the crowds well.
It seems that some parts of the world are well run, and some parts aren’t.
In 2023 my Best Friend and I arrived several days early for a Historical Tour. I booked the Hotel in Paris. And I forgot to check if it had A/C. It didn’t. Temps were in the high 90’s. Opening the windows did no good, not a breeze. Hotel provided fans, I had two directed to the bed. Helped, but it was really bad.
In the EU headquarters in Brussels I read that the A/C in the lower 7 floors was turned off, while the upper floors still has it. The upper floors is where the big mucky mucks work, of course.
“Council planning officers ordered residents to remove air-con units over fears they produce too much carbon dioxide, stating they should only be used as a “last resort”.
How can an air-con unit that’s been removed… be used as “a last resort”?
‘Climate activists’, council planning officers and those who direct them, from Parliament on down, will bear moral responsibility for the predictable deaths among the elderly and young who fail to survive the heat.
Barred from accountability, sooner or later ‘politics by other means’ will result. Given the UK public’s state of disarmament, 4th Gen warfare is likely to eventuate. In which it is not the top political and military personnel that are targeted but upper middle management. Those deemed to be essential in value but too numerous to effectively safeguard against reprisals.
I lived in suburban Athens for three summers – and although it was warm in the summertime, modern Greek construction practices had allowed for hot summers. Most places had tall ceilings, long windows, cross-ventilation – and it seemed to me (in my memory, at least!) that there was always a light breeze from the sea. My place in Ano Glyphada had a view of the Saronic Gulf, and a peculiar sort of built in shutters that could be raised or lowered, either totally to close up the window entirely, or to allow the slats to be separated to keep a degree of security and still allow in the cooler air at night. As long as you were in a shaded spot, and there was a breeze – all good. There was only one restaurant downtown in Central Athens that I knew of which had AC – they also had a nice clean bathroom, so we went there sometimes after a day of shopping and before catching the city bus back to the Hellenikon AB where I had left my car parked. (No, I did not drive in downtown Athens – are you insane? Food there was OK, service indifferent – but cool on summer days and a clean modern bathroom!)
Six summers in central Spain – in the outskirts of a city in the Ebro River valley – only one summer there was unspeakably hot and sticky. I would definitely have considered buying a 220V window unit for the place on the local economy. Such were available, but a bit pricy.
Brutally hot summers are just not the expected and ordinary thing in most of Europe – so I’ll give a pass … but local governments getting pissy about people seeing to their own comfort on their own dime? And a modern German hospital with no thought to seeing to the health and comfort of patients by building one of those modern glass and concrete cubes with no HVAC? Even when it wouldn’t be required most summers?
I posted about this on Chicagoboyz yesterday – and the consensus is that the European electrical grid likely couldn’t handle the burden of AC to the same degree as we Americans are accustomed to demand.
I’m moving to Athens……..Georgia!
I was born and bred in Miami Beach, FL (now a.k.a. South Beach). To keep it short and sweet, we lived in A/C 24/7. It got hot. A lot! From the house to the car to school or work all with A/C. I walked to school but if I remember correctly, school buses didn’t have A/C, and city buses, too, but that was a VERY long time ago. That has probably been remedied now. I left FL as soon as I was able, and havwe made few visits back. They run the state a lot better than many others, but I can’t deal with the heat. I lived most of my adult life in NYC, but recently said good-bye forever for a number of reasons. Now in the mountains of NC where we rarely have super hot weather, and evening temps usually 20-30 degrees lower than daytime. Years ago they built houses here without A/C, but most have it now. I’m afraid one of the things I least like is being hot. I have A/C and a usually a fan facing the bed at night as well! You can call me a wimp, but I can sleep!
Keep in mind that most of Europe is in the same latitudes as the northern US and Canada, not the parts of the south that regularly experience oppressive heat here.
The UK and Berlin having 100+ degree heat is not equivalent to Texas or even New York.
https://cdn1.matadornetwork.com/blogs/1/2017/07/Latitudess.jpg
I grew up in a 100 year old farmhouse. None of the rural folks back then (that I know about) had A/C. We had windows. A box fan or two.
Of course, during the summer, we weren’t in the house much during the day anyway. There was always something that needed doing on the farm.
Of course this was in central Indiana so it didn’t get oppressively hot for more than a few weeks a year, but when it did…it didn’t mess around.
BTW: I found out years later after dad had died and mom had sold the farm that that old farmhouse had had zero insulation in the walls. Just air.
Many years ago , for a duration of about one week, I was in Fairbanks, AK in summer time. The temperature was in the high 90s.
And the motel I was staying in had no air conditioning.
Until that time I never would have believed it got hot in Fairbanks.
Like Neo, I too grew up in NYC (a small apartment for our family of 4) and we had no air conditioning. Opening all the windows provided little relief.
It was miserable.
Any way, here is an interesting factoid;
The hottest temperature recorded in Fairbanks, Alaska, was 99°F on July 28, 1919,
Today, if it hit 99F in Fairbanks, it would be attributed to the scam of “climate change.”
Looks like I started a trip down memory lane!
Last summer my daughter and her husband travelled to the UK for a week. The first days were uncomfortable because of a heat wave.
I lived in the UK for five years and the homes we rented did not have air conditioning. Summers are usually mild.
Like you I am from the northeast where homes and buildings rarely have air conditioning. I remember lying on my bed in underwear, under a sheet, with the fan running. Ugh.
I was at Cornell for nine years (undergraduate then graduate school). The academic year started in August and the first weeks could be miserable. Trying to teach a freshmen writing seminar and sweating profusely.
My wife and I are heading to Upstate New York to visit my mom for a few days. And it’s going to be genuinely hot and humid.
Rick67: stay cool. The hottest Memorial Day I ever experienced was in Rochester, NY in 2006. According to the National Weather Service, it was 92 degrees–the hottest Memorial Day in Rochester’s history:
https://www.weather.gov/buf/RocHolidayMemorialDay.html
It felt more like 100 on the street, where the parade was. I felt sorry for the marchers.
It can get hotter in western Massachusetts, where I grew up and where I still visit, than it does in Alabama, where I now live.
— neo
When I was a boy in the Ohio Valley, a lot of the old stores and businesses in small towns (and I mean small, towns of a few thousand or a few hundred) had sheet metal awnings in front. Usually with benches. In hot summer you’d see old men gather under them for shade from sun or protection from rain, to shoot the breeze. In winter there was usually a general store or other establishment that had a coal stove for heat and the old men would gather there to shoot the breeze.
That era was fading when I was in school, but I can remember the final years of it.
My mind goes back to hot, still summer afternoons, not a hint of a breeze, and those old farmers and retired working men sitting in the shade of those awnings, just talking, politics, sports, local gossip. There might be a radio with a baseball game on.