As a non-European living in Europe, I have to agree with the Europeans on this one. It’s hard to justify dropping 1000+ EUR on something you would get to use only for about a week every year. It’s more economical to just suffer.
As an European, we need to realise that AC also throws hot air if needed, it can be used as a substitute for radiators.
Technically it is more energy efficient that radiators at heating the place, so if you are mainly in a single room its cheaper to switch on the AC than the heating.
I’d argue about the cheaper point as that depends heavily on how the standard heating is organized.
Like living in an apartment complex with central heating and paying for it based on m² regardless of how much it’s used and that isn’t that rare based on multiple rental apartments I’ve rented over the years before buying my own apartment.
That system is mostly still done to force sharing of the heating load, because with a system that measures how much heating is used, it’s completely possible for middle apartments to completely turn off heating and rely on surrounding apartments to keep them near 16-20c, depending on outer insulation of the apartment complex. Anything above 18c is comfortable and 16 is already tolerable if heating is expensive. While outer apartments need to compensate to keep their temperature in livable range.
Heating with AC would just add on top of already existing heating bill with a centralized heating system that cant be regulated.
ACs are very common in Norway, primarily for heating during winter. Also really nice to have during heatwaves too of course
AC in the US aren’t (usually) heat pumps. The most common setup here is a furnace for heating (usually natural gas) plus AC, connected to the same central air unit. Heat pumps are pretty common, but not nearly as universal.
Just mentioning it because “AC” isn’t usually used to refer to heat pumps here.
Also the entire electricity grid would explode if every household suddenly gained a 3kW load thats on half the day.
Most AC units are reversible these days, so they can also be used to heat your home in the winter, with energy use efficiencies unattainable by other means such as regular electric heating or fossil fuels. A good heatpump can heat for 5x as much energy as you put in. So you get 1000W of heat for every 200W you use. Besides, depending on your country’s energy mix, it’s probably also a lot less pollution and irritating gases sent in the atmosphere. It’s an investment, sure, but one that would eventually pay off.
It’s pretty common for people to already have a heating solution in place that can’t practically be replaced with a reversible heat pump. District heating being a primary example here.
5000+
Temperatures are breaking all-time records and our infrastructure isn’t ready for that? What a shocking surprise!
This is assuming that installing an AC is an alternative.
I can’t install one in my apartment, there’s just no way to set up the outdoor unit for the bedroom. Our windows don’t accommodate window units, being casement windows. That leaves portable units, which are not particularly effective, and on top of that forces a serious amount of sunlight into the bedroom, hence ruining the whole thing. Dawn is at 02:04 here, fwiw.
My only hope really is that my apartment building would install some kind of central cooling solution, which is an incredibly expensive endeavour.
Look up split unit portable heat pumps such as the Midea PortaSplit or similar. They fix a lot of the issues with regular portable units and can also heat. They are however quite a bit more expensive.
Get one of the portable ones and get one of those kits that seal around the hose to the window and then get some curtains.
I moved into a traditional farmhouse in winter and thought it was rather strange that whoever built the house had built it right over a stream that flows all winter till way into April through the ‘loja’ (a kind of half cellar built into the slope). Now I know it’s a natural AC, the room remains cool even though the sun is hitting the front wall all morning. So luckily I won’t have to make that kind of investment any time soon.
(In winter the stream probably kept the animals clean-ish by permanently floating some of the piss and shit layer out of the stable, while plant matter kept being added on top. The fermenting mass would keep stable and top floor warm.)
I had seen a few of these houses and had my doubts that people would just be so stupid as to accidentally build on a water line. Thanks for coming to my info dump.
Tldr: evaporation cooling good.
I’m having trouble to understand how it really looks but in my head, I’m picturing such a weird and awesome place, a bit like the one I Lakentown from the hobbit.
I read that if the AMOC fails, Western Europe will be like central Siberia. That is to say -30 in the winter, and 40 in the summer.
In some parts of Europe, we have many ways of mitigating heat that don’t cost as much and work well enough to a point.
Shutters will reflect heat before it gets into the home, which can keep the temperature as low as 10 degrees cooler than outside, cieling standing and desk fans can help cool you down in 20-30 degree weather. Dehumidifiers can help in humid heat.
Beyond a certain point, you do have to use air conditioning to lower the temperature, but that’s when you get to 35deg and above, and that typically been pretty rare until now, and most of the above still help.
I think if I did have the money I would probably install a heat pump + air conditioner combo and I believe there should be grants available for those.
If you’re a renter it sucks though because you have very few options. “Portable” air conditioning is ok but not very effective and very expensive to run.
portable air conditioners can be very effective…
VSauce music que
I was hoping for Technology Connections
I was hoping for two of them.
Wish granted :P
Split ones are, using one right now. 3-5kWh per day depending on outside temperature and target temperature. We set ours to 24-26 degs and it reaches it even now with 40 degs outside.
Also desk fans are ok, i have one pointed at me rn
It’s not like we don’t have AC, most people here have it
