2023-08-28 17:46:08
As summer slowly draws to a close, heat-ridden Europeans greet air conditioners with skepticism.
During the heat wave that hit Europe last month, Floriana Peroni’s vintage clothing store had to close its doors for a week.
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In front of his door, a truck of rented generators blocked access. They supplied electricity to the central district of Rome, hit by a blackout due to rising temperatures. Main culprit: air conditioning.
This period, during which temperatures reached 40°C, coincided with a peak in electricity consumption that approached Italy’s all-time high, with a peak load of more than 59 gigawatts on July 19. This figure is close to the record set in July 2015.
Intense electricity consumption has undermined the grid not only near the central Campo de Fiori district, where Floriana Peroni’s store is located, but also elsewhere in the Italian capital.
The demand for electricity during this second week of July increased by 30%, due to a heat wave which had already lasted for several weeks, according to the capital’s electricity company, ARETI.
Like many Romans, Ms. Peroni has no air conditioning, either at home or in her shop. Rome might once rely on a Mediterranean breeze to bring down nighttime temperatures, but that’s now only intermittent relief at the best of times.
“At most we turn on fansMs. Peroni said.We think that’s enough. We tolerate the heat, like we always have“.
In Europe, however, things are starting to change.
How do Europeans beat the heat?
Despite Floriana Peroni’s resistance, rising global temperatures are pushing air conditioning from luxury to staple in many parts of Europe. The continent has a long history of adversarial relationship with energy-intensive cooling systems, considered by many to be an American fad.
Europeans look with disdain at supercooled American buildings, kept at temperatures close to those of a cold room, where a blast of chilled air can blow across the city’s sidewalks as people come and go, and where extended dates indoors require a sweater even in the height of summer.
In Europe, event organizers tend to offer fans if high temperatures are expected. Customers can expect to sweat in under-chilled grocery stores, and movie theaters aren’t routinely air-conditioned. At the restaurant, customers generally opt for outdoor tables to avoid stuffy rooms, which rarely offer air conditioning.
To cope with the heat, theItaly and Spain generally close their doors for several hours following lunch, time for a siesta. Also, most people go on vacation in August, when many businesses close completely to allow families to enjoy vacations by the sea or in the mountains.
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Italians in particular are happy to leave overheated tourist towns to foreign visitors, reducing the urgency of investing in a home air conditioning system.
Why is air conditioning not popular in Europe?
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the penetration rate of air conditioning in Europe has increased from 10% in 2000 to 19% last year. This figure is still much lower than that of the United States, which is around 90%.
Many Europeans oppose air conditioning due to cost, environmental impact and even suspicions of adverse effects of cold drafts on health: colds, torticollis, or worse.
Cooling systems remain rare in the Nordic countries; even in Germany, where temperatures can exceed 30°C for long periods.
But even these temperate climates might cross the threshold of discomfort if temperatures rise by more than 1.5-2°C, according to a new study from the University of Cambridge.
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In this scenario, people in Nordic countries like Great Britain, Norway, Finland and Switzerland (link in English) will face the largest relative increase in uncomfortable heat days.
Nicole Miranda, one of the study’s authors, said their estimates, which would exceed the international goal of limiting future warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial times, are conservative.
“They do not take into account the urban island effect, when cities are unable to cool themselves at night and surfaces turn into radiators.“
“From a scientific point of view, if we all go to the ideal solution, which is air conditioning, we are going to run into a different kind of problem, because the energy consumption and carbon emissions associated with air conditioning are high.
Cities should consider less intensive solutions, such as shading buildings and integrating cooling water featuresshe said.
She also recommended a tendency to cool individuals rather than spacesusing personal devices such as ice packs in jackets or high-tech textiles that dissipate body heat more efficiently.
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The demand for air conditioning is increasing in Europe
In Italy, sales of air conditioners fell from 865,000 units per year in 2012 to 1.92 million in 2022, according to the industry association Assoclima. These are mainly devices for professional and non-residential use, the growth of which was observed during the first quarter of this year.
Most are systems of heat pumps split, which can heat spaces in winter, which, according to Assoclima, may reduce gas consumption as prices soar during the war in Ukraine. This dual use attracts consumers.
The Francewhich has a slightly larger population, is showing greater resilience, with 1 million units sold per year. Air conditioning was rare in France until the heat wave of 2003which claimed thousands of victims, mainly among the elderly.
Yet most private homes and apartments are not air-conditioned, nor are many restaurants and other businesses. Businesses with air conditioning often advertise to attract customers on hot days.
Aversion to air conditioning persists, both among French conservatives who view it as a superfluous American import and among left-leaning French people who consider it environmentally irresponsible.
Cécile de Munck and Aude Lemonsu, meteorologists with the national meteorological service, warned this summer that if the number of air conditioners doubled in Paris by 2030, the city’s temperature would rise by 2°C due to the heat given off by the pumping systems.
Despite concerns regarding energy costs, air conditioning is quickly conquering homes spanisha country that traditionally just uses fans and draws heavy blinds, a very Spanish practice.
A study by Ca’ Foscari University predicts that half of Spanish households will have an air conditioning system by 2040, up from just 5% in 1990.
Noise, cost and wasted energy put people off
The cool indoor air is accompanied by conflicts between neighbors who complain regarding the noise of outdoor appliances. This poses problems for Spanish property managers.
“Some people can’t open their windows because then they get a hot flash“, said Pablo Abascal, president of the Council of Property Managers of Spain.With the increase in the number of air conditioning systems in homes, many buildings will soon have no place to put these units.“
According to a study by the University of Ottawa, in Canada, air conditioning and cooling have proven to be essential for the elderly in the event of extreme heat, reducing stress on cardiovascular functions during a heat wave of 37°C.
But even in countries like Cyprus, where 40C heat waves have become the norm, sustained use of air conditioning is not an affordable option for many older people living on fixed incomes.
Many people on this Mediterranean island limit the use of air conditioning to the hottest hours of the day, sometimes confining themselves to a single room.
“There is no doubt that this scenario has a significant impact on their mental well-being.“said Demos Antoniou, director of the Cyprus Observatory of the Third Age, an advocacy group for the rights of older people.”The prevailing fear is that refraining from using the air conditioning might lead to heatstroke.”
At 83, Angeliki Vassiliou thinks both of her energy bill and of future generations before pressing the ‘on’ button. “Wasting energy makes no sense. Waste is unfair“, he believes. “Wasting any resource is wrong, because what would happen to our planet because of all that waste?“
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