I don’t know what people are smoking, maybe it’s too much heat, but air conditioning is very common and normal here in Italy too.
I don’t know what a cooling center is, but there is AC everywhere, and when there isn’t it’s a choice of the owner to avoid installing it.
Also it’s not the first time we reach similar temperatures sadly. We get around 40°C basically every year.
The south of Italy is clearly on a very high and uncommon peak, tho.
The situation is different in other countries like Germany, northern France or England.
Until a few years ago they never needed AC at all so most homes don’t have it and it’s not even that easy and immediate to have it installed
No, air conditioning is rare in Europe. Pretty much only hotels have it, and by far not all hotels. About 5% of private residences have A/C, even in southern regions of France, Spain and Italy.
Source: Wikipedia, and my kid that went to Italy and Greece and Germany for the previous few summers worth of heat waves.
Edit: Formal, government supplied cooling centers are a CA thing. Informal ones like shopping centers are more widespread in the U.S., but don’t really exist in Europe.
I’m Italian, lived both in big cities and in small villages, both in the north and the south of the country: basically every office has AC, never saw an hotel with no AC and I’d say at least 50% of private residences have it.
AC in private residences has become much more common in the last years due to the climate crisis but 5% would’ve been way off even 20 years ago. Your data is definitely incorrect
It doesn’t even matter all that much. A couple years ago in the PNW when it hit 43°c/115°f, I had my central air absolutely kicking out the jams and it was still 90°f in my house. I got really annoyed before coming to the realization that it was 25° cooler inside which is honestly a pretty decent effort on behalf of my AC. There’s no reason it should be this hot anywhere, but especially Cascadia. Of course my AC couldn’t handle it because it wasn’t designed to. Even a decade ago you’d think someone was nuts if they installed an AC capable of dealing with this anywhere except say Arizona or Florida
AC doesn’t just help with temperature though, it also helps with humidity if it is a humid heat outside. Makes it much more bearable even if the temperature difference might not be huge.
Yeah its pretty standard to have in offices and shops, but not in apartments or houses. I’ve seen couple of ceiling fans in Spain, but here in France some people don’t even use regular floor fans for some reason lol
To be honest, we only get 2 hot months in a year (usually, though its starting to change and now its more like 3 hot months where 2 are extra hot)
I used to specifically not want A/C in my cars back in the 90s living in Denver. It was never hot enough to need it. In the past years I’ve spent quite a few days sitting in stopped traffic in my open Jeep with the thermometer reading 104-107F. Once was behind an uncovered manure truck. Good times, good times.
Where I live now (further north from CO) there’s a massive junk yard with thousands of snowmobiles. Apparently my current area used to be a mecca for snowmobiling in the 70s and 80s, with 1500 miles of snowmobile trails. It snows maybe 3 times a year now, average of 10 inches total per season. Neighbors all around me have every kind of motor toy imaginable, but I have not seen a single snowmobile. My snowblower hasn’t been seen use in over 4 years, and the city routinely forgets how to plow or sand streets.
Weather definitely got hotter year round over 3-4 decades. I’ll fight fellow Gen-X and boomers over this.
Does Italy have air conditioned cooling centers like California does?
I don’t know what people are smoking, maybe it’s too much heat, but air conditioning is very common and normal here in Italy too.
I don’t know what a cooling center is, but there is AC everywhere, and when there isn’t it’s a choice of the owner to avoid installing it.
Also it’s not the first time we reach similar temperatures sadly. We get around 40°C basically every year. The south of Italy is clearly on a very high and uncommon peak, tho.
The situation is different in other countries like Germany, northern France or England. Until a few years ago they never needed AC at all so most homes don’t have it and it’s not even that easy and immediate to have it installed
https://www.qualenergia.it/articoli/meta-famiglie-italiane-ha-condizionatore-ecco-come-usa/
Data supporting this. About 50% of italian private households have AC, with obvious differences between regions and local climates.
I don’t know where people in this thread are retrieving data to support their statements but they definitely sound absurd. Source: am Italian
No, air conditioning is rare in Europe. Pretty much only hotels have it, and by far not all hotels. About 5% of private residences have A/C, even in southern regions of France, Spain and Italy.
Source: Wikipedia, and my kid that went to Italy and Greece and Germany for the previous few summers worth of heat waves.
Edit: Formal, government supplied cooling centers are a CA thing. Informal ones like shopping centers are more widespread in the U.S., but don’t really exist in Europe.
I’m Italian, lived both in big cities and in small villages, both in the north and the south of the country: basically every office has AC, never saw an hotel with no AC and I’d say at least 50% of private residences have it.
AC in private residences has become much more common in the last years due to the climate crisis but 5% would’ve been way off even 20 years ago. Your data is definitely incorrect
Edit: https://www.qualenergia.it/articoli/meta-famiglie-italiane-ha-condizionatore-ecco-come-usa/ some data. About 50% of private italian households have AC, with obvious differences between regions and local climates.
It doesn’t even matter all that much. A couple years ago in the PNW when it hit 43°c/115°f, I had my central air absolutely kicking out the jams and it was still 90°f in my house. I got really annoyed before coming to the realization that it was 25° cooler inside which is honestly a pretty decent effort on behalf of my AC. There’s no reason it should be this hot anywhere, but especially Cascadia. Of course my AC couldn’t handle it because it wasn’t designed to. Even a decade ago you’d think someone was nuts if they installed an AC capable of dealing with this anywhere except say Arizona or Florida
AC doesn’t just help with temperature though, it also helps with humidity if it is a humid heat outside. Makes it much more bearable even if the temperature difference might not be huge.
My understanding is that it is more common in offices, though, than in residences.
Yeah its pretty standard to have in offices and shops, but not in apartments or houses. I’ve seen couple of ceiling fans in Spain, but here in France some people don’t even use regular floor fans for some reason lol
To be honest, we only get 2 hot months in a year (usually, though its starting to change and now its more like 3 hot months where 2 are extra hot)
I used to specifically not want A/C in my cars back in the 90s living in Denver. It was never hot enough to need it. In the past years I’ve spent quite a few days sitting in stopped traffic in my open Jeep with the thermometer reading 104-107F. Once was behind an uncovered manure truck. Good times, good times.
Where I live now (further north from CO) there’s a massive junk yard with thousands of snowmobiles. Apparently my current area used to be a mecca for snowmobiling in the 70s and 80s, with 1500 miles of snowmobile trails. It snows maybe 3 times a year now, average of 10 inches total per season. Neighbors all around me have every kind of motor toy imaginable, but I have not seen a single snowmobile. My snowblower hasn’t been seen use in over 4 years, and the city routinely forgets how to plow or sand streets.
Weather definitely got hotter year round over 3-4 decades. I’ll fight fellow Gen-X and boomers over this.