Also most of Europe is significantly north of the USA so…yeah. Non-story.
Actually it’s mostly due to the construction materials and techniques used. American houses are generally less well insulated and built with the explicit expectation that there will be active air conditioning used to maintain the temperature.
Meanwhile in Europe this is not only comparatively very expensive to do, it is also largely unnecessary due to many buildings predating modern air conditioning, using good insulation and passive systems to maintain a comfortable temperature. There are also regulations on newly built houses that make it generally attractive to build energy efficient.
One thing I can promise you, even if it’s not 2x4 construction, those brick and plaster walls will turn a house into an oven over the summer even with judicious control of open windows. They just store up the heat for a night time that feels like noon day sun. Folks used to straight up sleep on their porches.
Signed,
A resident of an un-air conditioned brick and plaster house in the mid Atlantic currently sweating his balls off
That’s been a problem with climate change in the UK where air conditioning doesn’t really exist but we are starting to experience warmer weather than the houses were built for.
There isn’t one. The latitude isn’t the only reason either; the jet stream over the Atlantic moderates the European climate. Meanwhile in places like Minnesota and Buffalo you oscillate between -30°F with 48” of snow in 24 hours in January to 100°F with 90% relative humidity in August. If construction were poor and insulation was substandard, people would die.
Most of Europe doesn’t have a/c for the same reason a lot of Seattle and SF don’t — it’s never been necessary.
The North American Insulation Manufacturers Association (NAIMA) reported that approximately 90% of U.S. single-family homes are under-insulated and are wasting energy and money
European houses are typically built with masonry, while North American houses are usually made of wood.
http://masonrydesign.blogspot.com/2014/01/european-construction-versus-north.html?m=1
Then there are some design choice difference that also matters. In the US average ceiling height is around 9 foot. In Europe it’s 11. Open floor plans are more common in the US. It’s a trend coming to Europe but given the average age of a house in Europe it’s still relatively rare.
Yes, the USA has plenty of well built houses. No one is arguing against this. And the climate plays a bigger part why most of Europe doesn’t have AC. But the statement is still true. European homes are generally built without taking an AC into consideration and are trying to fix the issues in a passive way because of it.
The USA aren’t the worst offender either. Australia has it way worse. They have some of the worst insulation and are melting during summer and freezing during winter. Despite spending an ungodly amount on cooling and heating.
American houses are generally less well insulated and built with the explicit expectation that there will be active air conditioning used to maintain the temperature.
Well, that’s just silly and shortsighted. A well-insulated house will maintain its temperature more efficiently and require less active temperature control.
So that sort of mindset seems pretty on point for 'murica.
So is Canada, but it has 64% of homes with air conditioning.
Also, maybe it’s just me, but like didn’t England, France, Spain, Italy and southern Germany all hit like 100f (38c) or higher this summer (and other summers before that)?
It’s less of a story and more a telling sign that climate change is having a direct impact on humans that it’s becoming more and more necessary for people in even European, Canadian and even PNW climates to adapt and outfit houses and businesses with them.
Southern Germany didn’t hit 38.
The main reason is how people build houses. In Europe, people use different meterials (bricks, mortar, concrete, etc.) which insulate and put on top insulation. Walls are thicker too. The good insulation keep the heat outside.
The other is the law. Europe has regulations on AC. For example, if I want AC in my house, I must compansate the electricy consumption with renewable.
You’re part right and part wrong:
While building with different materials DOES change insulation, that doesn’t mean it always makes the buildings cooler.
On the contrary, building with bricks, as is standard for all year residential buildings throughout most of Europe is a way to trap and detain heat, NOT a way to keep heat out.
You see, the greatest temperature difficulty before anthropogenic global was the outside being too COLD, so that’s what we’ve been building for and because of that, AC hasn’t been as necessary.
Nowadays though, the heat retaining structures with no AC are becoming unbearably hot for much of the year. We desperately need environmentally responsible AC.
Ottawa is on the same latitude as Venice so it’s not like canada is very northly (though i know canada has a much more varied temperature range). That aside i think there are many reasons, like the southern countries are not as wealthy as US and theres a culture of using other methods to survive the heat such as building colors, not paving every cm^2 of land etc. And if we look at more northen Eu countries like where I live (sweden) the highest ever measured temp is 38c (100.4f). So anyone here who needs an AC for the few days when the temp is above 25c is a card carrying bitch.
The climate of Europe is a lot warmer than in America for the same latitude
Is that really true?
I can’t speak for all of Europe, I just don’t know. But Northern Europe definitely has warmer summers than areas at a comparable latitude.
I live in a part of Sweden that’s at a comparable level of Siberia. I promise you our summers are much warmer.
Are you fucking high?!? 38° is a hot summer day in Europe. Thats 100.4° F. When I lived there I hated life. Mosquitoes outside my window without a screen, so a breeze was out of the question. No A/C inside so breathing was also out of the question. I eventually found reprieve in the form of a 5” fan sold to me by an old man.
Point is, celsius or fahrenheit, its fucking hot
wait until you learn about the gulf stream
you basically have to move Houston to Madrid for temperatures to be comparable by latitude
Having lived in Germany for a year, no. It gets hot in the summer. It’s hard to concentrate while at work when there isn’t even a fan. I don’t get it. It would make economic sense for businesses like the software house I worked for, on productivity loss alone.
The average high temperature for Germany in July is 77°f
The average high temperature in the state of Georgia in July is 89°f
Because for most of Europe, it wasn’t needed to have AC up until more recent years. You would have maybe what? 5-10 days a year that were actually really warm. People wouldn’t install an AC for that.
These numbers will drastically change the coming decades.
These numbers will drastically change the coming decades
which will only make things worse, since AC just moves all the heat from indoors, out, and uses energy to work of course.
What we really need is builders to start taking the extra heat in to account and designing accordingly (there are loads of different ways to physically control the temperature of a space instead of mechanically).
Shame that’ll never actually happen…
Can you elaborate on that? European housing is built with a lot of focus on insulation and heat control, what are you referring to?
European housing is built with a lot of focus on insulation and heat control
It’s more about also keeping heat out, as well as heat in. Which have overlap but are not necessarily the same thing. See this conversation for some more details.
Buildings with all glass façades are an insulation nightmare. Cities need more water, plants and trees. Houses need can be built to favour shadow and fressness. You can even go anciant design that were naturally cooled and winded, like roman or African houses.
I don’t know about other European countries, but France housing is a disaster the last 40 years. It’s only been a decade at best that insulation is a consideration, but the quality is quite bad.
The big change that needs to happen soon is passive heat blocking for personal residences.
Most HOAs don’t allow a big extra wooden structure over the roof to block the sun; but they’re going to need to start to keep home prices up.
But HOAs are designed to make rule changes almost impossible. So I predict we’re going to see a lot of expensive neighborhoods become cheap ones in the next 15 years, due to their HOA not fkexing to support necessary heat control structures.
Overall it’s still going to be a net saving as people switch from electric/gas heat to heat pumps and AC is just those but running in reverse.
And, of course, insulation. The reason we got away without AC is due to generally very large thermal mass of the exterior, you shutter everything in the morning to keep the heat out and when the temperatures drop again you open everything and let the air cool everything down. Thing is: In those recent waves there were plenty of nights where the temperature didn’t really drop.
That’s not true. While Northern Europe doesn’t really need aircon, Southern Europe is pretty bloody hot since the days of Christ. The difference is that European houses are built with insulation in mind, US houses are built from sticks and shit.
The insulation requirements in the US are higher than many European areas with similar climates. Germany for instance would fall in region 4 and 5 of the US climate wise. R-30 is required for walls, R60 for ceilings, and R20 for floors for homes in the US. Germany recommends 6cm of wall insulation ~R8, 14cm for ceiling ~R19, and 6cm for the floor R8.___
You know if you muppets used sane units you’d be right. But you’re using colonial measurements.
Here’s conversion table. US R30 is equivalent to proper units R5.3, R60 is R10.5.
…and we don’t really have recommendations as such. KfW55 is nowadays mandatory for new construction, KfW70 and up gets you cheap loans. KfW70 means less than 45 kWh/m² per year for heating and they don’t really care how you achieve that. We didn’t really get around yet factoring cooling into stuff.
You’re also wrong. Mainly, It has to do with the thermal capacity/mass of the building and not with differences in insulation values.
There are pros and cons for all building types.
Southern Italy peaks at 32C and low humidity. That is absolutely nowhere close to the heat we get in much of the US.
US houses are most definitely built with insulation in mind. That point is somehow more laughable than you not knowing your own temps.
Literally every part of your claim is incorrect.
Southern Italy peaked at over 50° C this year, and do you really think a country completely surrounded by an ocean has low humidity?
Dude, I’m in Tuscany which is nowhere near the peaks of southern Italy.
This is what awaits me
Your houses would be built with the same materials if you had the earthquakes and tornadoes to deal with.
I said most of Europe, not all of Europe.
I’m well aware that AC is common to have in the south but then you’re talking about like 4 countries. Once you move north of those, it’s not all that common to have an AC in the house.
Yes but not necessarily in the way you think
The US is also warmer on average compared to Europe. Because parts of the US are at the same latitude as Cario, Egypt.
The climate is definitely different. You are right overall. But some places like New York or Chicago are both hotter and colder depending on the time of year.
But some places like New York or Chicago are both hotter and colder
Than what? Chrisinau, Sevastopol and Bucharest are similar to New York
It’s not a conspiracy or some grand revelation.
They didn’t need it before. Much of America didn’t either. A lot of old wood houses had designs built for airflow and trees surrounding the houses. Those that didn’t got old attic fans that would pull air from the bottom of the house to the top and out of vents.
These days, insulation and HVAC exists and Americans jumped at the chance to have year round temperature control. Heat pumps now have the best efficiency for cooling and heating year round and can replace most options. Almost everyone will need this option as global warming barrell out of control.
I hate it when people chop down all of the trees around their house, I assume because they don’t want the leaves on their yard. I have a bunch of trees around my house, the downside is it is sort of dark in the house and it is hard to have a garden, the plus side is it must be at least 10 degrees cooler inside in the summer. I’ve left the house overdressed thinking it is a cool day because of it.
You’d have to have an extremely drafty house for them to pull air from the bottom of the house and your attic floor should be well insulated anyway. The recirculating air is coming from the soffits and vents. The best reason to have an attic fan is if you have an AC unit in the attic, then you want to get hot air out of that space.
If you live far from the cities, then cutting down the trees immediately close to your house can be a very reasonable thing to do (some countries even mandate it), because if a wildfire comes around, it is more likely your house will survive if it isn’t surrounded by flammable materials.
Tell me you live in California without telling me you live in California.
(Or maybe elsewhere in the west, or maybe Australia or something – the point is, it’s not a rural thing, it’s a rural + arid climate thing.)
In the last years the max temps during the summer months in southern Germany have significantly risen - often over 30 C. I just moved into a new house here that fulfills the latest energy efficiency standards (kfw55) and am surprised how well it also insulates against heat. With a recuperating air ventilation system it’s pretty bearable without active cooling.
I look after holiday properties in Europe, all new and highly insulated. I tell every guest to open their windows at night, then close everything they can during the day when they’re out. It’s how the locals have been doing it for centuries and it’s now far more effective. It’ll keep the cool air in the house as well as it keeps the heat in in winter
Tell this to 80% of guests, they have a lovely holiday
Tell it to Brits or yanks, they phone up 3 days later screeching like fuckin infants because their chalet is a boiling cauldron of flies because of course they knew better than some pesky local
Brits don’t know how to handle heat at all. We open all our windows during the day and let all the hot air in, and then complain about the house being too hot at night. We also like to open the windows on air conditioned trains and buses so we can complain about the air con not working.
It’s purely down the not understanding and not having to understand how to manage heat and that our houses are terribly insulated. We’re an island of clouds and rain.
Where i am right now it the middle of the night and 30c . not exactly letting a lot cool air in in those conditions
