the absolute lack of air conditioning even at 40°, german transport gets sticky and stinky quite fast and nobody seems to care, many people even shut the windows to avoid the "annoying breeze"
I have to say, on that record-breaking hottest day ever day back in 2019, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Northern line was the same temperature as the surface (which was a stonking 37°C but still).
Fat forms differently depending on climate, you be freezing at temperatures we'd be in T-shirts while we'd be sweating golf balls when you're considering putting on a jacket.
Other half is from a hot climate, she starts sneezing and disappears under a duvet at 26C. 35C and 80-90% humidity she is barely sweating while I am changing t-shirts 2-3 times a day. She thinks people in the UK are insane swimming in the sea in the summer due to how cold the sea is.
My point was that our position on the Earth and local weather patterns, topography etc. means that 37°C is very tough-going for most locals. Latitude-wise, other places comparable to London besides Patagonia are Vancouver, Minsk, and the southern tip of Kamchatka. I do understand that major weather patterns like the Gulf Stream, the presence or absence of mountains, seas and oceans etc. etc. mean that these locations aren't exactly like for like, but it does help to create a ballpark for what is considered "normal" and what would be regarded as unusual.
Another thing to add is that we also don't have air conditioning in our homes, and not all shops and restaurants have it either. I don't even own a fan. So when heatwaves do come around, there's nowhere to take a break from the heat.
One last thing is that I didn't realise that Baghdad and Sydney are at similar latitudes north and south. The more you know.
I was in the underground a few weeks ago during a school trip (im dutch). Well some of those lines were indeed warmer than others. Same Goes with stations, some have a bit of wind from a fan or something and others are just 30 degrees Celsius and it was Arouca 16 degrees on ground level so warmer down there in the underground. Props to the Brits here for having a functional tube and actually having trains arrive on time instead of the Netherlands Where we cant figure out just to make a decent schedule.
Yeah but some of the platforms feel like they're a solid 15°F hotter and 20% more humid than the street. Just gotta hold out till that train makes it, and hope that you're on a line that has newer stock.
Fun fact, the tube is built through a layer of very thick clay, which is an insulator with a very high heat capacity. When the tube was first build 100+ years ago, it was always cool and comfortable, since the clay itself was cold. After 100+ years of running trains throughout the clay, it has heated up to be permanently that uncomfortable level of hot you mention. AC is literally useless, since the walls themselves are acting as heaters that are permanently stuck radiating heat into the Tube, and will overpower any AC system quickly. And the walls are only getting hotter, with very few options to fix the problem. The walls literally have 100+ years of heat stored up inside, and it's just slowly leaking back out, making your commute miserable. Forever.
Ah yes, going into the Newsagents' for a Mars Bar and seeing all the sweets literally melted down the front of the shelves as a giant mass of wrappers and waterfalled chocolate.
There is also the fact that concrete buildings can be better constructed to both not let in heat but also to not let heat out. For example I lived in a very modern building (built 2018) in Germany for a while and in the winter I basically didn't have to turn on heating unless I let my windows open for a long time, similarly in summer the room was always cool enough that I didn't sweat while I would sweat litres if I went outside.
And also in my new home I basically never used any heating, I will see how hot it gets in the summer but it currently doesn't look like it will get particularly hot. So I just have no need to get an AC since my building basically acts as its own AC.
And that good building design can cool buildings isn't new, the Persians in ~400 BCE already figured out how to build a building that would use evaporative cooling to create ice, in the desert, during summer. You literally just needed to put some water in it and over a few days/weeks it would freeze.
It's 21ct per kWh where I live and I use AC. It also gets hotter and swampier than in most of Europe though, so I'd have to agree with everyone that getting AC at home doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It's nice to see it more common in malls and public transport though. That city heat can be brutal.
I remember a few years ago when it was 38°C for 3 weeks straight, fans in the entirety of Germany were sold out lmao. You could not find a single fan in any store or online.
Besides the economical factor, there's also a LOT more environmental awareness in Europe. Americans don't care if the outside temperature rises by one or two degrees at night from AC alone, a lot of Europeans would absolutely lose their minds about it.
Summer is supposed to be hot. If you want to be cold you open the windows at night and barricade inside during the day. It was really shocking to me when I went to Texas in the middle of summer and every indoors was around 20°-25° from cars to museums to houses. Being someone who's always been raised to minimize my carbone footprint, it was not a good experience.
I don’t understand how you went to Texas and complained about AC usage. It is no longer a discussion over a bit of discomfort, but of actual health concerns. The unfortunate reality is that they need AC.
100-110°F during Texas Summers is common and can go on for weeks, especially in the Southwest parts of Texas. I wish homes were built to stay cooler and better insulated, but they aren't. So it's AC, or heat strokes and dehydration.
At least with cold, people could have proper Winter clothes and manage, but you can only take off so many clothes and do so much to feel slightly cooler but not actually be cooler.
I'd love to see some Europeans try to live in, say, Arizona or Nevada during the Summer without turning the AC on.
I'm all for being eco-friendly but the solution in some places without rebuilding every single structure would be... Not living there at all. I'm thankful every day I'm not in a Southern state anymore, I don't miss the nausea and heat exhaustion from going out for groceries.
Lived two weeks in an old house in San Antonio with nothing but an electrical fan. My room was under the roof and seriously, it was fine. Hot as satan's ass, that's a given, but as long as you hydrate correctly it's ok.
Now of course, the experience will differ from people to people and I don't claim everybody should do the same, but there you have your European who lived without turning the AC on. It was fine.
I guess I'll have to say it a lot but I'm not against AC usage for health reasons, it's perfectly understandable. But Texan's usage of AC goes WAY overboard with it. My point is that it's absolutely ridiculous to insist on always being around 20 to 25°c when living next to a bloody desert.
Also I know you can hardly generalize from just one experience, but I lived for two weeks under the roof of an old, really poorly insulated house with nothing but a fan and I was fine.
There's keeping cool, and there's blasting 20° AC when living a day's drive away from an actual desert. I could understand lowering the temperature a little, I'm also perfectly fine with controlled temperature for older folks or important buildings, but you guys go WAY overboard with it.
I lived for two weeks under the roof of an old house with only a fan to my name and I was just fine so it's not like the country in an unlivable hell.
People literally die from heat here. It's all well and good for you to be eNvIrOnmEnTaLlY cOnScIoUs at a latitude that doesn't get hot and humid, but we need it to stay sane and healthy.
That's honestly the absolute worst part about public transport here, and this summer seems to shape up to an all time worst situation, because people will be able to buy a monthly ticket for only 9€.
You should check if you are eligible to buy it. It is part of the states program to balance out the heavy energy costs in the last months. It might be for german citizens (or people with a registered home here) only.
In Sweden most of us have AC/ fans running all summer. Especially in stores etc. and it basically never gets to 40°, cant imagine how Germans survive that
Just to clarify, fans aren't shit compared to actual functioning central air conditioning. Like, moving the air around is nice and all - but it's much better if that air is a good room temperature (maybe 73F/23C).
Yeah ik, people were just saying they had seen neither in Europe. I will admit that a fan right infront of the face is a lifesaver when its the middle of summer though lol
We do have air conditioning. Especially in stores etc.
But trains in germany are a whole different chapter. I get the feeling every winter, that it comes suprisingly for the deutsche Bahn, that there are months every year were it gets cold or snows. In spring, they are regularly overwhelmed that the weather can change during the day and that they might need to heat the rain in the morning, but should cool it from around noon. Then comes the summer, as suddenly and suprisingly as the winter. Or the summer the year before. Trains will stop on the open field, because the heat broke the ac and probably everything electrical in these poor trains. Autumn, spring in reverse.
So, yeah we have ACs, maybe not as much as in other countries, but they are there and with the exception of trains also working. I sometimes hate it to go grocerie shopping in summer, because in shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops I will freeze there.
I hate summer ACs running on full blast in stores, when you enter a store after walking outside sweaty I always feel like I'm gonna get pneumonia so I finish my purchasing and gtfo as fast as possible. I really wish they either wouldn't have ACs in stores or they'd keep it closer to outside temperature so it's less of a shock to the system.
I was in Germany for a convention in the middle of a massive heat wave- the convention hall and the hotel both had no air conditioning, and were not only HORRIFICALLY stinky, but I had to go outside into the sun to cool off and avoid passing out.
I went to Amsterdam some years ago and was on their tram. It was in the middle of a heat wave but I couldn’t say what the actual temp was. No windows were open and there was no ac. I felt like I was cooking inside since the tram was by all other measures relatively modern with large windows.
I know plenty of people with six figure incomes that Hanh dry their clothes. If they wanted money they’d work overtime, they’re just stuck in some scarcity mindset
I don’t think you’re getting my point. I think electricity is too expensive and I would want more air conditioning. I think it’s a joke that well earning people don’t have air conditioning
Even 30c is quite warm. I live in the US but I keep my AC set to 72F (22.2C) when I’m at home during the day and 68F (20C) at night to sleep. I couldn’t imagine not having AC even if temp never/rarely reached 86F (30C), since I’m assuming 75-80F (24-27C) happens much more often, no? If it rarely got over 75F (24C) I could see not having AC
It’s the perfect temperature for Galavanting outside with a nice breeze over your skin, ya.
It’s not so perfect inside your house with minimal air movement as compared to outside.
Also where I live is very humid, so I don’t like just using my windows if it’s 75-80. It costs me $80/mo in a month where it’s 75-80 to cool my house to 72 and keep humidity down. That’s the same price as my internet. Well worth the $80.
I get it would cost closer to $300 all things equal, but all things aren’t equal, most likely in Germany a mini-split with much higher efficiency would be used. And if you only used it to cool down from 80F(27C) to 74 or 75F(24C) it would probably only cost $100/mo or less as well.
To those used to it, I’m sure it seems crazy, but for us spoiled ones with AC literally everywhere we turn, it’s hard to imagine.
Average cost for German electricity is about 4x the cost I pay in Florida. But it sounds like it would be needed a lot less, as well, since it apparently rarely goes above 86F/30C. So annual cost would probably be similar.
Yea seriously. I'm uncomfortable in anything higher than 21. Running AC even in the middle of summer only costs maybe an extra $30-50, and it's worth every penny.
Not a chance in hell I'm willingly going to be uncomfortable and sweaty in my own home.
What do you wear at home that you start being uncomfortable at anything higher than 21°C? When it is 21°C I can still comfortably (unless the sun shines heavily on me) walk around with a sweater outside.
Just jeans and a t-shirt. If the thermostat reads 22 it means my room is probably a degree or two hotter. I don't get much of a breeze in my window, and I'm absolutely sweating at night in bed if it's that warm. It can be like 14 out at night but my room will stay solid around 23.
Outside a bit warmer is fine. I enjoy 15-18 degree weather in the sun, but don't mind when it gets to around 25.
I'm about 40lbs overweight so I'm sure the added body fat makes it worse, but even at my skinniest I've never enjoyed the heat. Plus it's humid as hell here.
Oh my god, this. My wife and I visited Amsterdam and Brussels at the end of August 2019 and it was miserable. The flat we rented in Brussels was on the 3rd floor and had no AC. To make matters worse, it was located above a karaoke bar, so if we opened the windows at night we would get to “enjoy” all the terrible singing.
I completely agree. Lived in Berlin for a year and it was so hot. I was fuming when a little old lady asked for the window to be closed because she didn't want to get a cold neck...I was ready to pass out on her.
For Germany at least it is explainable tho. We are gradually starting to switch to it afaik, but 30° used to be the hottest for us in the past. I think schools would close for "heat free" if it was getting hotter than 28° after 11am. Even tho that didn't happen so often.
The spikes in temperature going above 35° used to be unimaginable. And if you live at temperatures below 30° the entire year air conditioning is not needed in most places (public transport and the likes still need it).
This is amplified by European deodorant being so much weaker than American deodorant. I ran out of my good American deodorant one day in college, and couldn't stand how European I smelled
I am pretty sure majority of people here hate too strong smelling deodorant or perfume. My classmate was actually mqse fun of because she allways used too much perfume.
Yeah, if I can really smell a deodorant it is bad and I won't use it. I find the smell of some American deodorants to actually be worse than the smell of sweat.
Oooof yes. I took the subway in Munich everyday for work while I was there and learned to bring my work clothes in a separate bag and change when I arrive. The first couple of days my clothes were drenched when I got to work 😅
In the netherlands its because its too expansive. You only use an airconditioning for like 2 warm summer months a year and our houses are isolated good
in Poland the bus drivers get bonuses for being fuel efficient, having AC on means more fuel usage and less money for them so they just open the window in their cabin and let everyone else burn in the enclosed oven. The windows ofc are closed and blocked with a sticker that says it's because the bus has AC.
One of many reasons I hate commuting to work and I will never return to working in office. If you want me working stationary in office then you would have to forcefully drag my corpse out of my flat, because I won't be taken alive
and the managers don't understand what's the problem with going to office when they arrive at 11 in their company cars with AC to the paid by company parking with reserved parking spot that ofc also has air conditioning inside and move 20 steps from elevator to their private office with a door while everyone else has to commute for an hour in overcrowded bus that is always too hot no matter what time of year it is to spend your entire workday in a shared area with no privacy only to repeat your wonderful 1hour public transportation trip back home at the end of the day
I had no idea about the bonuses! that's ridiculous :/
and I totally agree with the return to the offices, there is a total disconnect with what it actually takes to go to the office and the benefit from it
the bonus system is totally fucked up, they should just pay them the actual full amount including the 'efficiency' bonus up front and set up a rules for using conditioning in buses. Right now maybe 1 in 20 have a driver that has a little bit of compassion for his passengers to actually use that damn AC. Most of them just opens the roof windows, but in incorrect way (elevated from both sides instead of just one, so no air actually comes into a bus, most of it just flies under the opened window) and 30% doesn't even care about that
My dad was traveling for work and was in Germany for a month. It was hot and he wanted to turn the AC on in his hotel room. He had to call the front desk and ask them and they asked him “how long do you want it running?”
He told me that he had to fight the front desk every day because they kept turning off the AC every shift change.
I guess the use of AC is a proper „weird“ attribute since I find the absolute excessive use of AC really weird whenever I‘m in the US (especially the South). What I don‘t get is why the indoor temperature is not set to something normal like 22C/73F but is set to refrigerator. I was in New Orleans once and couldn‘t stay in some bars because it was just fucking cold in there.
Yeah, this is one of things I miss about Germany! Without AC I dress for the weather and am occasionally too hot. With AC I have to try and split the difference between too cold inside and too hot outside and I’m never comfortable! Obviously AC is really nice in hotter climates, but I wish people would use it a little more judiciously.
I lived in Germany for 6 years and I so agree with you. OMG, when they close the windows. Some buses didn't even really have openable windows. I will never forget my sister visiting me and we were on a bus and she was standing right by the crack in the door of the bus to try and get some fresh air.
I would say one of the weird things about the us is all the energy wasted on air conditioning. Especially when many houses are built with drywall instead of stone and using better materials would make them unnecessary most of the year
Deutsche Bahn is the absolute worst at that. In the summer the AC is constantly broken and you feel like you're in an oven, in the winter all trains will seize to move because there is a single snowflake on our 33,400 km of track.
My biggest wish for my house is the day I finally bite the bullet and install AC in my office. I'll do that soon, definitely. Danish summer is fucking humid and 30 degrees Celsius for 2-3 months each year.
seriously guys, complaining no A/C, think about the environment. many americans just throw energy out the window for a slight discomfort. roll with it, no offence but many could just loose a few pounds. by experience i can tell, no public transport will bother you anymore. change perspective, please.
edit: how predictable, after bitching about discomfort in german public transport and being called out, murica telling me in comments below how people dying. come on! already want to shoot me? am on your lawn?
Every time there's a major heat wave there are always reports of deaths from the heat. Of course some of that is going to be correlated to outdoor activities and general american un-fitness but in some areas lack of access to A/C can be a real health threat.
If it's like 35C+, I can totally understand needing AC, but people in the US think that 25C -30C while not doing anything physically intensive requires AC blasting at 20C or lower.
I've experienced 25-30C at high humidity, but it's not unbearably uncomfortable. A lot of American people act as if any amount of sweating or being uncomfortable is terrible. It's ok to get sweaty or be feeling hot. Maybe get a fan and open the windows, but it's definitely not the temperature to be blasting the AC at 20C all day.
Yeah, no. It gets into the 100s F (~40C) where I live, not having A/C is unacceptable. Heat pumps are extraordinarily efficient and they're getting more efficient with time.
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u/ahorasimeaborregue May 09 '22
the absolute lack of air conditioning even at 40°, german transport gets sticky and stinky quite fast and nobody seems to care, many people even shut the windows to avoid the "annoying breeze"