{"id":3524,"date":"2026-07-10T07:36:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T07:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=3524"},"modified":"2026-07-10T07:36:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T07:36:20","slug":"is-an-air-conditioning-revolution-coming-to-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=3524","title":{"rendered":"Is an Air-Conditioning Revolution Coming to Europe?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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If you’re reading<\/span> this while the blinds are drawn against yet another heat wave and wondering whether it\u2019s finally time to buy an air conditioner, you’re far from alone. At the end of June, as temperatures climbed well above 40 degrees Celsius across Europe, shoppers in France literally forced their way<\/a> into stores to snatch up portable fans and ACs before they sold out. Such scenes are likely to become more common. As the planet warms<\/a>, the demand for cooling is rising worldwide. The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts<\/a> two-thirds of households could own an AC by 2050.<\/p>\n

Politicians are, of course, turning ACs into a weapon in their broader culture wars<\/a>. Far-right figure Marine Le Pen pledged<\/a> to roll out air-conditioning across France if her party comes to power, while the British Conservatives vowed to overturn<\/a> net-zero rules that restrict AC installation in new builds. On the left, the argument runs that air-conditioning would mainly benefit the rich<\/a> and not those who need it most. It would also lock Europe into the same high-energy cooling spiral seen in the US and Asia. To date, only around 20 percent<\/a> of Europeans have AC at home (and a mere 4 percent<\/a> in the UK), compared with roughly 90 percent in the US, where electricity is considerably cheaper.<\/p>\n

In Europe, air-conditioning is no longer just about comfort. It helps adults stay productive through extreme heat, and children concentrate in poorly ventilated schools<\/a>. It helps people nod off<\/a> when the air is still stiflingly warm long after sunset. It can even save lives.<\/a> One research group estimated<\/a> that air-conditioning prevented nearly 200,000 premature deaths among people over 65 in 2019 alone.<\/p>\n

Europe is warming faster than any other continent, and countries that once had relatively mild summers are now experiencing increasingly frequent and intense heat waves. Research by Nicole Miranda and her colleagues at the University of Oxford suggests<\/a> that countries such as the UK, Switzerland, Norway, and Finland could see some of the largest relative increases in heat exposure and cooling demand if global warming reaches 2 degrees C above preindustrial levels.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will need more cooling to protect people\u201d, says Miranda, a senior lecturer in engineering and carbon reduction manager at the university. \u201cThe question is how to provide it in a way that is efficient, equitable, and smart. Not by panic-buying inefficient, energy-intensive portable ACs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Image<\/picture><\/span><\/div>\n
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The Best At-Home Air Con Units to Buy Right Now<\/a><\/div>\n

It’s too hot. There, we said it. Protect your health and keep your home cool with one of these top-rated air conditioners.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

June\u2019s record-breaking heat wave offered a glimpse of what lies ahead. In northern Europe, homes and offices built to retain heat during long winters turned into ovens. A recent report by the UK’s Climate Change Committee warns that by mid-century, over 90 percent<\/a> of existing homes could overheat during severe heat waves. Even further south, centuries-old architectural adaptations\u2014such as thick stone walls, white-painted fa\u00e7ades, blinds and small windows designed to block the sun\u2014are reaching their limits. People in Europe are already fed up with the extreme heat.<\/p>\n

But simply adding more air-conditioning is not necessarily the answer\u2014at least not in its current form. Because air-conditioning is built on a paradox: The machines that keep us cool are also heating the planet. The electricity they consume already accounts for roughly 3 percent<\/a> of global greenhouse gas emissions,\u00a0slightly more than the aviation industry. \u201cWe expect cooling to become one of the biggest drivers of electricity demand growth worldwide, along with data centers,\u201d says Fabian Voswinkel, an energy-efficiency policy analyst at the IEA. With new units being installed worldwide every minute, electricity demand for space cooling could more than triple by 2050.<\/p>\n

Solar power<\/a> will help cut emissions, but it won\u2019t clear air-conditioning\u2019s bad reputation. Conventional ACs still run on a century-old principle: refrigerants cycle between liquid and gas to pull heat out of rooms and dump it outside. Manufacturers continue to refine the technology, but many of the refrigerants remain problematic. Fluorinated gases<\/a>, for instance, have a global warming potential thousands of times greater than CO2<\/sub> if they leak into the atmosphere. The EU therefore introduced a regulation<\/a> in 2024 to phase them out gradually. \u201cIn the next few years, air conditioners and heat pumps using these gases won’t even be able to be sold here\u201d, says Voswinkel. But alternative gases<\/a> bring their own trade-offs: Propane is highly flammable, while ammonia is toxic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you’re reading this while the blinds are drawn against yet another heat wave and wondering whether it\u2019s finally time to buy an air conditioner, you’re far from alone. 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