Some napkin math. AC roughly halves the extreme heat mortality rate for users. If France (~25%) achieves the air conditioning penetration of Canada (~65%), 40% of the population will achieve half the deaths, down 20%. So installing a Canadian level of AC in France could prevent on the order of (1k * 20%) 200 additional deaths.
France has ~30M households, so to get to Canadian levels they'd need an additional 12M installations. At €3k per installation that's €36B, or ~€180M per life saved.
toomuchtodo•17m ago
I think this only looks a part of the picture though. These pensioners or otherwise elderly citizens will eventually die regardless, and new residents will take their place in these housing units. We don’t consider not running power or water to residential units, and with climate change rapidly causing AC from being a luxury to an amenity, I think this becomes a cost to keep the housing unit in service for the remainder of its service life.
The cost will be spent regardless eventually, any cost delta for prioritizing units housing the heat vulnerable is the true cost in this context imho. Every household in Europe now needs AC (heat pump) for at least the next 100 years (assuming leading heat trajectory indicators).
(I’m sure China can build and sell these to Europe as fast as Europe needs them)
delichon•32m ago
France has ~30M households, so to get to Canadian levels they'd need an additional 12M installations. At €3k per installation that's €36B, or ~€180M per life saved.
toomuchtodo•17m ago
The cost will be spent regardless eventually, any cost delta for prioritizing units housing the heat vulnerable is the true cost in this context imho. Every household in Europe now needs AC (heat pump) for at least the next 100 years (assuming leading heat trajectory indicators).
(I’m sure China can build and sell these to Europe as fast as Europe needs them)