Europe is usually not this hot, hence lack of AC in many places.
Floods and earthquakes are also uncommon, hence the buildings in most places are not up to code against, say, Japanese standards.
Europe historically has not been this hot, but they regularly have heat waves. I remember a 40C heat wave more than a decade ago! That's enough time to add emergency infrastructure, unless you're hoping to snuff old people. When you get your third hundred year flood in a decade it's time to update your priors.
Europe averages 53k to 175k heat-related deaths per year. The difference depends on whether you listen to the EC or the UN. https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/08/1152766
The comparable number for the US is 4-11k, albeit with about 20% fewer people.
Note that the US is further south than Europe and generally has higher temperatures.
And there's no need to be like the Americans that cool down to 18°C when the outside is > 35°C: simply decreasing the indoor temperature to saner numbers like 26°C is enough, it's summer after all. Less energy usage and it is enough for the body to be happy.
I’ve been feeling confused lately about the news that the far-right parties in UK & France want more AC and the left-wing complain it’s not solving the root problems.
Are people just not aware that heat pumps are a great solution for both heating and cooling, saving energy on heating during winter?
Why do Europeans keep voting to be poor and miserable I’ll never understand. Anti-nuclear, anti technology.
A few of my friends went to Europe the past year and almost all of them came back disgusted at European outlook on growth and technology.
Constantly shamed by their school shooting issue, they have found this to hit back at annoying Europeans and they won’t fucking let go.
American exceptionalism tries desperately to stay alive in this political climate of US becoming a banana republic.
bob1029•33m ago
ERCOT (Texas) has daily swings of up to 50 gigawatts of power in the summer. I am pretty sure it is the most volatile US grid in terms of the demand side. A lot of the transmission infrastructure is purpose built for this exact problem.