As the summer breezes fade, suffocating Europeans welcomes air conditioning with skepticism

During Europe's heat wave last month, Floriana Peroni’s vintage clothing store h to close for a week. A truck of rented generators blocked her door as y fed power to central Roman neighborhood hit by a blackout as temperatures surged. main culprit: air conditioning.

period — in which temperatures hit 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) — coincided with peak electricity use that came close to Italy’s all-time high, hitting a peak lo of more than 59 gigawatts on July 19. That neared a July 2015 record.

Intensive electricity use knocked out network not only near central Campo de Fiori neighborhood, where Peroni operates her shop, but elsewhere in Italian capital. Demand in that second July week surged 30%, correlating to a heat wave that h persisted alrey for weeks, according to capital’s electricity company ARETI.

Like many Romans, Peroni herself does not have AC eir in her home or her shop. Rome once could count on a Mediterranean breeze to bring down nighttime temperatures, but that has become an intermittent relief at best.

“At most, we turn on fans,’’ Peroni said. “We think that is enough. We tolerate heat, as it has always been tolerated.”

In Europe, though, that is starting to change.

AIR CONDITIONING IS LESS A PART OF CULTURE IN EUROPE

Despite holdouts like Peroni, rising global temperatures are dropping air conditioning from luxury to a necessity in many parts of Europe, which long has h a conflicted relationship with energy-sucking cooling systems deemed by many to be an American indulgence.

Europeans look with disdain at overcooled U.S. buildings, kept to near meat-locker temperatures, where a blast of cold air can shoot across city sidewalks as people come and go, and where extended indoor appointments necessitate a sweater even in height of summer.

By contrast, event organizers in Europe may offer hand fans if events are expected to overheat. Shoppers can expect to sweat in under-cooled grocery stores, and movie aters are not guaranteed to be climate-controlled. Evening diners have typically opted for outside tables to avoid stuffy restaurants, which rarely offer AC.

To deal with heat, Italy and Spain typically shut down for several hours after lunch, for a riposo or siesta, and most vacation in August, when many businesses shut down completely so families can enjoy a holiday at seaside or in mountains. Italians in particular are happy to abandon overheated art cities to foreign tourists, which reduces urgency for a home AC investment.

Still, European AC penetration has picked up from 10% in 2000 to 19% last year, according to International Energy Agency. That is still well shy of United States, at around 90%. Many in Europe resist due to cost, concern about environmental impact and even suspicions of verse health impacts from cold air currents, including colds, a stiff neck, or worse.

Cooling systems remain rare in Nordic countries and even Germany, where temperatures can nudge above 30 degrees (into 90s Fahrenheit) for extended periods.

But even those temperate climates may cross threshold of discomfort if temperatures increase beyond 1.5 degrees C to 2 degrees C, according to a new study by University of Cambridge. In that scenario, people living in norrn climes like Britain, Norway, Finland and Switzerland will face greatest relative increase in uncomfortably hot days.

Nicole Miranda, one of study's authors, said ir estimate, which would mean surpassing international goal of limiting future warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times, are conservative.

“y don't take into account urban island effects,” she said, when cities are unable to cool at night and surfaces become riators. “From a scientific point of view, if we all run to go-to solution, which is air conditioning, we are going to get into a different of problem, because re is high energy consumption and high carbon emissions related to air conditioning.”

Cities should consider less intensive solutions, like shing buildings, and incorporating cooling bodies of water, she said. She also vocated a trend toward cooling individuals, inste of spaces, using personal devices like ice packs in jackets or high-tech textiles that dissipate body heat more efficiently.

RE'S A GROWING — IF RELUCTANT — DEMAND

In Italy, sales of air conditioning units grew from 865,000 a year in 2012 to 1.92 million in 2022, mostly for business and not residential use, with growth reported in first quarter of this year, according to industry association Assoclima. Most are split heat air pump systems, which can heat spaces in winter, which Assoclima said can reduce gas consumption as prices spike during war in Ukraine. That dual use attracts consumers.

France, with a slightly larger population, is showing more resistance, selling 1 million units a year. Air conditioning was rare in France until a 2003 heat wave killed thousands, mainly among elderly. Still, most private homes and apartments re aren’t air conditioned, and many restaurants and or businesses aren’t eir. Businesses with AC will often vertise to attract customers on hot days.

AC aversion persists, both among French conservatives who see it as a frivolous American import and French people on left who see it as environmentally irresponsible.

Cécile de Munck and Aude Lemonsu, meteorologists at France's national wear service, warned this summer that if number of AC units doubles in Paris by 2030, city temperature would rise by 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) because of heat released by pump systems.

Despite concerns over energy costs, air conditioning is rapidly conquering homes in Spain, a country that tritionally bent towards use of fans and drawing heavy blinds, a very Spanish fixture. A study by Ca’ Foscari University projects that half of Spanish households will have AC by 2040, up from just 5% in 1990.

With cooler indoor air come disputes as neighbors complain about noise from external units. That means problems for Spain’s real estate managers. “Some people can’t open a window because y get a puff of fire,’' said Pablo Abascal, president of Spain’s council of real estate managers. “With increase of AC systems in homes, many buildings will soon have nowhere to place devices."

Air conditioning and cooling was found to be key for older populations in extreme heat, reducing strain on cardiovascular functions in a heat wave of 37 degrees Celsius (99 degrees Fahrenheit), according to a study at University of Ottawa in Cana. But even in countries like Cyprus, where heat waves of 40 degree Celsius have become norm, sustained use of AC isn’t an affordable option for many elderly people living on fixed incomes.

Many on Mediterranean island nation restrict usage to hottest times of day, sometimes confining mselves to a single room.

“Undoubtedly, this scenario significantly impacts ir mental well-being as well,” said Demos Antoniou, director of Cyprus Third Age Observatory, a seniors-rights group. “ prevailing fear is that refraining from using air conditioners could potentially le to heat stroke."

At 83, Angeliki Vassiliou thinks both about her energy bill and future generations before she hits “on” button.

“re’s no sense in wasting energy. Waste is unfair,” Vassiliou said. “Waste of any resource is wrong, because what would happen to our planet because of all this waste?”