Why Germans don't have air conditioning

In France, it's 25% of the homes have air conditioning. But until these recent years, the heatwaves were an anomaly. From 1947 to 2010, 63 years, there were 25 heatwaves in France. But from 2011 to 2025, 14 years, there have been 26 heatwaves. They are now four times more prevalent and our balmy summers are a thing of the past. Gone is the June that I turned on the oven in my Paris kitchen, dressed in a trench coat and boots, so I could stay warm enough to grade papers. Just a couple of decades ago, I was looking to buy a sweater in June because I had forgotten one, and fifteen years ago, I turned on the furnace the evening of July 14th because it was cold. We always had hot days interspersed, but not continuous heatwaves rolling in out of Africa.

Even the ecologist in France are now in favor of air conditioning schools, hospitals, nursing homes, etc.

I read somewhere that something around 20% of US electricity generation is used to run air conditioning. Since most electricity in the US is generated by burning fossil fuel, that's just 20% more production of global warming emissions. Until we get to 100% renewable energy, AC is just going to contribute massively to global warming.

It's not only the emissions that contribute, it's the contribution to the overall heat in the environment from the energy used by air conditioners. Air conditioners move heat from inside your house to the outside air. (Go out and stand next to the outside unit of your AC system and feel the hot air coming from the condenser. That's heat from your house plus some heat from the electricity it takes to run your system.) Every kWh of electricity your unit uses (read your bill in the summer vs winter) adds ~3400 BTUs of heat to the environment. Actually, it worse than that, because, if you are using fossil fuel generated electricity, the power that's used to run you home unit adds twice as much heat energy at power plant as it does at your home. Notice the steam coming off of the cooling towers. That's waste heat being added to the world at the power plant.

Now, I have solar panels, and during the summer, no matter how hard I run my AC, I never have to pay for electricity. The best part of that is that the panels are on my roof. They shade the roof, reducing the amount of AC I need, and the solar energy they are keeping from heating my home is running the AC! Win-win.

I live in Colorado. Hot days feel less hot hear because of our low humidity. Right now it's 97°F outside, 80° F inside, and I don't feel at all hot.

I do kind of regret that my house has air conditioning. My neighbor has what they call here a "swamp cooler" (evaporative cooler) on his roof. Swamp coolers work well in Colorado, other than you have to winterize (drain) them in the fall. They not only cool the house for far less money, but they also add humidity, which is too low here. For some reason, they don't work as well in Florida.

Russ, that was interesting. When I bought my flat in Budapest 15 years ago and renovated it, I added air conditioning. To do that I had to bring new electrical service to the apartment building to have enough power for it. Mine was the first out of about 40 units to have air conditioning. Now maybe half have air conditioning. In Texas electricity is about 15 cents/kwh, here its about 30 cents so we try to not run it very often.

I posted a trick for passive/solar cooling a while back that was used (is still?) in Iran. Turns out there are many more tricks like that for passive cooling.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windcatcher

[snip]
A windcatcher, wind tower, or wind scoop (Persian: بادگیر, romanized: Badgir) is a traditional architectural element used to create cross ventilation and passive cooling in buildings.[1] Windcatchers come in various designs, depending on whether local prevailing winds are unidirectional, bidirectional, or multidirectional, on how they change with altitude, on the daily temperature cycle, on humidity, and on how much dust needs to be removed.[2] Despite the name, windcatchers can also function without wind.

Neglected by modern architects in the latter half of the 20th century, the early 21st century saw them used again to increase ventilation and cut power demand for air-conditioning.[3] Generally, the cost of construction for a windcatcher-ventilated building is less than that of a similar building with conventional heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

When posting this, my thoughts were of course with Europeans but focused mostly on my fellow travelers to Germany (and to other places in northern Europe) where a/c installations have been largely avoided for many decades. Like Elizabeth, I remember summer months there as mostly comfortable in decades past. Yesterday, Berlin hit 95 degrees at 4 pm - with 98% humidity, and the rest of the country was similarly impacted. Visitors to big cities like Berlin of course can find indoor escapes during the day. And at night, a fair number of them will feel happy that they booked a modern hotel room with a/c. But those looking to enjoy places with an outdoors orientation like the Black Forest, the Odenwald, The Romantic Road villages, or the Rhine/Mosel Valleys - places with few if any a/c-equipped indoor venues - are pretty much stuck during the day. And at nighttime, the accommodations in these places, many of them in a/c-free older buildings like you'll find in Bacharach or in Cochem, will be sweltering too; many of my favorite accommodations - and probably those of bigtyke and Lee, who also tend to use private accommodations and Ferienwohnungen in these areas - are probably unbearable right now.

Three years ago, as I planned a Budapest stay in late May, I came across quite a few private apartments with a/c, booked one of them, and was really glad I did. I hope - and suspect - that there will be more and more private German homeowners and hosts doing as "Mr É 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 🇭🇺" has done, but right now, as the article points out, only 6% of private homes have a/c.

I think Rick still suggests staying north of the Alps in summer. But I usually avoid summer travel in northern Europe now. I get crabby when it's too hot, whether day or night. After a couple of really unpleasant (just ask my wife) summer nights a few years ago, I decided that any future summer travel would forego the more local/homespun/mom & pop lodgings in favor of an impersonal chain hotel - or the occasional private operation that has geared up with a/c.

By the way, Lee, I LOVE swamp coolers! They work great here too. But in Germany they'd be as useful as a screwdriver on nails, I'm afraid.

Here in Budapest I read where about 35% of homes have a/c The numbers might be that good because over 85% of the locals live in a house owned by one of the occupants of the house and because in some neighborhoods the short term rental market made a/c economically feasible.

But we arent talking American style central air. I have never seen that here. Either portable units with exhausts through holes in windows or single and multi-zone mini splits. Usually nothing larger than 1 ton and usually marginal compared to US standards.

My 1 ton unit costs about $5 a day to keep the flat under 80F. That doubles my electric bill on my tiny flat.

Air movement helps to a point but air movement doesnt cool the air it just causes the human body swamp cooler (sweat) to be more effective. You might get a 100F degree day to feel like 90F. At 85F it's very effective which is why i suggest people go to the river on hot days. The "sea breeze" and the cooling effect of the water evaporation makes the river front real nice on a hot day. Works on any river so good general travel advice.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/frances-heat-this-week-was-worse-than-a-dire-scenario-imagined-for-2050/ar-AA26wuoB

"France's Heat This Week Was Worse Than a Dire Scenario Imagined For 2050"

[snip]
The forecast was recorded in 2014 as part of a campaign coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) that invited about 60 presenters worldwide to imagine a weather report from the year 2050. In one clip, Ãvelyne Dhéliat from French television network TF1 presented a hypothetical scenario of high temperatures 36 years into the future — during a heat wave in a warmer climate in 2050... One of the maps that Dhéliat shared was lit up in shades of orange, filled with temperature predictions of 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), reaching as high as 43 degrees Celsius (109.4 degrees Fahrenheit).

But it turns out, it didn't take 36 years for those imagined temperatures to be reached — and even exceeded. The heat on Wednesday alone, when the temperature soared as high as 112.3 degrees Fahrenheit (44.3 degrees Celsius), exceeded the 2050 projections in 19 out of 34 locations across mainland France — far sooner than some may have expected. Some places surpassed those hypothetical future temperatures by more than 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

It was hotter in France on Wednesday than in Las Vegas and Phoenix and just two degrees Fahrenheit shy of what was observed in Death Valley, California...

Climate scientist Robert Rohde said in a post explaining the heat wave's causes that France and Western Europe should expect many more heat waves like this over the coming decades. "This isn't a fluke, but simply part of the new normal," he said.

Last month we stayed in Bacharach on our RS tour, it was quite warm and our Hotel am Markt did have a/c.

When my Army Reserve unit arrived at Frankfurt Airport in June of 1986, it was in the high 90s and there was no AC. The stench in the airport was unbelievable as was the heat. Going shopping, none of the dept stores had AC. Slowly, slowly it changed. Restaurants tend not to have it because everyone wants to sit outside. (except for me. The smokers ruin outdoor seating)

Chain hotels have AC, but maybe not in reception or their restaurants. I booked myself into a hotel the last 2 nights to escape the 40° heat. It was lovely. I have ceiling fans at home in 3 rooms, and rolladen shutters. It is still too hot. I want to just go out and ride around in a bus with AC. Though there are always those that complain they will get a cold from it, and open the windows!!! This is the biggest reason you don't find as much AC in Germany. They are absolutely convinced that AC will cause a cold.

I often wonder what uses more electricity, multiple fans running 24/7 or AC left at a decent temp all day.

Ms Jo, I was curious about the answer to your question myself, so I had a look- this article has a table with a useful breakdown of energy used and costs (in the UK) by different cooling methods: https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-15849113/How-does-cost-run-fan-day-air-conditioning-really-expensive-you-think.html

My cousins and their mother are German and live in Germany. None of them have AC and they seem adverse to it anywhere. I imagine they have been suffering with the recent heat wave. They all came to visit in February 2023. Living where I do in California the winters aren’t brutal, but it does get cold. One cousin and her 5 year old twins stayed in our RV. I went out there one day and the windows were all open, but she had the space heater on. I guess fresh air was her priority.

Fresh air is important to Germans ! Some humerous Youtube videos deal with the subject

Luften is so important, but drafts can kill.
Don't get me started on how sitting on a cold stone bench can cause a UTI, or that re-cooking spinach or mushrooms is poisonous.

Ii grew up as a kid in South Georgia during the 50s and 60s. I remember in the 50s, the only buildings that had AC were the churches, movie theaters, and a few businesses like ice cream parlors. We used electric fans, opened our windows and survived, but it always got up into the 90s every year were we lived.

Gradually, more houses and buildings were designed to function with AC. High rise office buildings or multi story apartment buildings became functional with AC. Take away their AC and the heat in those buildings would easily rise many degrees in excess of what the temp is outside.

Now, few buildings in the USA are designed without AC. Many elderly people would likely die of heat exhaustion in our climate without AC.

I did live in Augsburg, Germany for four years and our very nice apartment building had AC, but was designed that we could function without it except for a few weeks a year. The joke in Bavaria was the Summer was pretty nice, BOTH WEEKS of it.
Still, I remember one Summer that temps jumped up into the high 90s for a few days. The office where I worked didn't have AC, but I survived.

I hardly ever used my AC in my car and when returned to the USA, the AC in my car died. The mechanic said that since it didn't use it much, that was the cause.

Construction of buildings and homes in Germany usually involved concrete blocks instead of what we called "stick built" houses in the USA. All my houses in the USA were built with either 2 X 4 or 2 X 6 inch beams. Concrete is more expensive. Still, I know in nearby hurricane prone Florida that building code call for concrete built homes.

I often wonder what uses more electricity, multiple fans running 24/7 or AC left at a decent temp all day.

No contest, Jo, my AC is on a 230V, 50 amp breaker. That's a lot of electrical power. (In my case, thank dog it all comes from solar energy, so it doesn't really cost me anything, except the cost for the solar panels.)

My AC is plugged into a wall outlet. My entire home's electrical at 220v isn't 50 amps.

My AC is plugged into a wall outlet.

Plugged into a wall outlet? Mine doesn't plug in, it's a central whole house system. Yours sounds like either a one-room window unit or a portable unit with (hopefully) a vent pipe out the window. Big difference. My unit cools a 2900 sf house, not just one room. (I know, 2900 sf! Americans are wasteful, but it was the smallest house in a neighborhood we liked. And we moved here from an 1100 sf townhouse.)

BTW, Cat, the article you refer to is interesting, but they don't show their work, so I have no way of verifying it. Some of it doesn't make sense. Like why does a "built in AC unit" use three times as much energy as a "heat pump in cooling mode". They're basically the same thing, unless the heat pump is for a smaller area, like a single room, while the built in unit is for a whole house. ?

But we arent talking American style central air.

Central air is uncommon, but that has to do with how houses are built. In the US you build using wood and plasterboard, in Europe you build with stone and concrete. In Switzerland a lot of those picturesque chalets you see are in fact entirely build out of reinforced concrete and just have decorative wood cladding.

Heating is typically hydronic. So there is no central air system to add an AC too.

Modern energy efficient houses often do have central ventilation, There adding AC is easier. And because those houses are well insulated electricity use does remain low.

My AC is plugged into a wall outlet.

Plugged into a wall outlet? Mine is a central whole house system. It's not plugged into a wall receptacle, it's mostly outside and hard wired to it's own circuit and has it's own breaker.

Yours sounds like either a one-room window unit or a portable unit with (hopefully) a vent pipe out the window. Big difference. My unit cools a 2900 sf house, not just one room. (I know, 2900 sf! Americans are wasteful, but it was the smallest house in a neighborhood we liked. We moved here from an 1100 sf townhouse.)

Lee, what you have in the US isn't possible for a large segment of the world. Not to overly generalize but Americans have attics for ductwork and outside property for condenser units and homes that were built after electricity in a home was a norm. None of that holds true in my city for the majority of the population.

When i bought my 150-year-old average size for Europe flat it had one 25amp breaker as did all the units in the building. The flat, like most here, used gas for heat, hot water and cooking. There was no a/c or clothes dryer. So electricity was for lighting.

When I renovated, I got rid of the gas as the new codes would have made me build an entry hall for the gas meter. I wanted a/c and a washer and dryer so, I paid to upgrade my electrical service and a share of the cost to upgrade the entire building. I now have two 25amp breakers (i was wrong above because my memory was they wwre 20 each .. just looked at the panel under the meter inside the flat by the front door - typcial).

I have a 1 ton through the wall package unit that is rated at 1500w, that, yes plugs in. Most everything here is plugged in as nothing like this is considered real estate and is taken with the owner if he sells .. even the kitchen cabinets. Central? Not going to happen. I am state of the art for housing in the city. Most are 3/4 to 1-1/2 ton mini splits or portable units. Even commercial spaces use multi zone split units as often as hot. Easier to run refrigerant lines in old buildings than it is ductwork and the new DC compressors and individual fan coil units are very efficient.

100F this week and I maintain 75F to 80F during the few peak hours. I can cook and have A/C at the same time. So far, no dark moments and I have owned this 15 years. Electricity is 30 cents a kwh. I suspect yours is half that. So electricity is twice as expensive in a city where the average income is 1/3 that of the US. Do you think they don’t want more electricity? This isn’t about environmentalism. This is about affordability.

American have no understanding of how their lives and daily norms differ from a lot of the world.

In my case, thank dog it all comes from solar energy, so it doesn't
really cost me anything, except the cost for the solar panels.

I am certain things have improved since I was in the busines, but the payback used to be no less than 10 years if you dont count lost income from not investing the construction money and inflation.

"...the payback used to be no less than 10 years if you dont count lost income from not investing the construction money and inflation."

Yes. Not sure how solar works in Hungary or elsewhere in Europe, but here in Cali, taxpayer funding carried a large part of home-solar costs for many years. Since the subsidies ended, consumer demand for home installations has tanked - even though our price per kwh for standard electric service equals yours in Hungary, and even though new construction permits are contingent upon a solar-energy component (which may partly explain my state's housing shortage.) These systems do not come cheaply. Someone must pay for them. And they aren't maintenance-free either; for efficiency our rooftop panels have to be cleaned frequently too.

"So electricity is twice as expensive in a city where the average income is 1/3 that of the US. Do you think they don’t want more electricity? This isn’t about environmentalism. This is about affordability."

Yes again. Energy in Cali may be just as expensive as in Hungary, but money matters. So does the daily NEED for a/c. Here in the Sacramento Valley region, we routinely have average summer highs in the mid-90's, with some days in the 100's. And our cost per kwh is roughly the same as yours. But we often have a daily temperature swing of 25-40 degrees Fahrenheit and low humidity. And many homes here have whole-house fans and high-standard insulation. Here, we might use our home's central a/c for a couple hours per day for summertime comfort, but we'd probably have it running most of the day and night, every day, during a Budapest summer in the average Budapest apartment.

All things considered, California isn't cheap, and the $ pinch is causing many to leave the state, but it's probably not because of our a/c costs. Circumstances over there are clearly different.

Guess I should said twice the cost of much of Texas LOL.

Situations vary by address across the globe. That's one of the travel lessons. We havent got enough roof top in these old apartment blocks if we did want to go solar. Maybe someday when technology improves. LED made a huge difference. Warm. Not hot showers, timmers on water heaters, no clothes dryers, tiny ovens, smaller living spaces, public transportation. Recycling housing, not replacing. All adds up.

Our electricity is rater low cost in Georgia compared to many other states, because we have three nuclear power plants. My Daughter in Boston has almost double our rates, so she has solar on her roof.

Our solar power system generates enough for 3 houses, so electricity is not a problem. My German Frau has never had air-conditioning in a home and is just not really too keen on getting it. It's a mind set. This last heat wave was brutal though and I'm thinking of a small heat pump for a few rooms or portable room air-conditioner. Worst case we can go down into the Keller where temps are cool and comfortable.

I believe that having air conditioning to Americans is something ingrained in us from the Declaration of Independence.

It says we are entitled to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." What can make you happier on an extremely hot day than air conditioning?

Just too add... I grew up in northeast Ohio and never had air-conditioning as a kid then. Plenty of fans though. The whole family has air now.
German air-conditioning is rolling the Rollos down and closing the windows. Open the windows and Rollos in the early morning hours to allow cooler air in, then close everything back up by 09:00. It does help with a few degrees C, but with these last heat waves not much.

Germany had exactly one day in the whole of the 20ieth century where a temperature of above 40C was registered. One day.

Last week they registered three such days. In one week. And summer hasn't even properly started yet. So yes, this is unprecedented.