The primary difference being, Europe is not increasing their number of fault lines or bodies of water. The number of days of moderate to extreme heat in Europe have already significantly increased and will continue to.

Furthermore, the costs of modern cooling are infinitely cheaper than solutions, if they exist, for other natural disasters.

I lived in both Europe and the United States and traveled around the world. This article makes a lot of sense to me.

> Europe is usually not this hot, hence lack of AC in many places.

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.

Also many old houses & modern insulated buildings have a significant heat inertia - so if the heat wave is not too long & you do sane heat management (open windows during the night to cool down the flat/house, keep windows closed during the day) then you will hardly notice the heat in an European home.

How many old people need to die in heatwaves before you accept that the climate is changing?

AC is far more efficient than most heating methods, but there isn't the same level of censure applied to traditional heating technologies. If you listen, people talk about AC like it's inherently polluting, like it's something to moralize.

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.

An American decided to be smug because Europe suddenly passed the threshold where aircon went from a nice to have to a necessity.