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dathinab • yesterday at 11:39 PM • 1 reply • view on HN

but this is not really caused by "some leftist politics" or similar but has other historic and complicated reasons. E.g. in Germany across all political spectrum there is a lot of people which think just being in a room with can make you sick (independent on how much it cools the room). In general there are many smaller reason they have against AC which in combination with it simply not really having been necessary (for homes etc.) until recently lead to a wider cross party "non-liking" of ACs.

This anyway isn't specific to one political direction, I mean yes some regulations affect the cooling liquid used, nothing of which is a major road block.

Also the huge majority of new supper market, shopping centers, cars etc. in both countries you named have AC

But also other other mentioned heat death in that statistic are mostly a combination with other health issues. Hence why there is some relation between countries having a lot of old people and countries having a lot of heat related death. But also hence why many people will not treat this death as heat death even if they happen to their family.

A big problem for changing the current state in Germany are also like so "old politicians being mentally stuck in the past". The kind of "we didn't need it so you don't either" mindset. (Which if we have to speak about political direction is more common on the right side of the political spectrum, maybe simple due to that side being also older in average).


Replies

perching_aix • yesterday at 11:52 PM

Pretty much this, it simply genuinely hasn't been a part of the culture until recently. The energy use angle didn't help, nor did the cost of the units. In case GP forgot, the eastern half of Europe only got rid of Soviet occupation in the 90s, and has been playing quite the catchup. We bought fans and that was kinda it. Can't really comment on western Europe, but I'm sure he can. :)

GP's big leftist overregulation fantasy is adorable though, and definitely no stereotypes were hurt in the writing of his comment, but the reality is that mini split heat pump aircon installations in particular are booming here, usually paired with solar. So unless he's referring to something from the past millenium, which would be pretty weird to do without explicitly noting it, that's a swing and a miss.

The spooky statistics "difference" comes down to a difference in measurement methodology afaik. This exact talking point he's raising has been very popular in certain circles as of late, actually.

But I'm sure his position is entirely his own and actually way more informed than mine, he simply omitted his sources and rationale for brevity :)