Chelsea Follett is a research fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity and author of “The Grim Old Days: An Introduction to the Preindustrial Past.”
A brutal heat wave in Europe has caused a surge in deaths across the continent as temperatures topped 100 degrees in recent weeks. In France, authorities reported at least 2,000 additional deaths in a single week. Germany has reported more than 5,000 excess deaths this year.
But even as mortality spikes, Europeans continue to resist the one technology that could save their lives: air conditioning.
Air conditioning is one of modern civilization’s most important yet underappreciated inventions. One study from the National Bureau of Economic Research estimated that the spread of air conditioning in the United States led to a roughly 75 percent decline in heat-related deaths during the 20th century. But policymakers in Europe have discouraged this technology through taxes, regulations and a stubborn refusal to admit its benefits.
The consequences have been tragic. Heat waves kill more than 175,000 Europeans every year, according to the World Health Organization. Eighty percent of the continent’s population does not have AC. In the United States, almost 90 percent does.
The rules limiting AC use in Europe come in many forms. Heritage permit requirements imposed by countries such as Austria, Germany and Hungary, which were originally created to protect historic buildings, have delayed AC installations even in non-historic ones. Several countries require AC installation to be approved by the equivalent of a homeowners association or impose noise ordinances that increase compliance costs and paperwork.
In Geneva, air conditioning requires a permit, and residents must show they need one — usually by presenting a medical certificate. Slovakia demands periodic AC inspections that create a perpetual compliance burden. Local planning councils in Britain regularly reject AC installation requests, citing a need to limit noise and preserve community aesthetics.
Among the minority of Europeans fortunate enough to enjoy air conditioning, some are being forced to give it up. In Britain, where only about 3 percent of homes have air conditioning, laws restricting “active cooling” technology have forced some homeowners to remove their AC systems.
Though localities cite many reasons for opposing air conditioning installation, Europe’s broader war on AC is largely due to the belief that this technology is an energy-guzzling and wasteful luxury.
In 2021, Emmanuelle Wargon, who is now the president of the French Energy Regulatory Commission, said cooling systems present “a significant problem in terms of energy consumption.” During a heat wave in 2022, María Isabel Ruiz, a Spanish civil servant, told a European news outlet she was “in favor of saving energy and that this requires sacrifices” even as she criticized regulations that at one point prohibited thermostats from being set below 80 degrees.
But as European countries fret over energy consumption, modern AC systems have become increasingly energy efficient. The U.S. Energy Information Administration notes that even as the share of U.S. homes with AC has increased, average household energy use has declined, partly thanks to “improved efficiencies of … cooling equipment.”
Europe’s AC phobia has also fueled an irrational health panic. During a heat wave in 2022, one Frenchwoman said AC “makes you sick, and it gives you a headache.” Left-wing French politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon has claimed air conditioning “destroys your sinuses.”
European media, consumer groups and even the French government have said that cooling a room to more than 15 degrees below the outdoor temperature can trigger “thermal shock.” This condition, they say, causes nausea, fainting or even respiratory arrest. This ailment is mysteriously absent from the United States, where indoor temperatures are often kept at around 75 degrees even when it’s 100 degrees outside.
Opponents of AC forget history at their peril. The Book of Judith (probably written between 150 and 100 B.C.) contains an early description of someone dying of heatstroke. The extreme European heat wave of 1540 was so severe that some religious figures, including Martin Luther, believed that it presaged the end times.
Relief from boiling summers remained elusive in the early modern era. The 18th-century English physician George Motherby noted that “exposure to a hot sun often produced an inflammation that was speedily fatal.” He recommended treatment with history’s favorite quack cure-all: bloodletting.
“Bleed as freely as the strength will admit,” he wrote.
Thankfully, modern understanding has advanced, and not just in medicine. Humanity now knows how to cool buildings with technology and that the best way to treat heatstroke is rapid cooling, not bloodletting.
AC opponents like to imagine they are leading humanity toward a wiser, more sustainable future. But forgoing air conditioning is a refusal to move on from a lethally hot past.
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