I'm not sure if we're a hardy bunch or just cheapskates. I do have a/c but it’s not that common here (yet).

I can recall my dad building his own house back in the early 60’s and folk being amazed that he installed central heating but even he didn't put in double glazing back then – it just wasn't that available.

I didn't own a car with a/c until the late 80's and that was less common too but ubiquitous now. The take-up on automatic transmission was also slow over here. It wasn't until I was your side of the pond in the late 60's and early 70's that I was in a car with that and about mid 80’s before I could afford that over here. The first time I saw colour TV was the movie 'The Graduate' (1967) and the first one I owned was in 1975.

I was privileged with job and salary – most folk would have to wait another decade for prices to come down. A/C is relatively cheap here now and since air source heat pumps have green credentials they will become commonplace – assuming one can afford to run them.

I came across a wonderful autocorrect blunder recently "it was so hot I lurked in the child section of the food store"

Edited By pgk pgk on 20/07/2022 07:39:32

With England's weather being more on par with New England's than Florida's, and Scotland's with Nova Scotia, probably not a big demand for aircon, even on those three days a year when it would be nice, most years. Maybe that is changing though, with the well documented global heating trends.

My UK home has an air to air heat pump that gives the option of summer cooling so I have it, but that is a rare thing. I only feel the need to use it about 5 days each year (I've used it for 3 days in this peak heat period). The average high temperature at this time of year is about 21°C (70°F) and drops to about 14°C (58°F) at night. What we have had in the past two days is a high of 40.3°C (104.5°F) and a low of about 21°C at night. If you live in the continental USA what you should realise is that if you draw a line from Seattle to Anchorage then about half way along it is where the UK is in terms of how far north we are. I don't know if it is the case but would it surprise you if few homes in Alaska had air conditioning to cool them in summer? The continental USA is as far north as the northern Mediterranean and as far south as northern Africa. A completely different climate from the UK.

As Martin P pointed out, usually opening the windows gives cost free and simple to operate air conditioning with very little to go wrong with it. These past two days were unusual because opening the windows let in air that was hotter than what it would be replacing.

Martin C

PatJ

I live in a mild and slightly wet part of the UK. Our summers are not HOT, yet, and there is little snow in winter. We do get Atlantic storms, though. Investing in air conditioning would be a real waste of money that would be better spent on winter heating.

I do not know anyone who has home air conditioning although most could afford it. OK we had it at work and I do like it in the car.

Quite simply, we don't need it.

I like your questions. They are from another "world" (and to another "world".

JA

Edited By JA on 20/07/2022 08:37:23

How do I get rid of that Immything (it seems to be produced by a combination of keys)?

Edited By JA on 20/07/2022 08:39:02

So, burn carbon fuels > CO2 level rises > global warming makes it too hot > install aircon everywhere > uses more energy > generates more CO2 > gets hotter. Apparently in Dubai there is an outdoor shopping mall with aircon!

On the other hand you can have a properly designed house that needs little or no energy for winter heating and keeps cool in summer.

My larger AC unit is supposed to have 6kw equivalent heat output. When it was installed a clamp meter showed it pulling 3amps at full chat so running costs are going to depend on you leccy cost. The smaller bedroom version obviously cheaper. I only use it for heating in winter prior to getting into bed. These few hot nights I set it for 23C and I'd guess the running cost at less than 0.5KW per hour… well worth it for a good kip.

I do hate places that run ac at silly cold. Coming in from a hot outdoors doesn't need a blast of 18C air unless you're working out in a gym. A couple of degrees and dehumidified is fine.

Bear in mind that UK is classed as being in temperate zone, so extremes of temperature are the exception.

In winter, temperatures below -10C are unusual, and in summer, 30C is exceptional, so what we are experiencing now is most unusual. (Probably not helped by the air flow bringing hair not only hot from Saharan regions, but inflated temperatures from the wild fires in Spain, Portugal, and France.

Also, Etheread the Unready was our ancestor, and his genes linger on, so few expect or prepare for it to be exceptionally cold in winter or hot in summer!!

Howard

England lies further north than the whole of the USA apart from Alaska. Juneau (the state capital of Alaska) is slightly south of Thurso in Scotland. Should be much colder here except we're kept warm by the Gulf Stream.

The Gulf Stream keeps UK weather mild and moderate, though it's very changeable and on the wet side, usually cloudy. British snow is nasty stuff: heavy falls are rare enough to discourage keeping clearance machines on hand, and falls are generally mushy wet and very slippery. Forget skis and sno-mobiles!

Every so often the UK gets a dose of extreme continental weather from the North Pole, Sahara, or the East. Most of our infrastructure isn't designed to cope with rare extremes. We're better prepared for cold rain than blizzards and hot-spells.

Unfortunately, due to climate change, the UK's comfy average weather is moving. Severe weather that should only occur once per century is now happening a few times per decade. Record breaking events of all types: high and low temperatures, downpours and droughts, more storms that are more violent. Like the rest of the world, Britain's 'normal' is changing. The process is slow enough not to be obvious to casual observers, but it's happening.

Dave

John, your comment about aircon in an outside shopping mall in Dubai doesn’t surprise me, I was out there 55 years ago, before it was the Emirates and was known as Trucial Oman, it was completely undeveloped at that time. Our accommodation on Sharjah airbase was air conditioned to 72F which when you have been working outside in temperatures well over 100F was like walking into deep freeze, it felt as though the sweat froze on your body. Our highest recorded temperature at that time was 128F, I can see where they are coming from with the air on at an outside mall, just think what that does to carbon levels, makes you think why we should sacrifice in our country when others are being so flippant about their carbon emissions. Dave W

And how serious is the government really?

You can still fly across Europe for £29.99 kinda thing

If it's government propaganda, then it's propaganda that's being pushed worldwide by 196 separate governments.

Plausible?