You might wonder why there's such a lack of air conditioning in Germany. I have the answer. (Thank you Kitty Bo for asking, cuz I have a lot to say...)
Germans are morally opposed to them because they see them as planet killers.
The heat wave is the topic of all news programs currently, and today there were two fires caused by exploding gas tanks and a spark from a train's wheel, and for the first time in my life I drove by corn fields that are completely dead. There is no irrigation here, so that will be a loss for those farmers.
Back to the planet killers. My husband heard someone inquire about air conditioning on a radio program last week and the official answer was, "They produce a toxic chemical." When he told me this I said, "Oh, like refrigerators? Was there was a massive outcry against fridges when they first arrived in Germany? 'We'd rather have room temperature milk and pat ourselves on the back for our planet saving skills!'"
Today on my drive to school it came up again because people are being pushed to the limit and questioning their morals, apparently. "What about AC?" they asked. The answer was, "They require so much energy they contribute unacceptable amounts of C02 to the environment." Punkt. End of discussion.
"What can we do?" they asked. They consulted an architect and he said, "Build houses with smaller windows and with window shutters." They advised us to stay in the shade and drink water.
At this point I may have banged on my steering wheel (carefully, it's the Autobahn afterall and I was late so I was driving 150kph (94mph).
Even when I worked at a high-tech company in an ultra modern building in Cologne, we had no AC, just open windows. It was suffering but I had a fan at my desk blowing full power on me all day.
My husband has been converted and spent the day happily indoors with our little floor unit running. I have a GOOD husband.
And I had my car's AC on full blast the entire hour drive home...
....cuz it's 98.6F (37C) today. And I survived 8 hours of class on the sweltering top floor, because my brain has switched over to Mordor mode and somehow I am still able to remain conscious and take notes all day. (Though I was plagued with stomach issues, ugh, and somehow couldn't drink water today, I was beyond thirst, I guess.)
***
Other American expats react to Germany's lack of AC:
It's not that AC hasn't been invented yet. The Germans I've talked to seem to genuinely believe that AC causes health problems.
Um, is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that it's pretty damn hot
here?? And yet, it seems like air conditioning is unheard of. I work at a
hospital, and I would think they'd have central A/C if only for the
sake of the patients. What gives???
okay, SHORTS ARE NOT GOING TO DO THE TRICK. it is HOT!!! sorry to yell,
but i literally feel like i might puke. and following your logic, do you
suggest that we don't really need heat in the winter... just put on a
coat?? no, i don't think so. sorry, but this heat is making me cranky,
and you tree huggers are pissing me off.
I had the opportunity to ask a German about this. She's married to an
American and has lived in the US so she can see things from both
perspectives. She said it's because Germans are concerned about getting a
draft on the back of one's neck, or, da da da (cue the dramatic music),
on one's kidneys (no joke, they have these wraps you can wear during
the winter to avoid getting your kidneys cold). Some Germans believe
that such a draft could make one sick and therefore people are extremely
distrustful of air conditioning. Her mother always yelled at her never
to sit on rocks or anything cold because she'd get a kidney infection. (Credit: http://aroundthewherever.blogspot.com/)
There are no such disputes in Europe. Europeans abhor the idea of air
conditioning, noting, rather smugly, that it’s a huge energy guzzler
that helps drive the production of the greenhouse gases blamed for
driving global temperatures up.
In uber-green Germany, a recent government website offered sweating
citizens the advice of turning on a fan and only 2 percent of the homes
are air conditioned. Still, there are those that wonder if citizens
really need to live so uncomfortably. Summers are, after all, getting
hotter. Not Texas or Florida hot, but by European standards, sweltering.
I've had several Germans tell me AC makes them sick.
Some complain that the air is stale. This is a big deal to Germans; most
will open windows for fresh air every few hours even in extreme heat or
cold, claiming that the air is unbearable to breathe otherwise. Some
complain that the rapid change in temperature when transitioning from a
hot outdoor environment to a cool indoor one (which I find pleasant) is
unhealthy.
Germans respond:
A/C is the most unerviromentaly friendly waste of energy ever. wear
shorts man. i do. in fact they should shoot anybody who designs a
building which requires it. plenty of "third world" architecture has
been built for hotter climates which did hot requiure it.
On a practical level, if you are
not accustomed to the sharp temperature differences, air-conditioning
often triggers colds, so I tend to avoid places in the summer that cool
down too much. When traveling, I get annoyed at having to carry a
sweater around in the sweltering heat, so that I don't get sick when I'm
in a freezing shopping mall or office.
By this it is very rare that
Germans have to work in a tropical humid climate and it makes AC
unnecessary. Further Americans crank up the AC a lot (in a building it
is cooler in the summer than in the winter) what uses up a lot of energy.
(Washington Post) Europe to America: Your love of AC is stupid
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8 comments:
Said the frogs who were slowly boiling to death. Have there been any reports on the news as to how many people who have died because of heat related deaths? Seems that would be worse for your health...death that is.
I took my cooling vest along when I was staffing the bookmobile at a Solar Energy fair last weekend. The truck AC is *really loud* and doesn't work very well, so I parked where I could catch a breeze, opened the window + the bus door + the wheelchair doors in back, rolled out the awning, and still only got comfortable when I put on my wet vest.
People at the fair were very envious of my vest. :-) I betcha you could get one in Germany--maybe at a work wear place, or safety gear place? Heck, probably your ambulance crew has them?
I couldn't live without it! Do you have the humidity to go along with the heat? As to the Audtobahn? Yippee!
I have a lot of trouble with exercise-induced hyperthermia while riding and I find that avoiding the use of AC helps me acclimate to hot weather as summer starts. But, if it's over 30C outside with high humidity, it's going on for sure.
I'm amazed that the hospitals do not have AC, what about patients who come in with heatstroke?
Like Kitty Bo said.Also, fans burn up a lot of energy too, so they still add to the "carbon footprint". We don't have AC in our house, we do the window open/close dance during the day and run 3 fans. Truthfully, AC does give me a sore throat but I sure do love walking into a cooled shop after being out in the blazing heat.
Hospitals don't have it? Now that is weird, trying to keep sick people comfortable in the heat? People gasp in horror when I tell them I don't have it here in California (I don't think there has been a daytime temperature below 95 degrees for a month). But you do acclimate, and I do a lot more just sitting around in front of fan with some iced tea! But we're super dry here, and I do have a swamp cooler, which only works well in dry climates.
But in an upper story classroom trying to learn, just no. And no ice, THAT I couldn't handle!
I think that cars have a larger impact on the carbon footprint, maybe they should examine how their high speeds are more wasteful of energy than driving at a lower speed.
Everyone has their own particular form of higher standards to stand on. The Germans have chosen A/C as theirs.
KB, you cracked me up. I asked the teacher your question and she said she worked a call where an elderly man was bicycling in this weather and dropped dead, that's the only one I know of, haven't heard anything on the news.
Aarene, I asked the teacher, when she was talking about how we have to work in our reflective jackets no matter how hot it is, about those vests. The entire class looked at me, and the teacher said, "Cooling vests?" Yes. "Is that something from America?" *sigh* I guess. Then the guy next to me googled it on his phone and sure enough they exist here, but are not known. I'll have to get one: )
Connie, honestly this past month has been an uncommonly dry heat. However, that changed today *sigh*
Alex, OMG I have to do my internship at a hospital - how will I survive it?
Carol, Well Said.
OMG my husband just surprised me and showed up in Dortmund at my hotel! I just finished studying for the evening, so perfect timing.
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