Yeah, ground source heat pumps are pretty awesome and are being installed with many new buildings and renovations around here.

But that’s also AC, right? Just powered by different (better) tech.

I definitely agree that ground source heat pumps are better but they are also very expensive and basically only worth it if you replace a house’s entire heating with it. Using some crappy mobile AC unit is an acceptable interim solution just to allow me to sleep at reasonable temperatures for the next few summers.

Switzerland. The first tiger mosquito was spotted in Ticino in 2003 and they are established there now. In other parts of Switzerland as well.

And at least by how it feels, our winters have been getting milder as well.

Oh yeah, that’s totally fair. I’m also still sour about the two perfectly good climate change laws that were rejected in referendums in Switzerland. This is where that gets us. I hope populism dies and all the oil barons burn in this world’s last oil fire.

And I want to watch the spectacle from an ACd room, ideally.

Yeah, but let me tell you, even if you have plenty of vegetation around the house, a well-insulated roof, windows that you open during the night and outside blinds you close during the day, this heatwave has been unbearable.

I think we use the less energy-intensive tools at our disposal pretty effectively around here actually. As an example, my university’s main building has also managed to remain somewhat bearable with minimal AC, somehow.

The problem is that these things are beginning to not be enough anymore. I’ve been going through my personal hell on earth with this heatwave for the past weeks despite using all of the techniques that don’t involve heat pumps, which is also why I feel so strongly about this. I simply can’t see another way out in the short to medium term.

Yeah we’ll also probably get the malaria mosquitos and other bearers of tropical diseases here.

Not to say that we should have ever gotten this far or that we’re doing enough to stop climate change or that this is the only problem caused by climate change, but we are where we are and heatwaves kill and AC helps and, at least where I live, we have not done nearly enough to prevent these deaths thus far imo.

I mean you can have AC there too. And the EU should be capable of regulating max temperatures into existence. If they are able to regulate big tech, they should be able to do this as well (i hope). Also, manufacturing and logistical jobs are not even close to a majority of jobs in the EU.

I think in Europe the penny is finally starting to drop and people will start buying ACs soon… hopefully