Air Conditioning Is Not a Luxury, It Is a Necessity
_Summary:_ _Air conditioning is not a luxury but a life-saving technology that has dramatically reduced heat-related deaths. Yet as heat waves kill tens of thousands of Europeans each year, many governments across the continent continue to discourage AC through permits, noise ordinances, and sometimes outright bans. Modern cooling systems are increasingly efficient, and fears about their health effects are largely unfounded. Treating air conditioning as an unnecessary indulgence risks sacrificing lives to outdated assumptions._
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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 reportedat least 2,000 additional deaths in a single week. Germany hasreported morethan 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 roughly75 percent declinein heat-related deaths during the 20th century. But policymakers in Europe have discouraged this technology throughtaxes, regulationsand a stubborn refusal to admit its benefits.
The consequences have been tragic. Heat waveskill more than175,000 Europeans every year, according to the World Health Organization.Eighty percentof the continent’s population does not have AC. In the United States,almost 90 percentdoes.
The ruleslimiting 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 amedical certificate. Slovakia demands periodic AC inspections that create a perpetual compliance burden. Local planning councils in Britainregularly rejectAC 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 about3 percentof homes have air conditioning, laws restricting “active cooling” technologyhave forcedsome 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 systemspresent “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 becomeincreasingly energy efficient. The U.S. Energy Information Administration notes that even as the share of U.S. homeswith AC has increased, average household energy usehas 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 saidAC “makes you sick, and it gives you a headache.” Left-wing French politician Jean-Luc Mélenchonhas claimedair conditioning “destroys your sinuses.”
European media,consumer groupsandeven the French governmenthave 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 anearly descriptionof someone dying of heatstroke. The extreme European heat wave of 1540was so severethat 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 physicianGeorge Motherby notedthat “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.
_This article was originally published in_ The Washington Post _on 7/14/2026._