Luca Funaro, 32, suffers from a rare genetic disease. This month, he survived the record-breaking heat wave in his apartment in central Paris. There was no air conditioning available throughout the entire period, and it was his neighbors who lived in the same building who prevented him from installing air conditioning. He lives in a lively downtown neighborhood in the Marais district of Paris. He has applied several times to install an outdoor air-conditioning unit in the courtyard of the community, but his neighbors have rejected him on the grounds that the air-conditioning operation makes too much noise.
Last week, in a residential building in Berlin, every household had their shutters closed and their balconies were empty.
Luca relies on a wheelchair for daily travel and must use a ventilator to maintain breathing. In desperation, he took his neighbor to court, and his family invested thousands of euros in the lawsuit. This tug-of-war has lasted for two years and has not yet ended.
"When the temperature is too high, people with disabilities are easily dehydrated and breathing becomes extremely difficult," Funaro said.
For a long time, Europeans have been resistant to air conditioning: on the one hand, the operating noise of air conditioning disturbs residents and destroys the architectural style of cities; more importantly, the summer climate in Europe was mild in the past, and air conditioning was regarded as a non-necessity by locals. People are worried that if this kind of energy-intensive equipment is fully popularized, Europe's goal of leading global climate governance and combating climate change will be greatly compromised.
But now, this resistance is crumbling in the face of the cruel reality - Europe is becoming the continent with the fastest rising temperature in the world.
Frequent extreme heat waves in recent years have put pressure on both Europe's medical system and economic development. A large number of schools in Western Europe that are barely equipped with air conditioning have been forced to close, leaving countless parents to take care of their children at home; various shops have closed, factories have reduced production capacity, and many railway lines have been temporarily suspended. Economists at ING said bluntly that the impact of this heat wave reminds people of the city-wide lockdown during the COVID-19 epidemic.
Today, the debate over whether air conditioners should be popularized has swept across the entire European political arena: right-wing politicians advocate the introduction of large-scale policies to vigorously promote the installation of public and residential air conditioners; left-wingers are worried that large-scale use of air conditioners will bring serious negative environmental impacts and are opposed to this.
Marine Le Pen, the leader of the French far-right party, criticized in a post on the social platform
Europe's existing infrastructure was designed in a climate far cooler than today. In the past, temperatures in northern Europe rarely exceeded 32 degrees Celsius, and temperatures above 38 degrees Celsius were unheard of.
During the heat wave, people on the Trocadéro Square in Paris took shelter under the shade of trees to escape the heat; many restaurants had empty outdoor seats.
The original design standards of the railway network and power system were completely unable to withstand extreme high temperatures. When most buildings in Europe were built, they were not equipped with summer insulation designs such as sunshade louvers.
The penetration rate of air conditioning in European civil and public buildings is generally low: the installation rate of air conditioning in households in Italy is about 56%, in France it is only 25%, and in the United Kingdom it is as low as 5%. Each summer heat wave kills tens of thousands of people in Europe, with the death toll far higher than in the United States. Researchers say the lack of air conditioning is one of the important reasons for this gap.
The impact of extreme heat on Europe's infrastructure is far faster than officials and scientists expected a few years ago. European average temperatures are currently about 2.5 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels, while the global average temperature rise is only 1.4 degrees Celsius, making it the fastest-warming continent.
Temperatures in Paris exceeded 40 degrees Celsius twice last Wednesday and Thursday. Since official weather records began in the 19th century, Paris has experienced equally extreme high temperatures only three times - in 1947, 2019 and 2022.
Audrey Poulvar, deputy mayor of Paris, lamented: "We originally expected that extreme weather such as 40 degrees Celsius would occur as early as 2030, with the peak period between 2040 and 2050, but now we find that extreme high temperatures have already arrived earlier."
Officials in various European countries have tried to avoid large-scale promotion of air conditioning. The disadvantages of wide-scale popularization of air conditioners are very prominent: equipment purchase and use costs are high and energy consumption is huge. The hot air discharged by outdoor units into the streets will further aggravate the urban heat island effect; in densely populated urban areas, the continuous hum of compressors will also seriously disturb residents.
Purval said: "We never want the city to become like some cities in Italy, Brazil, and the United States, where the entire building's exterior walls are densely covered with air-conditioning units, causing harsh noise and constantly emitting hot air and harmful exhaust gases to the outside world."
London has issued urban construction regulations: if new buildings want to install air conditioning, developers must give priority to passive cooling designs such as natural ventilation, window shading louvers, and efficient insulation; Paris and Berlin plan to promote urban greening on a large scale and use vegetation to alleviate the heat island effect caused by stone pavements. During this heat wave, Paris even opened the Saint-Martin Canal for citizens to take a dip in the water to cool off.
However, the European Climate Adaptation Report released by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows that the heatstroke prevention effect of this type of passive cooling method is far less than that of air conditioning. In the agency's ratings, air conditioning is listed as an efficient measure to deal with heat waves, mechanical ventilation is moderately effective, and the cooling effect of urban greening is rated low.
Experts say that once encountering sustained extreme high temperatures, ventilation, shading and other methods will completely fail. During this heat wave, even if the temperature at night is still as high as 29 degrees Celsius, the buildings have no chance to dissipate heat and cool down, and the scorching sun will scorch the city again the next day.
Radhika Khosla, a climate scientist at the University of Oxford, suggested that countries should combine optimizing building insulation design with rational use of air conditioning to control air conditioning energy consumption. "We should only use air conditioners in strictly necessary scenarios, rather than treating air conditioners as a universal solution to high temperatures."
A high-temperature emergency cooling center was opened in Bordeaux, France. Many people rested on folding beds; young people jumped into the Saint-Martin Canal to cool down.
Under this heat wave, a large number of hospitals and nursing homes in Europe without air conditioning are like giant steamers. Medical staff and patients can only put reflective insulation films on the windows to block the scorching sun.
Wilfrid Sammut, an emergency physician in Versailles, said helplessly: "The environment is unbearably hot, and even doctors and nursing staff frequently suffer from heatstroke."
Continuous high temperatures have spawned an unprecedented air-conditioning purchase boom in Europe, and official resistance to air-conditioning in various countries has gradually softened. It is becoming increasingly common these days to see the exhaust ducts of portable air conditioners sticking out of the windows of British homes. The Committee on Climate Change, the British government's climate advisory body, recently issued a report stating that although passive cooling methods are still applicable in some areas, "the intensity and duration of future heat waves will increase, and we must plan in advance and proactively deploy active cooling facilities."
London Mayor Sadiq Khan publicly stated that schools, office buildings, and hospitals should be fully equipped with air conditioning equipment.
"We need to use all possible cooling options to prepare London for the normal occurrence of extreme heatwaves."
Even so, the widespread popularity of air conditioners has caused many people to worry: once people can rely on air conditioners to avoid high temperatures, they are likely to ignore the negative consequences of global warming.
French Climate Minister Monique Barbe said bluntly during the peak of this round of high temperatures: "I am deeply disturbed to hear people saying that just installing air conditioners everywhere will solve everything. Can air conditioning prevent forest fires? Can it prevent crop failure due to high temperatures?"
In many European cities, if residents want to install home air conditioners, they must obtain the consent of all owners of the entire building. They must also obtain approval from the municipal department to ensure that the air conditioner installation complies with urban architectural style specifications, noise control regulations, and regional energy conservation goals.
A passenger wipes sweat from his face on a sweltering train in London.
Geneva has set strict energy consumption limits for the installation of air conditioners; some residents in London were even required by the municipal government to dismantle installed air conditioners because they did not give priority to energy-saving cooling methods such as ceiling fans.
A spokesman for the London Borough of Camden said: "When residents apply for air conditioning installation permits, they must first prove that there are no other more environmentally friendly alternative cooling solutions available, and at the same time ensure that the air conditioning will not produce noise or cause other adverse effects on the neighbourhood."
As high temperatures persist, neighborhood disputes are increasing among Parisian residents applying to install air conditioners. Residents must first obtain the consent of all neighbors; if the outdoor air conditioner unit faces the street, the municipal department has the right to reject the application to avoid damaging the facade of the classic Haussmann-style limestone building in Paris.
Christophe Sanson, known as the “noise lawyer” in the industry, revealed that the number of air-conditioning neighbor dispute cases his law firm has received has exceeded 100, and the number of cases has surged significantly. French law clearly stipulates that residential public management committees have the right to veto applications for the installation of air conditioners. If the noise of the equipment exceeds 5 decibels during the day and 3 decibels at night (roughly equivalent to the sound of a gentle breeze), it is a violation.
"This kind of low-frequency noise can penetrate reinforced concrete with extremely strong penetrating power and can easily cause persistent mental distress to residents. All parties must find a compromise solution," Sanson explained.
Two years ago, Luca's family purchased this first-floor apartment with the intention of allowing Luca, who suffers from congenital myopathy and is almost paralyzed, to live independently. Since then, the family has been campaigning for the installation of an air conditioner.
When this heat wave hit, the newly purchased air conditioning units could only be piled quietly on the floor, unable to be installed on the wall.
"My neighbors always think that I turn off the air conditioner 24 hours a day, but that's not the case at all. I just want to turn it on for a short time to cool down," Luca said.
My mother bought a mobile cooling fan for emergency use, but this type of equipment had little effect in the face of extreme high temperatures.
"In previous years, the high temperature only lasted for a day or two and then passed, but this time the heat lasted for a whole week." Funaro said helplessly.