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By MARSHA MERCER
When the afternoon summer sun beats on the thermometer outside my
kitchen window, the red liquid in the gauge shoots all the way to the top -- 120
degrees.
The radio and TV report it’s only in the mid-90s, but I feel
the thermometer’s pain.
“It’s HOT out here,” it seems to scream. “HOT, HOT, HOT.” I take it
seriously -- not literally.
At least we’re not in France, where the recorded temperature
reached 114.6 degrees – the highest ever -- the other day. At least we have air
conditioning.
Europeans have always felt superior to Americans for our wimpy reliance
on artificially cooled air.
“People here don’t like air conditioning. They think it’s a waste
of energy, it’s bad for the environment, and people say it makes them sick,” a
Californian who has lived abroad for a decade, the last four years in Berlin,
told The Wall Street Journal.
When it rarely got too hot for comfort, Europeans closed up shop –
and schools and offices, too. Don’t laugh. Remember what happens when an inch
of snow falls on Washington.
But early summer heat waves have swept Germany, France and Spain --
countries that have traditionally coped with summer heat with electric fans.
Only
about 5 percent of European households have air conditioning, compared with 90
percent of Americans, according to a report last year by the International
Energy Agency.
That worked when the temperature rose above the mid-80s only a few
days a year, but as 100-degree days become more frequent, Europeans are questioning
whether they can continue their holier-than-thou attitude toward mechanically
cooled air.
You never think you need the Klimaanlage – the German word that literally
means climate apparatus – until the temperature hits triple digits.
The worldwide demand for air conditioning will soar in coming years,
the energy agency says. It predicts 10 new air conditioners will be sold every
second for the next 30 years. The number of AC systems installed in buildings
is expected to rise from 1.6 billion in 2016 to 5.6 billion in 2050.
And that raises “an urgent need for policy action to improve
cooling efficiency,” the agency said. Unfortunately, the Trump administration doesn’t
see the need.
It stopped enforcing the 2015 rule that prohibited use of HFCs or hydrofluorocarbons, powerful greenhouse gases
that are linked to climate change, in air conditioners and refrigerators, and is
rolling back scores of other environmental rules.
Meanwhile, it’s hot out there.
Naturally, sweltering Europe has made dandy fodder for reporters
writing for the American audience.
The Washington Post’s man in Berlin reported: “Residents are sharing maps on
social media of air-conditioned buildings and cafes in their area, fans and
portable cooling systems are sold out, employers are worried the lack of
cooling is killing productivity, and at least one Berlin air-conditioning
installer suspended its phone service because of a flood of calls, according to
a recorded voice message.”
German authorities, worried the surface of the famous Autobahn will
melt in the heat, has set speed limits in some areas. France barred cars over
10 years old from some city centers to curb pollution.
A fellow in Germany caught riding naked on a motorcycle said it was
too hot for clothes, and women in Munich were told to put their bikini tops
back on.
In
the United Kingdom, SkyNews advised Brits to stash their pyjamas and pillow
cases in the freezer before bedtime and, of course, to carry an umbrella -- the
British answer for any weather emergency.
Sizzling
Europeans might learn from orator, Secretary of State and three-time
presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan, who, in America’s pre-AC era, had
a secret, low-tech technique to keep cool on the summer lecture circuit:
“I
take a small piece of ice . . . I put it in the palm of my right hand and hold
it tightly. Then I shift it to my left hand, holding it in either hand for
about five minutes. Then I pass my cold hands over my forehead. I have always
found this very effective,” Bryan said, according to an article on the White
House Historical Association site.
As
for me, I’d rather keep cool with the ice in a drink and the AC cranked up.
©2019 Marsha Mercer. All right reserved.
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