I think there are two things: * Precisely calibrating the temperature of a large space is really hard, and people are surprisingly aware of slight differences in temperature. To me, 68 degrees can feel like "I want a sweater" and 74 can feel like "It's sweltering in here." And preferences vary a lot across individuals * Coming in from the hot to the cold can create a large shock even if the building isn't that cold. If you're outside sweating in hot, humid weather, walking into a cool, dry room will feel frigid at first. Over time, though, it will feel more normal.
</speculation>
Even in an apartment with 3 roommates, we'd have a fight because someone thinks 72 is too cold and it is too hot for me even if I'm barely naked.
25ish°C also seems to be the norm in Asia from my experience. It is fine.
This is true. I happened to buy a condo where the previous owner had installed a mini-split AC. I took a quick look at it with "lol what is this thing" and forgot about it. Then later I suffered a week or two into the 2014 summer heatwave, before it occurred to me to turn that oddity on. Best thing ever.
We Europeans also still stubbornly think that cars with automatic transmission are not real cars. Although the good fuel economy of hybrids (we love good fuel economy!) is slowly changing this. But if someone made a hybrid with manual transmission, we'd sure buy those.
> Moreover, air-conditioning in the U.S. may have more indirect but nevertheless dangerous impacts: Whereas Europeans have decided to simply accept the existence of hot days and nights, American architects have been forced to ban balconies and porches from many work spaces and to lower ceilings within buildings to keep as much cold air indoors as possible, according to the Economist. In other words, whereas Americans might be more productive at work thanks to air-conditioning, they are also more likely to be stressed.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/07/22...
They also use a lot of power:
> Using air conditioners and electric fans to stay cool already accounts for about a fifth of the total electricity used in buildings around the world – or 10% of all global electricity consumption today.
https://www.iea.org/newsroom/news/2018/may/air-conditioning-...
> The power consumption of air conditioners averages 318 watts (for a 24,000 BTU unit) in most American households. That 318-watt average (source: U.S. DOE) adds up to 228 kWh per month.
https://www.kompulsa.com/much-power-air-conditioners-consume...
At those figures, it would add about a third to my (UK) house's electricity bill.
Edit: Cold weather also kills about 3000 people in the UK every years as they can't afford to heat their homes (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/cold-weathe...), so air con wouldn't necessarily remove the problem in its entirety. You'd have the same problem from the other side - people can't afford to cool their homes.
If you lived somewhere where you needed that much cooling you wouldn't have a heating bill, though.
Still, as long as your house is reasonably well insulated heating bills in Dallas are very low and only a few months per year, right?
Last couple of years I've switched to using a radiant heater that's in whatever room I'm in, and that has helped.
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=10271
2009: 6.2% AC vs 41.5% heating of total household energy consumption.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Northern_Hemisphere_heat_...
If it had always been normal and expected our building stock would probably have evolved a little differently.
Hot summers probably come with milder winters, which will mean total savings in energy use. The savings in heating will be larger that the increased energy use in summertime air conditioning.
Also in the US, the most northern states use more energy in year round heating+cooling, than the southern states.
I don't know if it's similar in the US, but I didn't understand why they set it to such a low temperature. Why can't they choose some pleasant temperature like 25 C which is not hot and not cold, just right?
PS: I like air conditioning! But in most places in Europa opening windows on both sides of a building will do the trick during the few weeks of hot, hot summer time.
Or there is something wrong with these numbers.
Great idea! Now I just need to ask my neighbors to open their windows at the same time as I do, because my apartment has all windows facing west and theirs have all windows facing east.
Around this time of year, I have my windows fully opened for hours and hours in the evening, but it only helps a tiny bit, maybe 1℃.
That's in one urban area.