I got dragged to Málaga against my will (family stuff) and it was horrible. More pubs than tapas places to cater to the British crowds...

Charleroi is super depressing indeed.

Got caught in the manual blinking crossfire here... Damn you!

It's upside down, mate.

My best guess is they mean ours are full of lead and micro plastics and propaganda.

Yeah same here, also airports are the only place I allow myself to drink regardless of the time of day, so there's that.

Your flag might spell "otherwise" but this piece of evidence below says something else!

Yeah I don't think we disagree at all! I'm just sharing the facts around the realities of it. Also I don't think most AC is replacing heating systems today, but rather are installed in addition to the existing heating system. When you remove your furnace and have only inverter pump for both heating and cooling indeed I think that's a big improvement, but I'm no expert.

Right, cities in general fucking suck at dealing with heat because they're concrete jungles with little greenery, and Paris in particular as pointed out in your article in parts due to the Zinc roofs. Doesn't change the fact few have AC (which also increases death risks during heatwaves) and that building techniques in general were made to more naturally keep houses cool, but yes that's more true with country houses and especially the more south you go. I didn't mean to imply cities didn't suffer from heat.

I'm just stating the facts. But as a European I have to say I'm pretty surprised by the attitudes in this thread. Almost no one I know has AC and we do just fine, seems folks are awfully protective of their AC. Obviously there are worse offenders in other industries but the source I gave you shows that by 2050 AC could be over 20% of GHG emissions, from 7% today which is still nothing to sneeze at.

Here are some more facts (though the source kinda sucks, Quora):

Indirect Environmental Impact: Even if the electricity powering your air conditioner comes from renewable sources like solar or wind power, there are still environmental impacts associated with the production and installation of the air conditioning unit itself. Manufacturing the units, transporting them, and disposing of them at the end of their life cycle all have environmental consequences.

Energy Efficiency: The energy efficiency of the air conditioning unit is crucial. Even if the electricity comes from renewable sources, using an inefficient air conditioner will still consume more energy than necessary, putting strain on the grid and potentially increasing demand for non-renewable energy sources during peak times.

Heat Island Effect: Air conditioning can contribute to the urban heat island effect, where cities are significantly warmer than rural areas due to human activities. This can have various environmental impacts, such as increased energy consumption, air pollution, and health risks.

Refrigerants: Air conditioners use refrigerants that can be potent greenhouse gases if leaked into the atmosphere. Some older refrigerants like hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) have a high global warming potential. Using air conditioners with environmentally friendly refrigerants can help mitigate this impact.

And here is some more information on what European countries are doing to reduce the use of them, even to the point of dictating how low you can set the temperature and banning it in shops that leave the door open.

Probably using portable ones where you put the pipe out of the window and seal around it.

Sure!

"Cooling is a big contributor to global warming. Much of the existing cooling equipment uses hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants, which are potent greenhouse gases, and use a lot of energy, making them a double burden for climate change. Even with the phasedown of hydrofluorocarbons required by the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, business as usual means emissions from refrigeration and air conditioning are expected to double by 2030 and triple by 2050, rising from 7 per cent of global GHG emissions today. Right now, the more we cool, the more we heat the planet."

Source

It's still bad for the environment, even if powered with green electricity.

AC is very unusual in France, maybe a bit more in the south but even there it's rare, the houses are just built with good natural insulation and temperature regulation, stone walls, concrete walls with air gaps, etc.

We're looking at like 800 calories each here, easy.

You mean more than usual?

Yes, but also don't turn them on until the last car that was passing you is slightly in front of you, too many people that turn them on while you're still a bit behind, potentially in their blind spot, which can make you think they didn't see you and maybe even swerve as a reflex.

Mine works like yours, it'll jottle me a bit but if I want the car to go there it goes there, I don't need special efforts to make it happen. It also has the auto-brake thing in case you're about to rear end someone and I've set it to high to see it working but even that I only managed to make it beep and flash but not actually brake yet, looks like it would only do it pretty late. I think most people complaining about this are having an "back in my days" moment tbh, but maybe there are indeed cars out there where the implementation is more invasive.

It definitely reads like it was written by an American.

Also publicly funded TV tends to be way better. They have somewhat more accountability so especially news, politics etc tends to be much better. For leisure programs that varies a bit more by country, but obviously the BBC has produced a lot of great stuff.