The first image is telling: A glass building in front of a white hard-floor plaza with just one small tree for shade
Nothing specific to the European commission though, we just don't hate mainstream architects enough
delichon 35 seconds ago [-]
It's not exactly the Council of Elrond. It's appropriate for the design to be closer to Barad-dûr than Rivendell.
cineticdaffodil 9 minutes ago [-]
It would burn less, if not all these abstract architects would sit in old art nouveau buildings near a park, with the AC tastefully hidden in the backyard - and there they sit on the MAC, shitting out these etched waver under the ERM buildings and cities for the rest of us to be miserable in.
lumrn 5 minutes ago [-]
Just adding some context on the AC and the building as well which was explained by journalist David Carretta (who follows EU politics, written in Italian) here https://x.com/davcarretta/status/2071592636260012175.
To summarise, AC was turned off floor by floor, with the switch off starting from 16:00 over a Friday, a time when most administrative personnel is getting off work for the weekend. The entire building had AC switched off by the end of the day, including the upper floors. Note that AC was working fine this Monday.
Oras 32 minutes ago [-]
> The heat wave has prompted a renewed discussion about the lack of air-conditioning systems in homes and offices across much of Europe
Discussion, common sense requires discussion. All you need to know about them in one sentence.
Tarq0n 2 minutes ago [-]
In the past with harmful refrigerants and lack of renewable energy AC simply was not justifiable in most of Europe. Progress on both fronts plus global warming is changing that only recently.
zzzeek 3 minutes ago [-]
there is significant resistance to air conditioning in Europe at many levels (all of which are invalid or solvable):
* "not technically feasible" - people talk about old buildings with oddly shaped windows
* "can't afford it" - as you see here. people talk about the units themselves and the electricity bills
* "our infrastructure can't handle it" - this has to do with things like grids overheating, failing
* "our infrastructure can't handle <the regulations>" - things like nuclear reactors in France not allowed to raise the temperature of rivers by another N degrees during a heat wave
* "it's bad for global warming" - a little late for that, probably should save lives first
literally hospitals in europe don't have AC throughout the entire building yet. global warming is really coming at them fast
basisword 24 minutes ago [-]
Most ordinary working people can't afford the cost of installing a system. Even a portable one.
black3r 16 minutes ago [-]
It's not that expensive. There are other reasons why people can't install one in Europe than money. Mostly for people living in apartments. In an apartment building you need the approval of other apartment owners to "modify the building facade". And some people have terrible neighbors. Another thing that happens in Europe is that if the building is 100+ years old, it's facade may be protected as a "historic building" and then you need another approval from some bureaucrats which are responsible for protecting historic buildings. And of course if you're renting, you need to convince your landlord if you want a proper AC not a portable one.
hparadiz 4 minutes ago [-]
People on here will literally write walls of text over the most mundane nonsense.
Shove the plastic tube outlet out of a window. End of installation. You're welcome.
Seriously why is this so difficult and what is this learned helplessness? You would rather be miserable than do literally anything?
graton 13 minutes ago [-]
> Most ordinary working people can't afford the cost of installing a system. Even a portable one.
I just watched a video where a person bought a £200 portable unit. He was using it in the UK and said he spent about £0.89 / day. And I'm assuming they won't use it for that many days a year.
Seems affordable enough for "most ordinary working people"
As a side note, it's nearly impossible to buy a dual-hose portable AC in the UK and Europe. For whatever reason, the market has converged on inefficient single-hose portable ACs.
ExoticPearTree 19 minutes ago [-]
A 12K BTU mini-split system is about 300EUR. How is this unaffordable for most people? Even an 18K unit is about 500-600EUR.
antonkochubey 14 minutes ago [-]
Realistically a decent mini-split that won't break in a year and won't make too much noise starts at ~€600-800 + €400 installation in a low-labor-cost country (Latvia), in high-labor-cost countries such as Germany the installation bit might be twice-thrice as expensive.
wnevets 17 minutes ago [-]
Something is very wrong with the EU if ordinary Europeans can't afford a $150 window unit.
rapsey 5 minutes ago [-]
It's not the money. In many places you need to go through permitting to get it and they do not want to give it to you. Often you also need a signed approval from every person in the building.
Markoff 4 minutes ago [-]
funny take
Bulgaria is one of the poorest EU countries and I have seen there way more ACs than in much richer Czechia or elsewhere, this is not about price at all
heck, even in Czechia I find much more ACs in some poor cities compared to the richest Prague, I've seen bigger AC ratio per apartment in my small poor ~40K hometown than in Prague, in our 40 units building in Prague I was the first one to have AC, after many years now followed by neighbor under me, 2 out of 40 units in relatively rich Prague, crazy (though it's true our top corner of the building is warmest from all apartments)
christkv 23 minutes ago [-]
What are you on about. They are not expensive at all. What they can't afford is to pay the electrical bill of running one.
antonkochubey 12 minutes ago [-]
My multisplit system costs <€60 a month to run even during the hottest months, which is way below heating costs during winter. And that's keeping entire apartment at constant 22ºC - people with higher "comfort temperature" can keep the bill significantly lower.
caycep 17 minutes ago [-]
unless they also come w/ rooftop solar?
new mini splits are way more efficient than older systems as well.
insulation in older homes/buildings might be an issue though
cineticdaffodil 16 minutes ago [-]
Ironically- while often having solar on the roof.
Oras 22 minutes ago [-]
Most people can’t afford private jets, let’s ban them for those officials then
braingravy 9 minutes ago [-]
Sounds good! It was a waste to begin with. They can handle first-class.
frollogaston 12 minutes ago [-]
"even with working AC, the temperature inside was still 25.7 degrees."
So 78F. I wonder what temp the lower/non-AC floors are at. It's reasonable if they want to prevent the upper floors from becoming insanely hot, since hot air rises.
vovavili 29 minutes ago [-]
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
papichulo2023 9 minutes ago [-]
This is a reference to Animal Farm, right?
dylan604 25 minutes ago [-]
This exact quote ran through my mind and I was tempted to post it.
dotcoma 21 minutes ago [-]
Reminds me of Animal Farm.
caycep 18 minutes ago [-]
With new inexpensive mini splits that do not require ducts, one would think adoption would go up?
cineticdaffodil 18 minutes ago [-]
Imagine offices- who have temperatures of 30+ directly beneath the roof. AC where the heat-exchangers are built inside the buildings and other nonsense on top. Europe is so not ready, while preaching to the world about getting ready.
dylan604 22 minutes ago [-]
And all of those Europeans that had comments about the Texas ERCOT warnings of heavy loads during extreme weather. Although, it's been a while since I've received notices/requests to adjust the use even if they were bump it up a few degrees vs turn it off.
Havoc 13 minutes ago [-]
wow that’s an ugly look.
Kinda weird though even for Europe that a high profile 10+ floor commercial building doesn’t have suitable climate control
Varelion 39 minutes ago [-]
Up vs down, always. Not surprising in the least.
invictati 16 minutes ago [-]
The whole conversation about upper and lower floors is absurd. Obviously the upper floors are absorbing more sunlight and need more cooling.
Ground level and basement floors have been known as the coolest places in skyscrapers for centuries.
preommr 10 minutes ago [-]
Except it wasn't the basement and first floor.
It was the first seven floors. Coincidentally, also the floors most of the higher-ups don't work on. Or at least that's how it's being reported, so I don't think people's outrage is absurd.
phendrenad2 11 minutes ago [-]
Any building with modern (last 100 years) insulation is going to have relatively equal distribution of heat between the floors. Except the bottom floor, where people enter/exit and mix in outside air.
rappatic 37 minutes ago [-]
> Due to extreme weather conditions, forced shut down of air cooling system from floor 1 to 7 for the rest of the day
It's like satire. What is AC for if not extreme heat?
slillibri 12 minutes ago [-]
When there is not enough AC, people sweat. It’s better for half to sweat to death so the other half can remain frosty.
wongarsu 22 minutes ago [-]
Historically temperatures above 30C (86F) were rare in Europe, so thats what many ACs are sized for. Now they face 40C (104F), and many AC installations can't keep up
Shutting down AC on floors 1 to 7 likely allows them to get better performance on floors 8 to 13
gambiting 23 minutes ago [-]
Normal day to day cooling, I mean, obviously? Like if you have a system designed to operate in 25-30C(normal summer in most of Europe) but then you have a spike of temperatures going to 40C for a few days in a row, it shouldn't really be a surprise the system doesn't work in conditions it wasn't designed for? The compressor overheats and shuts down, especially if it wasn't installed in the shade.
Just like heat pumps for heating in winter are amazing for our regular mild-ish winters, but if you get a really cold spell and it drops to -35C, it's just not going to work at all to a point where it might not even start - you could also say "well what's the point of a heating system that can't heat in extreme cold".
The extreme is the keyword.
lysace 27 minutes ago [-]
Related and a little ironic: houses in northern Europe nowadays typically have "AC" in the form of air-to-air heat pumps that both can heat and cool. Houses in southern and central Europe dramatically lag behind in terms of adoption.
cbarnes99 32 minutes ago [-]
Why the fuck does extreme heat require turning off the AC?
dranudin 29 minutes ago [-]
The A/C cannot keep up the load, due to the exteme heat. So they decided to just not cool one part of the building, to be able to keep cooling the other part ..
It is now interesting who was in which part ;)
mytailorisrich 4 minutes ago [-]
If that's the case the building's system was very badly designed...
pgalvin 29 minutes ago [-]
The article indicates they were unable to handle the increased electricity load, which caused blackouts.
Additionally, sometimes unnaturally high temperatures break AC systems put in place with poor planning. This is very common in UK supermarkets every summer.
ctoth 17 minutes ago [-]
> unnaturally high temperatures
> poor planning.
> very common in UK supermarkets every summer.
What?
SiempreViernes 9 minutes ago [-]
Global warming keeps making the temperature unnaturaly high, don't tell me you didn't hear about it.
black3r 22 minutes ago [-]
my guess is that the outdoor AC unit reached its maximum working temperature...
since we're not that used to extreme heat in EU, units with max working temperatures of 45 degrees Celsius are pretty common and the air around the AC unit is warmer than regular outdoors air, doubly so if they're placed on the ground and the glass from the building reflects some additional heat from the sun.
the risk of this was broadcasted in our local news for home AC owners when the forecast reached 40, as lots of apartments have the AC on partly glass-encased balconies, or on walls facing direct sunlight...
wongarsu 28 minutes ago [-]
Based on the little information provided the AC can't keep up. So they cut off the lower half of the building to provide better cooling to the other half
ceejayoz 26 minutes ago [-]
Which, as heat rises, is probably reasonable.
nickff 29 minutes ago [-]
Seems like power shortages:
>”The European Parliament has also faced blackouts this week due to energy consumption from cranking up its cooling system.”
basisword 27 minutes ago [-]
Presumably the AC systems themselves couldn't operate in that extreme heat. A lot of grocery stores in the UK, which are icy cold usually, had major issues with AC and refrigeration systems failing - I think because a lot of the equipment is on the roof and exposed to the heat.
pkaye 11 minutes ago [-]
Its pretty common to se the AC systems on the top of roofs on big buildings in the US. From what I read, exposing the AC condenser unit to the sun should have minimal impact. Air flow through the condenser unit matters the most. Perhaps they were undersized for the extreme heat now happening in the UK.
lstodd 20 minutes ago [-]
AC systems don't quite care about direct sunlight, they are forced air heat exchangers. Now if the condenser (rooftop) side is undersized and therefore inadequate given elevated ambient air temperature all you can do is shut down a portion of evaporation side (the cold one) off, or the entire system just stops working.
Alternatively one can install water sprinkers on roofs like they do in China.
kgwxd 26 minutes ago [-]
[flagged]
Rendered at 17:10:08 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Vercel.
Nothing specific to the European commission though, we just don't hate mainstream architects enough
To summarise, AC was turned off floor by floor, with the switch off starting from 16:00 over a Friday, a time when most administrative personnel is getting off work for the weekend. The entire building had AC switched off by the end of the day, including the upper floors. Note that AC was working fine this Monday.
Discussion, common sense requires discussion. All you need to know about them in one sentence.
* "not technically feasible" - people talk about old buildings with oddly shaped windows
* "can't afford it" - as you see here. people talk about the units themselves and the electricity bills
* "our infrastructure can't handle it" - this has to do with things like grids overheating, failing
* "our infrastructure can't handle <the regulations>" - things like nuclear reactors in France not allowed to raise the temperature of rivers by another N degrees during a heat wave
* "it's bad for global warming" - a little late for that, probably should save lives first
literally hospitals in europe don't have AC throughout the entire building yet. global warming is really coming at them fast
Get a free standing unit like this: https://i.imgur.com/giewYeK.png
Shove the plastic tube outlet out of a window. End of installation. You're welcome.
Seriously why is this so difficult and what is this learned helplessness? You would rather be miserable than do literally anything?
I just watched a video where a person bought a £200 portable unit. He was using it in the UK and said he spent about £0.89 / day. And I'm assuming they won't use it for that many days a year.
Seems affordable enough for "most ordinary working people"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOmzVWTH3xo
Bulgaria is one of the poorest EU countries and I have seen there way more ACs than in much richer Czechia or elsewhere, this is not about price at all
heck, even in Czechia I find much more ACs in some poor cities compared to the richest Prague, I've seen bigger AC ratio per apartment in my small poor ~40K hometown than in Prague, in our 40 units building in Prague I was the first one to have AC, after many years now followed by neighbor under me, 2 out of 40 units in relatively rich Prague, crazy (though it's true our top corner of the building is warmest from all apartments)
new mini splits are way more efficient than older systems as well.
insulation in older homes/buildings might be an issue though
So 78F. I wonder what temp the lower/non-AC floors are at. It's reasonable if they want to prevent the upper floors from becoming insanely hot, since hot air rises.
Kinda weird though even for Europe that a high profile 10+ floor commercial building doesn’t have suitable climate control
Ground level and basement floors have been known as the coolest places in skyscrapers for centuries.
It was the first seven floors. Coincidentally, also the floors most of the higher-ups don't work on. Or at least that's how it's being reported, so I don't think people's outrage is absurd.
It's like satire. What is AC for if not extreme heat?
Shutting down AC on floors 1 to 7 likely allows them to get better performance on floors 8 to 13
Just like heat pumps for heating in winter are amazing for our regular mild-ish winters, but if you get a really cold spell and it drops to -35C, it's just not going to work at all to a point where it might not even start - you could also say "well what's the point of a heating system that can't heat in extreme cold".
The extreme is the keyword.
Additionally, sometimes unnaturally high temperatures break AC systems put in place with poor planning. This is very common in UK supermarkets every summer.
> poor planning.
> very common in UK supermarkets every summer.
What?
since we're not that used to extreme heat in EU, units with max working temperatures of 45 degrees Celsius are pretty common and the air around the AC unit is warmer than regular outdoors air, doubly so if they're placed on the ground and the glass from the building reflects some additional heat from the sun.
the risk of this was broadcasted in our local news for home AC owners when the forecast reached 40, as lots of apartments have the AC on partly glass-encased balconies, or on walls facing direct sunlight...
>”The European Parliament has also faced blackouts this week due to energy consumption from cranking up its cooling system.”
Alternatively one can install water sprinkers on roofs like they do in China.