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595 points geox | 3 comments | | HN request time: 0.659s | source
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triceratops ◴[] No.44449209[source]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Look_Up
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bko ◴[] No.44450194[source]
I think we rely too much on government mandated websites than we do practical common sense that could save lives.

For instance, over 175,000 people die from heat exposure each year across the WHO European Region. Compare that to 1-2k in the US.

In this case, the Don't Look Up scenario is that people don't want to get A/C and governments sometimes make it very hard for them, killing hundreds of thousands because... I don't know why. But at least EU has nice proclamations and accords on the risk of climate change.

https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/01-08-2024-statement--h...

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2822854

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triceratops ◴[] No.44450241[source]
How do governments make it "very hard" to get A/C?
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bko[dead post] ◴[] No.44450709[source]
[flagged]
1. triceratops ◴[] No.44450899[source]
> Several EU countries have mandatory temperature limits for air conditioning in public buildings. Spain, Italy, and Greece have all announced that A/C in public buildings cannot be set lower than 27C (80F) in summer

How does that make it "hard" to get A/C in private homes? And are there a lot of heat-related deaths at 27C?

> The EU's F-Gas Regulation creates significant restrictions on refrigerants used in air conditioning

You should maybe look into why those exist. Air conditioning refrigerants are themselves major greenhouse gases and many deplete the ozone layer. Try also comparing those regulations to American ones. They're likely not very different.

> 90% of US homes have AC while only 20% of European homes have it

The US is richer and hotter. There's nothing like Florida or south Texas or Las Vegas or Phoenix in Europe.

> There's significant red tape when installing AC due to building regulations

Do tell...

> some EU countries even have laws telling you how much you can open your windows! In the UK...

Did you write this with an LLM or something? The third link you provided says nothing of the sort. It's about tint regulations on automobile windows FFS.

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2. Zanfa ◴[] No.44452325[source]
Not the GP, but there are some regulations about windows, not sure if local or EU-wide. Windows at floor level above ground level must not be fully openable or must have an outside barrier. But thats a pretty sane restriction, given those windows are basically just glass doors to nowhere.
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3. matwood ◴[] No.44452509[source]
I would be amazed if much of the US didn't have a similar building code that there must be a railing if there's a possibility of easily falling out the window/door.