Europe is warming to America's obsession with staying cool
As Europe recorded its hottest June on record, Europeans flocked to buy AC units, eroding a decades-old divide with America.
Repeated heat waves in Europe are prompting Europeans to buy AC units in droves.Bloomberg/Getty ImagesEurope has faced record early summer heat in 2026, with temperatures topping 100°F in places.Europeans are buying AC in droves as record heat changes attitudes toward cooling.
America's obsession with AC is finally starting to make sense to many Europeans.Europe may finally be admitting Americans had a point.For decades, much of the continent treated air conditioning as an unnecessary luxury — something for hotels, shopping malls, and the occasional trip abroad.
Americans, meanwhile, have spent years looking across the Atlantic wondering why Europeans would rather sweat through a heat wave than install an AC unit.This summer, that stubbornness appears to be melting.After Western Europe recorded its hottest June on record, manufacturers say Europeans are buying air conditioners in droves as another relentless heat wave pushes temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit across parts of the continent."
Air conditioning is clearly moving beyond a niche category in several European countries," Alexandre Loeur, senior research manager at market intelligence company Euromonitor International, told Business Insider. "The underlying trend appears structural rather than temporary." The American mind cannot comprehend Europe's AC aversion A 'complete no-brainer'Kieron Heath is one of those Europeans who changed his mind.
For years, he thought he could get by with open windows and as many fans as he could fit into his home in Essex, England.But after several increasingly hot summers, he spent about £585, or about $782, on a Meaco portable air conditioner last April, hoping to beat the summer rush.Kieron Heath.
Courtesy of Kieron Heath"When we get these heat waves, all of our existing cooling solutions — which is basically as many fans as you can buy — stop working," Heath, a 39-year-old fantasy and science-fiction author and podcaster, told Business Insider. "You're just pushing hot a
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