Europeans reluctantly turn to air conditioning as heatwaves bite

During Europe's heat wave last month, Floriana Peroni’s vintage clothing store had to close for a week. 

A truck of rented generators blocked her door as they fed power to the central Roman neighbourhood hit by a blackout as temperatures surged. The main culprit: air conditioning.

The period - in which temperatures hit 40C - coincided with peak electricity use that came close to Italy’s all-time high, hitting a peak load of more than 59 gigawatts on 19 July. That neared a record set in July 2015.

Intensive electricity use knocked out the network not only near the central Campo de Fiori neighbourhood, where Peroni operates her shop, but elsewhere in the Italian capital.

Demand in that second July week surged 30 per cent, correlating to a heat wave that had persisted already for weeks, according to the capital’s electricity company ARETI.

Like many Romans, Peroni herself does not have AC either in her home or her shop. Rome once could count on a Mediterranean breeze to bring down nighttime temperatures, but that has become an intermittent relief at best.

“At most, we turn on fans,’’ Peroni said. “We think that is enough. We tolerate the heat, as it has always been tolerated.”

In Europe, though, that is starting to change.

Despite holdouts like Peroni, rising global temperatures are dropping air conditioning from luxury to a necessity in many parts of Europe. The continent has long had a conflicted relationship with energy-sucking cooling systems deemed by many to be an American indulgence.

Europeans look with disdain at overcooled US buildings, kept to near meat-locker temperatures, where a blast of cold air can shoot across city sidewalks as people come and go, and extended indoor appointments necessitate a sweater even in the