Stijn Renneboog (Deputy Secretary General of Eurovent) Europe's latest heatwave has struck a nerve in our collective consciousness.
Last week, I received more interview requests than ever before, all asking the same fundamental question: what role should air conditioning and other cooling solutions play as Europe faces rising temperatures and more frequent extreme heat?
Everywhere I look, in the news and on social media, the same debate is taking place. What do these temperatures mean? What should we do about them? Are cooling systems necessary, wasteful, dangerous, inevitable or overdue? In recent days, I have reflected on this at length while preparing for interviews and speaking with colleagues and experts.
Here I summarise these reflections in my own words and from my own perspective. The latest heatwave has once again pushed Europe to temperatures that were previously exceptional. National alerts were issued across many parts of the continent, infrastructure was disrupted, roads and railways struggled with the heat, and temperature records were broken.
Cities such as Paris, Milan, Prague and Vienna increasingly face summer temperatures approaching or exceeding 40°C. Buildings designed for milder climates are now being used under very different conditions. For many homes, schools, offices, care facilities and hospitals, overheating is becoming a normal design condition.
