Egregoros

@sun @eal
There's also the consideration that since over here houses tend to be properly insulated, powerful AC isn't as essential in places where the nights are cool enough.

People in the American housing industry have told me that the way burgers usually build houses it takes just 2 hours for the air to change with all windows and doors close, as opposed to Nordic houses where it takes 20+ hours. This was a decade ago so there is a chance that things have improved since then but somehow I doubt that the housing companies are willing to put the extra money into it if people don't care.

The family I lived with in Colorado for a while told me that the house fan AC of their suburban home amounts to hundreds of dollars per month in electricity. To me that's insane.

@sun outside of the "it's not always worth for the few days" i already see people mention, i also think they tend to get a somewhat bad name bc they are often put too cold for many people. i see ac's more and more, so more people seem to be ok with them. but in summer i do notice at the office how the ac temperature can be a source of friction/conflict. i, too, prefer having a window open in the summer over having to sit in a freezer. i know ac doesn't have to be that way, but it often does comes down to this.

@sun From what I know living in a very temperate area of the country, it's mostly because it was basically a luxury until the last twenty years or so, and minds change slower than the heat raise. For common people it boils down to that, way too expensive for something you use at most two weeks a year, and fans did the job.

Extrapolating (words words words):

Heatwaves of this magnitude are a new thing and until now we were mostly concerned about keeping heat in the winter by insulating the houses.

Proper AC units were already more common in the southern parts of the country where heat was always an issue, but for most people (who rent) it will be either suffocate indoor or save up to buy a proper mobile [suit Gundam] AC unit, because I don't expect any sudden move from the landlords to upgrade their properties to face the raising temperature unless government legally force them to.

Speaking of gov', there's also legal reasons specific to France impeding on AC adoption but I didn't read about that at all, just food for thought.

Another thing is that the general Internet discourse about this issue completely ignores that Europe is not a single country with a single climate. Europe is not just Germany or France, same as the USA are not just southern California or Texas but dozens states spanning an entire continent. I'm pretty sure the willingness to use air conditioning and the means and readiness to face extreme temperature will greatly change between say a fella from Fingolia and another one from Greece