Aircon: government should fund / subsidise it?

[catspyjamas1]

For context: I'm from Africa. Half my life has been spent in the UK and growing up in Africa, we didn't have AC unless we were in the shops. We had ceiling fans, onshore breeze from the sea, rarely a pool etc.

In the last 7-10 years, it's clear that the UK is not designed for the heat we have now in summer. This will not stop and is here to stay.

I've read several threads in the last couple of years of people in new build high rise flats who are struggling - one this week.
Ditto new build houses. I'm in a new build and upstairs where I sleep is horrific. I'm going to drag a mattress to the living room to sleep.
UK house builds are designed to retain heat - great for winter!! But not for summer.

Will add that I'm now in early menopause (formally!) so perhaps my experience of heat and sleeping is skewed

So:
AIBU: people need to suck it up and buy some fans.
YANBU: government should start a fund to subsidise and/or incentivise aircon in new and old houses (similar to what they did a few years ago for heating)

NB: please don't send me heat reduction tips, am on it and like I said, originate from Africa where 40+degrees C is normal.

To those saying it’s only 2 weeks a year, have you spent any time in a new build home? It’s a lot longer than 2 weeks. As I say, before our air con our bedroom didn’t get below 30C for a month one summer, I’d like to see you try to sleep in that.

I lived in period houses all my life, they are always cool in summer, unfortunately also cool in winter!

We finally downsized to a new build for convenience and for the first time I understand why people suffer from the heat. Our house has many benefits, is well built and insulated to a high standard but it is almost impossible to get the temperature down once it rises internally. There are no cold spots. I have the means and capability to manage it, not everyone has.

I think enough is now known about climate change and likely weather patterns for builders to incorporate this into their planning and the government should be putting the pressure on to make this happen.

Widespread A/C isn’t the answer but good design is.

No but also doesn’t it just heat up everything more

No, insane unaffordable idea OP.
Building regs need changing as a matter of some urgency to design in resilience to increasing temperatures. Some of it isn’t rocket science - which way the house faces, larger eaves which shade the house when the sun is high in summer but which allow it in in winter. Shutters, with windows designed appropriately so they can be used.

Meanwhile more education on what people can do to help themselves (there’s a thread currently which indicates some DHs need remedial basic physics lessons).

Sorry Mr Peterson, we're going to have to cancel your hip replacement surgery again because even though you're housebound and in constant agony, some people would like the government to pay for AC

If money > priorities, then fine. Unfortunately it's priorities <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< money at this point

Do you do the sensible things that really make a difference eg closing windows and curtains during the day and opening them at night?

We have air con now, but yes to all that, it was like a cave on a summer’s day. Loft hatch open etc etc.

I did Google it and it's Spain and a number of Mediterranean countries have limited it to a max of 27degrees before they can use air con!!

yes its pure gaslighting

Spot on. Only if you’ve been seriously ill and had many months of suffering headaches, nausea and sleepless nights because your body doesn’t tolerate heat would you understand that for people like us “bad weather “ isn’t rain etc it’s heat.

Utter rubbish. When you say government should fund it you mean the tax payer. 99.9% of tax payers would never prioritise air con over food, bills etc so why should our taxes prioritise it? We live in one of the most temperate climates in the world. We have far bigger issues to solve than a few days of a heatwave.

Surely everyone finds their own way of being cool either buying fans or air con machines.

I live in a hot country. The government don't subsidize it?

To be honest I am more worried about the number of houses with solar panels where the inverters are in the loft.

The safe operating temperature for inverters is 40 to 45 c. Above that then the best case is that the inverter shuts down (and cause a major shortening of its life span), the worst case is it catches on fire in your loft.

Domestic battery storage is even worse, where they can suffer thermal runaway at temperatures above 50c and are even permanently damaged at temperatures beyond 45 c. For example in Australia- all household batteries have to be stored outside against a non combustible wall (eg brick) with a separate and distant shut down switch for the fire brigade. This was introduced after a series of horrific house fires.

You've missed my point sorry, if the government were going to put money into funding something, surely the first place it should go is the NHS, not air conditioning!

I can read perfectly well thanks, you're the one making unnecessary digs at answers you don't like.

Isn’t it ironic how solar panels can’t work if it’s too sunny, because of inverters? And likewise, isn’t there some problem with the ugly wind turbines if it’s too windy? They get blown over, or something? This fantastic futuristic technology can’t survive the very weather it’s designed to harvest?

And it seems that since 2020, it’s totally verboten to enjoy anything, like nice weather. There’s always some reason you’re a selfish arsehole if you enjoy something, and make the most of it, while it’s in abundance for once. I need to get off Mumsnet, it’s doing me more damage than the sun ever will. “You mustn’t enjoy soft play, those ball pits are full of germs!”

To be honest, I really don’t want to pay more tax to fund AC for everyone. If you want it, buy some mobile AC units.

We only get a week or so of this heat. 🙄

OP, if you love a ball pit, nobody’s judging you…

I got a 24 hour ban because I said, apparently, naughty words to a poster. I'll catch up on the posts.

In the meantime, happy to have read several threads from other mumsnetters asking a similar question, especially for schools, etc.

Nobody cares if people like the warm weather. Conversely apparently not liking it upsets so many people on here that there are interminable numbers of threads whining about it being wrong to think differently.