Air conditioning isn't needed in many EU countries except for a few days a year (so it's not worth to even install it in private homes, modern offices mostly have them though for some reason).

Also depending on the country few people use cloth driers - you just hang your clothes on a cable and let them dry by themselves.

Houses in colder parts of EU are also usually better isolated than in US ([1] that's a typical Polish house for example), and more people live in flats in blocks instead of independent houses (so heat loses are vastly reduced because you only have 1 or 2 outdoors walls).

Homes are also simply bigger in US. Average home size (including flats) in my country is a little over 70 square meters. It's probably bigger in western Europe but not by that much.

Also big houses usually have 2/3 stories instead of being very "wide".

And electric heating/cooking isn't very popular, but I think that depends on the country.

It all goes back to electricity prices - in Poland in 1980s most houses had no isolation, everybody heated with coal which had fixed (and very low) prices. Then communism ended, prices were free to change with the market, some taxes were introduced, and suddenly everybody isolated their houses in like 10 years. Otherwise you burned money like crazy.

[1] https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pressland-cms/cache/__...

Global Warming is changing that. Anecdotally in my observations, more new houses in France now have AC whereas it was rare only 5 years ago.

Global warming is not that much difference. People just can afford ac now so they buy it.

Given I have skipped last year (due to COVID) but we'd been in France every summer for the previous 5 years and it's gotten hotter and hotter - resulting successive record breaking summers.

I think the decline of the jet stream is a bigger deal for Europe than the US. Hotter summers and colder winters.

People are also fatter and less tolerant of warm weather.

Heat pumps are an efficient way of heating in the winter, and double as AC in the summer.

Reversible ac are more energy efficient that heater, x3 I think

Sorry to nitpick, but I assume you mean EU houses are better insulated than those in the US, rather than isolated.

Whaha, the Dutch word for insulation is "isolatie". The word "isolatie" also translates directly to the English word "isolation" as in being away from everyone.

I think the poster might be Dutch or similar :p

Yup. False friend. Thanks for teaching me a new word :)

> ([1] that's a typical Polish house for example),

I believe a typical Polish "house" will be an apartment.

42% of Poles live in apartaments. It was slightly above 50% several years ago.

House size is basically proportional to the increased energy. The average US home is 2-2.5 larger than European homes [0]. This doesn't just mean more space to heat and cool but also more space for additional appliances.

[0] https://i0.wp.com/shrinkthatfootprint.com/wp-content/uploads...

Office buildings use them because the heating/cooling part is secondary.

They need it for ventilation because 6th floor office windows don't open for obvious reasons.

Probably due to differences in standards, like wall isolation (I don't know the english terms). My house has 25cm isolation in the walls and 40cm isolation under the roof. I also have 3-layer windows and a thick metal door. The ventilation system is isolated and the air heat is reused to save electricity. This is for a 260sqm house.

We average 400-500 in the spring, fall, and winter. In the summer with AC however we'll double that. We are in a northern climate, I have to imagine in the south it gets pretty spendy for AC.

Same reason most Americans are poor. Inability to prioritize long term goals over immediate gains. Save $50 today, but spend $500 more over the next decade.

US housing is very roomy, often features AC and poor insulation, and electricity is cheap and avergae incomes are high.

I suspect big houses, poor insulation, air conditioning, and gluttony.

Most of the US houses I've been in use either gas or fuel oil for heating.

We have lots of elctric furnaces or heat pumps in the southern and western states where winters are milder. The air conditioning is the real usage. The insulation in new homes is good, but the insulation to keep heat out needs to be in walls as much as ceilings which is harder to retrofit. Modern AC systems help quite a lot and keeping heat away from ac ducting in the attic by insulating them amd adding roof vents and radiant barrier to keep the attic cool. Lighter colors so your south facing wall doesn't fry eggs (literally) also help.