Yes, exactly: install AC where it truly helps and where it is truly needed. That's the point I was trying to make. Most of the rest is solved far more efficient by things like installing shades. In other words: don't go all-out on giant whole-home AC without first stopping the huge inflow of new heat.

> if Europe stopped being so averse to new construction

We're not, there's plenty of new construction over in Europe.

The difference is that European buildings are built to last, so structurally there's no need to tear them down after a couple of decades. They are perfectly usable for another half-century after a minor renovation (including retrofitting AC!), so why destroy a charming historic district for absolutely no reason?

That doesn't mean buildings are never torn down, of course. Right now a lot of post-WWII rental units are being replaced by new construction, as they are architecturally nothing special and renovating them to modern standards is simply way more expensive than replacing them entirely.

Many buildings already have shades, but please tell me more how those shades and "properly ventilating during the night" (aka not getting sleep half the night due to outside noise) will keep my apartment at a livable temperature when the air temperature outside never drops below 23 degrees for more than an hour.

You can't effectively remove the heat that has pooled in the apartment with a 2-3 degree temperature difference, let alone in the few hours where you actually have that difference.

So because of thinking like the one in your post, we can't have real AC's (because to "protect the environment" we'd first need to install every other system that doesn't help then prove that with a mountain of paperwork), so my only option is to open the well-insulated window so I can stick the coolant hose of a portable unit through it.

I think the "properly installed AC bad" mentality will only change once the entire population of renters has those inefficient portable units (that are de facto impossible to regulate) and even the anti-AC group realizes that encouraging "real" ACs is much better than the workarounds that the status quo forces.

Where are people constructing buildings that need to be torn down after a couple decades? This is a refrain I've heard about construction (in the US?) several times in discussions like these, and I find it very puzzling.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_in_Japan

"An unusual feature of Japanese housing is that houses are presumed to have a limited lifespan, and are often torn down and rebuilt after a few decades,..."

I know of entire subdivisions where the new homes are being actively consumed by black mold due to insufficient HVAC capacity for latent heat removal. Every single central dehumidifier installed in those builds has lost its refrigerant charge due to some common manufacturer (Honeywell) defect. So, in some cases we didn't HVAC hard enough despite being America.

I don't understand how you can maintain a civilization in a place like Miami or Galveston without modern hvac.

Europe is a continent with a lot of different countries, all with different laws and regulations. Even the ones who are in the European Union have different rules and regulations.

So please realize that any blanket statements about Europe work as well as making one about the Americas (ie North/South).

Romania and France are different in a way that Oregon and Florida aren't. They have the same federal government, the same official language and relatively similar culture. Yeah, there are differences, and they can feel huge if you're in the western bubble, but differences like those are also found in other countries.

I will concede that the US is more ethnically or racially diverse than most parts of Europe, but that's about it. Saying that Oregon and Florida are as different to each other as France and Romania is, in my book, incredibly incorrect and it feels a bit insulting, though I can't out my finger on why exactly.

Agreed. I live in an apartment complex finished in 2020 and they have no provisions for AC, really not optimal. At least add provisions for holes so renters can easily install a mini split.