Yeah we're doomed.

Even in the U.S., we use a lot more energy heating homes than cooling homes. Around 43% of our total in-home energy usage is on heating, and about 8% is on cooling.

Heat waves don't cause nearly as big of a strain on our grid as winter storms, because AC doesn't consume as much energy as even our efficient heat pumps in the winter.

That's because a heat pump that can lower the temperature by 10°-15°C is really all you need in the hottest part of the summer, whereas in the winter raising the temperature 25°C isn't uncommon.

At least in my country (Netherlands) the neoliberals have decided every single fucking thing needs to turn a consistent profit and the company who handles the grid is only allowed to upgrade when there is "utility and necessity" which in essence means any time they want to upgrade in anticipation of future demand everyone involved drags their feet.

The result of that policy is that now there is a ridiculous waiting list for commercial grid connections and there are plans to also restrict new high capacity residential connections. For a country that has been run by businessmen for the past 20 years we sure seem to have an awful lack of long-term vision.

Don't even get me started on the attitude that people here have towards A/C. We don't live in a country that's only hot for 1 week a year anymore but lots of ppl just won't accept that. I guess it's climate coping/denial combined with wanting to feel superior to Americans.

We will be cooked (literally)

EDIT: I just remembered that yesterday they unexpectedly had to cut power to 10000 homes for 14 minutes and it wasn't even a hot day.

To my knowledge a lot of ACs can't even operate at those temperatures, or only in a degraded fashion. The optimal maximum outside temperature of mine apparently is 35°C. After that the radiator can't get rid of the heat fast enough to have the inside unit work at full capacity.

There are genius ways to build homes that get cooled down even without electricity. See the "earthship" design for example, routing fresh air through pipes in the ground where it cools down, going through the home as the hot air gets sucked out by a "thermal chimmey" (literally creates airflow by using the sun). If we combined that with good insulation to avoid the sun heating up walls and windows we'd have liveable temperatures inside even at 50°C outside. But western countries not even remotely progressive enough for such a radical but necessary structural shift, so even right now we keep building houses designed to trap heat.

It's been the defining sentiment to the story when discussed in the US. The GOP has taken to the rhetoric of comparing heat deaths in Europe to gun deaths in US, as in Europe is being far more irresponsible not installing AC than US is not controlling guns (their words).

Mostly MAGA looking to literally die on that hill, (or expect thier grandchildren to)

Just to be clear a collapsing AMOC is projected to slow the gulf stream but not stop it.

It's still very very bad though.

Time to figure out how to put the inside of a building six months away from its outside...

For want of a more succinct meme - I swear there was one that just said "Silly humans..." | "I'll be fine."