It’s a luxury many Aussies take for granted, but France is bitterly divided over whether residents should use airconditioning to combat a brutal heatwave. As temperatures smashed records and soared above 40C across the country this week, residents did whatever they could to keep cool, with forty people tragically drowning at beaches, lakes and rivers.Others clamoured to buy fans, with a chaotic stampede caught on camera at one electronics store in Chambery in the country’s southeast. France is far less equipped to deal with heatwaves than other nations. Only about 25 per cent of households have an airconditioning unit, compared with 50 per cent of homes in Spain and Italy, and 90 per cent in the United States.In Australia the figure is 63 per cent, according to Finder.com.au. Not many schools or hospitals in France have AC either, leading to disruption this week as schools were closed and nurses complained of hellish conditions.Why does France have an aversion to airconditioning?The French have always been a bit suspicious of AC. In the first instance, their summers used to be mild enough that most homes and public spaces simply didn’t need it.Traditionally, the population relied on opening windows at night and closing shutters during the hottest parts of the day to keep cool. Many French people also believe that sudden changes in temperature, such as transitions between outdoor heat and airconditioned spaces, can cause “choc thermique” or “thermal shock,” leading to colds, nausea and fainting.But in recent years, AC units became even more unpopular as the debate is drawn along political lines. Airconditioning is widely viewed as environmentally unfriendly, expelling hot air into the streets and consuming too much electricity — although most of France’s power is nuclear and low-carbon.It’s the right side of the political spectrum that’s broken the taboo recently and begun advocating for nationwide airconditioning, Far-right presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen declared this week that it was “absurd to have people die because of the heat”, and vowed to “put into place a massive airconditioning plan, starting in places with the most vulnerable populations – hospitals, care homes and schools”.But far-left leader and rival candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon hit back at Ms Le Pen’s plan: “Absolutely not. Installing airconditioning everywhere would only mean increasing the damage.” The progressive newspaper L’Humanite also weighed in this week, running commentary saying AC “should be a last resort” and calling it a favoured solution of the “far right”, only for internet sleuths to discover that the paper’s own building was equipped with airconditioning. French Communist Party Senator Fabien Gay, director of the newspaper, was grilled on RMC about the details.“Airconditioning is a right-wing thing,” the host of the segment said. “Communism believes in technological progress? Do you confirm that your place has airconditioning?”“Yes we do, we rent — we are tenants,” Mr Gay said, explaining that L’Humanite and other commercial tenants in the building enjoyed airconditioning, after it was recently installed as part of renovations. The host went on to press the senator: “Why are most of our children in overheated schools right now? Why are elderly people being treated in overheated hospitals?”“Of course it is better to aircondition things,” Mr Gay replied.“Yes, we are lagging behind on airconditioning and it must be done.”