Just 5% of British households and 24% of French ones have air conditioners at home. As intense, life-threatening heat waves become more common, that is starting to change.A woman cools herself with a hand-held fan during an intense heat wave in Paris on Thursday.Annice Lyn / Getty ImagesJune 26, 2026, 12:14 PM EDTLONDON — In a sweltering room above a London pub, Peter Helmis was broiling through a gig like none he’d ever played before. Sure, it gets hot in Pennsylvania, the home of his emo-punk band, but the historic heat wave that’s hit during his European tour carries one brutal difference.Just a moment.We are getting your experience ready.
To AC or not to AC? That is the question roiling a boiling Europe in a historic heat wave
Just 5% of British households and 24% of French ones have air conditioners at home. As intense, life-threatening heat waves become more common, that is starting to change.
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