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.

While nearly 90% of US homes have air conditioning, in Europe it’s around 20%, and some countries have much lower rates.

Europe braced Wednesday for another day of an unprecedented heat wave that has smashed records in many countries and sent air conditioner sales zooming in a con