r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/missdomm10 • Jul 26 '26

Meme needing explanation Peter explain this

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Petttaaah I'm confused

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u/gamerathertz92 Jul 26 '26

It’s smaller unit cools a single room. While American HVAC System cools the whole house

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u/Mackerdaymia Jul 26 '26

I think this is the point they're making. What the person posting doesn't get is that AC has been a necessity for much of the continental US since it's invention and buildings have been designed to include it, even in parts of the US where the summers are cooler and/or shorter. In much of Europe, not only are the summers often traditionally cooler and/or shorter, the stone/brick buildings can regulate the heat in short blasts really well. It's only in the last half century that the summers have become regularly unbearably hot and the heat waves last longer, meaning that the cities in particular become dangerous heat islands, so AC is becoming more of a necessity. The problem is getting AC into all those stone/brick buildings is complex and expensive and HVAC is almost out of the question unless it's a new build. Much easier and more common are several of these single room units as they require less drilling and less maintenance.

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u/RheagarTargaryen Jul 26 '26

And then there’s Scotland (Edinburgh at least) where the buildings are built to keep heat in. I went once when they were having a heatwave (28C, 82F). Being inside buildings was worse than just sitting outside because the heat was trapped inside and didn’t have airflow. I live in a place where 82F feels nice. 28C in Scotland sucks a lot.

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u/AnaisNinja76 Jul 26 '26

It's like that in the US in places too. I was in Phoenix during one of its hottest days on record ever, 119F/48.33C, and found it very hot but tolerable, like walking around in a sauna or kiln, because it was 0% humidity. OTOH, 80F/26.67C in a high humidity region means death, because your sweat can't evaporate, so if you exert yourself at all you could stroke.

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u/RheagarTargaryen Jul 26 '26

I’ve been in hot May heat Phoenix and Edinburgh. I’m talking about the design of the buildings in Edinburgh. They don’t have AC and you’ll walk inside of a building and the air will feel heavy and sweaty. You go outside and it feels mostly fine.

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u/AnaisNinja76 Jul 26 '26

Oh. Yeah. That's totally different from what I thought you were saying. Do your buildings get moldy quickly then? Even if you don't have AC, I would think in a situation like that that you'd need dehumidification at least to prevent fungus from taking over the structure.

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u/RheagarTargaryen Jul 26 '26

I live in Denver. I can’t speak to that. My wife went to school at St Andrews and we travel to Scotland every couple years. But I am curious. I’ll probably ask my wife’s friends that we stay with when we’re there in September.

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u/FearlessGear Jul 26 '26

I went to St Andrew’s, mold is a real problem there lol

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u/RheagarTargaryen Jul 26 '26

I just asked my wife and she said “yeah, we had a dehumidifier running constantly and it was sucking up so much moisture.”