Heat records in Austria: The summer 2024 ensures air conditioning boom!

Heat records in Austria: The summer 2024 ensures air conditioning boom!

Österreich - The summer of 2024 has reached record values ​​in Austria and has been the hottest for 258 years. According to an evaluation of geosphere Austria, it is the second warmest summer of measuring history, only exceeded in 2003. In the lowlands, temperatures were measured, which were 2.1 degrees above the average between 1991 and 2020. The temperature rise has led to a real boom in air conditioning systems, such as oe24.at . This year, the sales of the air conditioning industry rose by remarkable 38 percent to almost 74 million euros. A total of 48,000 air conditioning devices were sold, which represents an increase of 12,300 devices compared to the previous year.

The increasing heat is also shown in the number of heat days, which were almost doubled in the state capitals compared to the period between 1991 and 2020. Another report by Arf.at There were numerous records on the heat days, such as 45 in Vienna inner city and 41 in Eisenstadt. Extremely warm nights reinforced the already high temperatures, as many regions recorded records in the nightly low values. In Vienna Hohe Warte, for example, were 18.0 degrees, while 12.8 degrees were measured in Zwettl. In addition, the country experienced a total of 13 percent less precipitation, with some regions such as East Tyrol and Upper Austria remained particularly dry.

air conditioning systems as a solution?

The extreme heat not only raised the demand for air conditioning systems, but also raised new challenges. Critics warn that air conditioning systems not only regulate the inner indoor climate, but also tighten the urban heat, since the waste heat is directed outside and the urban temperatures further increase. Climate systems are also under discussion because of the climate -damaging refrigerants. The heat in the cities is potentiated by dense buildings and sealed surfaces, save heat during the day and prevent the nightly cooling. The summer of 2024 thus encourages the trend towards an increasingly hot climate in Austria.