Standing against them are those who think Britain’s hostility to cool has turned into a kind of machismo.
David Lawrence of the Center for British Progress think tank puts it clearly: We don’t tell people to insulate their homes in winter and then leave the radiators on. So why insist that shade and shutters be adequate in summer?
He points out that air conditioning is now standard in offices, hotels and shops, “but we don’t expect it for schools and hospitals – which is strange, because they are places where millions of people visit every day”, and where heat affects concentration, learning and health.
This dispute over the advantages and disadvantages of technology is becoming political.
Some London councils, following a scheme called “cooling hierarchy” say that low-energy methods of keeping homes cool should be prioritized over air conditioning and in some cases have ordered property owners to remove them; The Conservative front bench calls it a “dark ages” of wretchedness; Other MPs and political commentators call for an “air-con revolution”.
Since April, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme in England and Wales has offered £2,500 for a reversible air-to-air heat pump: a machine that heats a home in winter and cools it in summer. Apart from the name, this is the UK’s first air conditioning subsidy – but it’s marked as a heat pump, and only a third of the price of £7,500 for the heating-only model.
There has been so much silence regarding this grant that in its first month only about 45 families claimed it. By comparison, the number of claimed heating-only models was in the thousands.
Homeowners in Scotland can also get a grant of £7,500 for heat pumps through their Home Energy Scheme – but for air-to-air versions that can provide cooling, there is no funding. And there is no universal heat pump grant offered to homes in Northern Ireland.
Under the terms of the England and Wales scheme, some people may not apply at all. It is closed to social housing and new construction – which many argue excludes those who are most exposed.
Take Woolwich, south-east London, where a resident named Keisha says temperatures in her top-floor flat reach 43C in the heat.
She calls the building “inhumane”; She and about twenty of her neighbors in Canada Court and Clifton Lodge are taking their landlord, housing association PA Housing, to court over homes they say are unfit to live in.
