Heat

It is warm. Or, should I say, very hot? It is very hot 🔥! For the past few days, the maximum temperature outside has been hovering 30C in the south of the Netherlands. Here in Eindhoven we have, officially, a 80 to 100% chance of a heatwave. I think that’s a yes.

You might say: “Henrique, you’re Portuguese, you’re surely used to this high temperatures”. And that is true. I am - or rather was - used to high temperatures, sometimes reaching the mid forties, in the summer. Outside. Outside. Not inside. I wouldn’t mind it if the high temperature stays outside.

Portugal has always built houses to keep the heat outside. So much so, that Portugal has one of the highest number of deaths in the winter due to the cold inside, since houses are so poorly insulated.

The Netherlands, on the other hand, just like some other countries - I’m looking at you, UK - has never taken the heat seriously. “Oh, it just happens a few days a year”, said someone. Therefore, homes have been built to keep the warmth inside, to suck the warmth and bring it inside. They’ve never been built thinking about the slight chance it might get hot.

It’s now 27.8C inside. Outside it is 32C. Yesterday, it reached 29C inside. I expect today to reach 30C. Windows are closed. Curtains are closed. Blinds are closed. Everything is closed. Yes, I aired out everything in the morning and it went down to 23C at the time.

It’s unbearable. This building was delivered in 2021. It’s a relatively new building. Yet, it has not been built with cooling in mind, only with warming. We have floor warming. Floor cooling is something that also exists, and is provided by the same company that provides us with the floor warming. The pipes on the floor are capable of it.

However, they chose for the cheapest machine, so we only get warming. No cooling. We rent, so we can’t install AC. We could potentially get a portable AC, but we have floor to ceiling windows in every single exterior wall. There’s really no good way to use a portable AC.

A fan is all that remains. That, or going outside, which I’ll probably do in a bit. It is to warm, too warm to even work. I’m one of those people that prefer to be a bit too cold than a bit too warm.

Now that I finished my sort of rant, there’s also a positive note: newer buildings have to take cooling into account. So, there’s progress, at least here in the Netherlands. But sadly, for the most of us, there’s no cooling, and no option of installing cooling.

Stay safe, stay hydrated, and please don’t melt 🫠