Should you install air conditioning during France’s heatwave?

Unless you have health problems or your home has become genuinely unliveable.

An unusually extreme spell of weather has hit France at the end of May, with temperatures climbing into heatwave territory. In these conditions, many people start thinking about fitting an air conditioner at home. Is it a sensible move, or one to resist? The reality is not a simple yes-or-no: it depends, and the answer needs a fair bit of nuance.

Portable (single-unit) air conditioning: purchase, installation and running costs

BFM recently pointed to a 2025 study by Que Choisir, which found that air-conditioning installation prices rise by 10% during heatwaves. The advice, therefore, is to wait until the peak has passed if you can.

In practice, a portable, single-unit air conditioner is an appealing option and, overall, relatively affordable. You should budget between 300 and 600 euros, and it can lower the indoor temperature by five degrees within a few minutes.

However, electricity use becomes significant when it is very hot outside. Still according to our colleague, you should expect roughly 4 euros per day added to your electricity bill-meaning a substantial outlay across the whole summer.

Fixed air conditioning: outdoor/indoor units, effectiveness and price

The other route is a fixed air-conditioning system with an outdoor unit and an indoor unit. Installed by professionals, these systems cost far more, but they also deliver better performance.

In 2024, based on figures reported by Le Monde, the equipment alone (excluding installation and taxes) typically came to between 4,800 and 8,700 euros-although some people report much lower prices, particularly when financial support is available.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has already discussed these technologies in its reports, observing that “air conditioning can reduce risks for the individual, but is poorly suited at a societal level”.

What are the alternatives to air conditioning?

At the level of an individual resident-whether for comfort or, quite simply, for health and even survival-installing air conditioning can be a rational decision. The issue is that, collectively, widespread adoption brings a set of fairly negative consequences.

The broader impacts: electricity demand, refrigerant leaks and urban heat islands

As other outlets have highlighted, one concern is electricity demand, which in turn drives greenhouse-gas emissions. According to the IEA, this demand contributed strongly to the rise in energy-sector emissions in 2024, particularly in India, China and the United States, where thermal power plants were brought online to meet it. The picture is somewhat different in France, where the energy mix relies heavily on nuclear power.

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In France, a bigger worry is refrigerants. These gases have very high warming effects, and they sometimes leak from appliances and end up in the atmosphere. Regulation and industry practices have improved, and progress has been made. Even so, these gases accounted for 2.4% of national emissions in 2022, with 82% attributable to the combined refrigeration and air-conditioning sector.

Finally, air conditioning makes urban heat islands worse. Cities already retain more heat than rural areas because of dense construction and sealed, impermeable ground surfaces. That translates into noticeably higher temperatures-especially overnight-and air-conditioning systems only intensify the problem.

Faced with these downsides, organisations such as the Foundation for Housing the Disadvantaged argue for alternatives, including equipping all homes with air circulators (ceiling-mounted fans). They use much less energy while reducing the perceived indoor temperature. Likewise, improving a building’s thermal performance through renovation can significantly boost comfort in both winter and summer by limiting heat gain and heat loss.