Growing Number of Air Conditioners in France Strains Power Grid and Environment

Paris - 03 August 2026: Air conditioners are spreading ever more rapidly in French homes as more frequent heatwaves make daily life difficult in poorly protected buildings. According to the environmental agency ADEME, around 24 percent of households had an air-conditioning system in 2025. Two years earlier, the figure was 18 percent. Depending on the survey, the current share is between 18 and 26 percent. This means that approximately one in four homes is now air-conditioned.Cooling still accounts for only around one percent of private households' final energy consumption. This ...