As a European I agree, at least for Western Europe.

It's not just the resistance but the price. There is tremendous price gouging in the AC industry. The real cost of a mini split system is the low hundreds of dollars but good luck finding one for that price in Europe. If it were regulated as a life critical technology and not as a luxury then it could be substantially cheaper.

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sokoloff an hour ago | parent [-]

Low thousands (or very high hundreds), perhaps. It’s still one fairly heavy outdoor unit, a moderately bulky indoor unit, a pump, two radiators, insulated pipes and control wires between, a circuit (wiring and an overcurrent device) and a disconnect, and a couple hours of labor from two tradespeople.

That’s unlikely to be sustainable for an out of pocket of a low hundreds figure.

	▲	zarzavat 7 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		You can buy a new Samsung mini split today for around $200 in asia, so with tax and shipping let's say $300 max. These things are mass-produced in the hundreds of millions of units. They're cheap and plentiful. Obviously the installation will be more expensive in Europe due to higher wages, but the units themselves should be dirt cheap.