‘Trust science’, Paris mayor boasts as city declares ‘there will be no air conditioning in Olympic athletes’ rooms ‘to cut the carbon footprint’ of summer Olympics

From CLIMATE DEPOT

By Marc Morano

Reuters – March 14, 2024: There will be no air conditioning in the athletes’ rooms at Paris 2024, which has pledged to host the “greenest ever” Games. … Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo told those nations planning on installing air conditioning at the athletes’ village to “trust the science” instead… With climate scientists warning that global warming has produced more extreme weather patterns in much of the world, organisers of Paris 2024 have said they want to halve the carbon footprint compared with the Rio 2016 and London 2012 Summer Games. “I think we have to trust science on two counts. The first is what scientists are telling us about the fact that we are on the brink of a precipice. Everyone, including the athletes, must be aware of this,” said Hidalgo. “And secondly, we have to trust the scientists when they help us to construct buildings in a sober way that allows us to make do without air conditioning.” ..

Yet, the Olympic Committees from Australia, Brazil, Canada and Norway are among those who believe it will not be enough.

“Our clear wish is that there should be air-conditioning in all rooms,” the Norwegian Committee told Reuters, with Brazil saying “the heat forecast” made it “necessary to invest in renting air-conditioning units for the entire delegation”.

Associated Press in 2023: The Paris Olympics is going underground to find a way to keep athletes cool at the 2024 Games without air conditioners…The decision is part of the organizing committee’s goal to cut the carbon footprint of the Paris Games by half and stage the most sustainable Olympics to date by installing a special technology to use natural sources to keep everyone cool even during a potential heat wave. Compared to a conventional project, the carbon impact will be reduced by 45% for the Athletes Village during the construction phase and over the entire Olympic cycle, she said. …

The geothermal energy system will ensure that the temperature in the athlete apartments in the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb does not rise above 26 degrees Celsius (79 degrees Fahrenheit) at night, including during a potential a heat wave, said Laurent Michaud, the director of the Olympic and Paralympic Villages. … “Despite outdoor temperatures reaching 41 degrees Celsius (106 degrees Fahrenheit), we had temperatures at 28 degrees (82 degrees Fahrenheit) in most of these rooms,” Michaud told The Associated Press, detailing the results of a heatwave simulation. … To keep the coolness inside, the athletes will have to follow some basic rules, he added, including making sure the window blinds are shut during the day. … Although some Olympic hopefuls have already expressed concern about the lack of air conditioning, Monnet said athletes should adapt and help contribute to fight against climate change. “We need athletes to set an example when they use the buildings,” Monnet said. “We can build the most virtuous village we want, it is also the use that will be made of it that will weigh on our carbon footprint.” …

Allow only AC in very limited circumstances: “It will be on a case-by-case basis, and for health and safety of the athletes,” Michaud said, adding that ventilators vaporizing water droplets could be installed instead of traditional air conditioning units.

Athletes in Paris at the Summer Olympics will have to make due without air conditioning.

The mayor of Paris is listening to climate scientists who say the Earth is “on the brink of a prescipice,” and athletes should make sacrifices. pic.twitter.com/DLOOcDEn8j

— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) March 14, 2024

Modeling suggests that room temperatures during a heat wave would be 82°F (!)

My goodness, can you imagine competing as a world class athelete and then coming back to recuperate in your room that’s baking > 80°F

Insane risk for heat exhaustion.https://t.co/w7QhVbufiJ

— Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) March 14, 2024

https://apnews.com/article/olympics-paris-2024-air-conditioning-climate-change-78b47a6f1bf0e1fcae9889cce9debcd9

BY BARBARA SURK AND SAMUEL PETREQUIN

Published 11:42 AM EDT, March 20, 2023

The Paris Olympics is going underground to find a way to keep athletes cool at the 2024 Games without air conditioners.

Organizers are planning to use a water-cooling system under the Athletes Village — much like the one that has helped the Louvre Museum cope with the sweltering heat that broke records last year — to keep temperatures in check for the Olympians and Paralympians who stay there.

The decision is part of the organizing committee’s goal to cut the carbon footprint of the Paris Games by half and stage the most sustainable Olympics to date by installing a special technology to use natural sources to keep everyone cool even during a potential heat wave.

“I want the Paris Games to be exemplary from an environmental point of view,” said Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who has resolved to tackle climate change with an ambitious action plan that aims to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make the City of Lights carbon neutral by 2050.

Compared to a conventional project, the carbon impact will be reduced by 45% for the Athletes Village during the construction phase and over the entire Olympic cycle, she said.

For two months between July and September 2024, the Athletes Village north of Paris will host 15,600 athletes and sports officials during the Olympics and 9,000 athletes and their supporting teams during the Paralympics. After the games, the 50-hectare (125-acre) site next to the River Seine in the popular district of Seine-Saint-Denis will become a zero-carbon, eco-friendly residential and commercial neighborhood with 6,000 new inhabitants — the first ones moving in as soon as 2025.

In anticipation of hot weather, organizers have been studying heatwaves block by block in the Athletes Village. They have simulated conditions in the parts of the accommodation most exposed to the sun and have tested the effectiveness of the cooling system with an objective to keep the indoor temperature between 23 and 26 degrees Celsius (73 and 79 degrees Fahrenheit).

The geothermal energy system will ensure that the temperature in the athlete apartments in the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb does not rise above 26 degrees Celsius (79 degrees Fahrenheit) at night, including during a potential a heat wave, said Laurent Michaud, the director of the Olympic and Paralympic Villages.

He said organizers have conducted tests in rooms that are located on the highest floors of the residences and are facing south and exposed to direct sun on two sides. They also considered directions of winds in the region and the water temperature in the Seine. They have worked closely with France’s national weather agency to develop temperature forecasts.

“Despite outdoor temperatures reaching 41 degrees Celsius (106 degrees Fahrenheit), we had temperatures at 28 degrees (82 degrees Fahrenheit) in most of these rooms,” Michaud told The Associated Press, detailing the results of a heatwave simulation. “In other rooms, we clearly had lower temperatures.”

In addition to the underfloor cooling, the insulation built into the buildings will enable residents to keep the cold obtained during the night throughout the day, Michaud said. To keep the coolness inside, the athletes will have to follow some basic rules, he added, including making sure the window blinds are shut during the day.

Laurent Monnet, who is in charge of the green transition at Saint-Denis City Hall, Paris’ northern suburb where the main Olympic Village will be located, said all rooms should be 6 degrees Celsius (11 degrees Fahrenheit) cooler than the outside temperature, without an AC unit. Although some Olympic hopefuls have already expressed concern about the lack of air conditioning, Monnet said athletes should adapt and help contribute to fight against climate change.

“We need athletes to set an example when they use the buildings,” Monnet said. “We can build the most virtuous village we want, it is also the use that will be made of it that will weigh on our carbon footprint.”

Eliud Kipchoge, a two-time Olympic champion and marathon world record holder, endorsed the Paris sustainability plan. The Kenyan is one the sport’s most vocal proponents of environmental justice and has repeatedly sounded the alarm on climate change and the impact of global warming.

“It’s a good thought, because we all need to reduce our carbon,” Kipchoge said in an interview with the AP.

He called on fellow athletes to help combat climate change by reducing their carbon impact during competition, training and their lives in general because “we are all going to go through the same scenario.”

Paris organizers have been in touch with national Olympic committees and said they will have the option of setting up their own AC units in specific cases and on condition that the devices comply with the organizing committee’s technical criteria.

Most national Olympic officials have responded to the plans to keep their athletes cool during the Paris Games with a wait-and-see attitude. Some Olympic officials are not excluding bringing their own air conditioners to France — or paying for one on the spot — depending on the weather at the time.

The Australian Olympic Committee said it will keep an eye on the weather patterns in Paris over the coming year to ensure “the optimal high-performance environment for our athletes, including heat and humidity mitigation that may be required.”

Michaud, the director of the Olympic Village, said organizers want to be kind to the environment, but not endanger the health of athletes. Some athletes, especially in Paralympic events, have difficulty regulating their body’s core temperature and if they reside in rooms in which it proves impossible to keep at 26 degrees Celsius (79 degrees Fahrenheit) at night, national delegations will be able to install a portable AC system.

“It will be on a case-by-case basis, and for health and safety of the athletes,” Michaud said, adding that ventilators vaporizing water droplets could be installed instead of traditional air conditioning units.

Hidalgo, the Paris mayor, is adamantly against turning next year’s event into the bring-your-own-air-conditioning Olympics — health exceptions aside.

“I can assure you that we will not change course and that there will be no changes to the construction program of the village regarding air conditioning,” Hidalgo said.

Regarding the option of organizers providing national teams with an additional cooling mechanism, she said: “I am not in favor of it. We must be consistent with our objectives.”

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Tom Halla
March 19, 2024 6:07 am

Copying a third world sh!t hole is progressive?

jshotsky
March 19, 2024 6:11 am

The mayor could reduce the CO2 by holding her breath…

MarkW
Reply to  jshotsky
March 19, 2024 7:07 am

What are the odds of the members of the French government going without air-conditioning this coming summer?

Reply to  MarkW
March 19, 2024 4:03 pm

While citizens’ cars are made illegal at an increasing rate, during the Conseil des ministres, the cars of the members of government are during their diesel engines just to keep the air conditioning running!
(They admitted they need to make some effort though.)

Scissor
March 19, 2024 6:14 am

Crickets about crickets on the athletes’ dining hall menu.

March 19, 2024 6:15 am

Gosh, no air-con in a temperate region. Oh the humanity!

It’s not Mexico or New Mexico. Just make sure the windows open.

Zero upvotes for making a big virtue signal out of not installing something that’s not needed.

Reply to  quelgeek
March 19, 2024 6:18 am

Of course now I’ve posted that I remember that here, across “La Manche” as the French might call it, the Met Office puts out heatwave alerts when the temperature is forecast to exceed room temperature.

Reply to  quelgeek
March 19, 2024 7:49 am

Heat is only measured at airports, in France too.

Reply to  Krishna Gans
March 19, 2024 11:06 am

And outside Pharmacists which was why people were able send photos of the true outside temps in Spain and Greece that were 10C lower than the temperature that the Met office/BBC/WEF were trying to get away with.

Reply to  sskinner
March 19, 2024 6:22 pm

I had some Parisian telling me last summer that his flat was unbearable without a fan and because of the >40°C temp.
I didn’t care enough to explain her that with a T>bodyT, a fan would have made it worse not better.

Reply to  quelgeek
March 19, 2024 6:42 am

And air conditioning is not really common in europe anyways.

strativarius
Reply to  MyUsername
March 19, 2024 7:41 am

Why not tell what Europeans do use – particularly in the Veneto, Trentino, Lombardia, Piedmont etc etc?

Reply to  MyUsername
March 19, 2024 7:51 am

Have a look at Southern France…

John XB
Reply to  MyUsername
March 19, 2024 8:49 am

Not in private homes, but elsewhere quite commonplace.

Reply to  John XB
March 19, 2024 6:31 pm

Historically, there was way too much aircon in French public building. Many civil servant complained about the cold places!

Nowadays, not so much.
But it changed very recently.

Reply to  niceguy12345
March 19, 2024 10:07 pm

Historical significance… that is the main reason there is not much air-con in Paris.

That and the French being very strange people who think the breeze from an air-conditioner can cause health issues….. The dreaded “Courant d’air”

Also the very strange froggies are scared of the equally dreaded “Choc Thermic”.. the change in temperature as you go from hot outside into an air-conditioned room.

The French are very strange people…. with a macaroon as their president.

ozspeaksup
Reply to  bnice2000
March 20, 2024 4:38 am

legionnaires disease.
and yes the sudden temp from idiotically cold aircon to outside really can make people crook/keel over. lawn bowlers in aus tend to do that in summer. cold clubhouse stinking hot lawns

Reply to  MyUsername
March 19, 2024 10:54 am

BS

Even in Poland temperatures exceed 40C

Most Spanish homes have air conditioning

Etc, etc, etc

You clearly know zero about European homes

1saveenergy
Reply to  Redge
March 19, 2024 1:50 pm

Redge let me fix that for you

You clearly know zero about European homesanything

Mary Jones
Reply to  quelgeek
March 19, 2024 8:29 am

“Gosh, no air-con in a temperate region. Oh the humanity! It’s not Mexico or New Mexico. Just make sure the windows open.”

I live in southern BC (Canada), and the temperature in my area in Jul/Aug is usually in the 30C (86F) to 40C (104F) range.

Having lived here for 20 years, both with and without AC, I can unequivocally state that if the temp inside is 28C during the day, that means the walls are 28C, not just the air. Opening the windows at night doesn’t cool the walls, and it doesn’t cool the air enough either. Also, the average humidity in Paris in July and August is 70%, which makes 28C (82F) feel like 30C (86F). Trust me when I say, it’s too hot to sleep.

Reply to  Mary Jones
March 19, 2024 9:10 am

On an average how many days annually was an individual in southern BC unable to sleep because of the heat prior to 1960? How many consecutive days could such a situation endure? When it finally cooled off were most of the people nodding off at work and driving off the road with closed eyes?

Drake
Reply to  general custer
March 19, 2024 9:27 am

Why not ask about the 1930s dust bowl times, when there were no ACs and people just had to deal with it?

Yes, prior to the 60s almost everyone had NO AC for their homes.

Of course then, EVERYONE in a town had similar sleeping experiences and a shared suffering.

NOW leftists want people to return to the pre 1960s suffering.

So actually, what was your point?

strativarius
Reply to  Drake
March 19, 2024 9:53 am

Men were men and women were women back then – and the gays did their thing

Mary Jones
Reply to  Drake
March 19, 2024 1:18 pm

Thanks, Drake. Your response to GC is bang-on.

Reply to  Mary Jones
March 19, 2024 4:01 pm

When the third-worlders decide to start running the show in BC all they’ll need to do is pinch off the lines to your AC. As I remember over the hill in Alberta few had AC and everybody got along just fine. You’re a wimp.

Mary Jones
Reply to  general custer
March 20, 2024 11:33 am

We don’t need third-worlders to run the show in BC to have bad government – we already have it with the provincial NDP.

You go ahead and try to sleep in 40+C weather without AC. I prefer to use my head: close the heat-blocking curtains during the day, and use the tech available to make sleeping comfortably possible at night.

Reply to  Drake
March 20, 2024 8:57 am

Leftist, leftists and more leftists! It’s pretty likely that even the leftists make use of air conditioners, especially in their automobiles. Wouldn’t do to just open a window a crack and let the breeze go through the hoopie. It’s obvious that the mayorette is making a political statement so the best reaction would be to ignore it, especially in that affects a few pampered athletes on a free trip that could lead to ephemeral fame and fortune and no one else. The excitement here in leftophobia land over this idiotic policy is very amusing.

Scarecrow Repair
Reply to  general custer
March 19, 2024 10:12 am

You can be the first to go without any post-1960s technology. Start with medicine, transportation, the internet … and of course A/C.

Reply to  Scarecrow Repair
March 19, 2024 4:03 pm

Luxuries become necessities in the land of sissies.

M14NM
Reply to  general custer
March 19, 2024 7:36 pm

When you became a Luddite did you have to register with the county clerk?

Reply to  M14NM
March 19, 2024 8:26 pm

The current order of importance is this: !. Comfort 2. Convenience 3. Amusement 4. Safety. Everything else is below 19 on the list. No wonder the west gets its butt kicked every time it gets into a hassle with the primitives. The Anglos are so worried about running out of anti-perspirant that they forget to clean their rifles and charge their drone batteries. They are obsessed with maintaining an artificial personal environment that stays the same at all times. That’s one of the ideals that’s led to existential climate anxiety, the same amount of rain should fall every year, the same amount of snow, temperatures must be the same at a given time in a given location every year or we’ll be uncomfortable. Get a life.

ozspeaksup
Reply to  general custer
March 20, 2024 4:42 am

agree I havent ever had aircon, a fan is the most. obviously better in thick stone walled old home over present weatherboard with only roof insulation. but while uncomfortable its not the end of the world its a few days here n there and night open the place up and water outside to induce cooling

M14NM
Reply to  general custer
March 20, 2024 3:59 pm

No electricity for you!

Reply to  general custer
March 21, 2024 8:22 pm

My my what a smarmy jerk you are who doesn’t have empathy for others who are weaker, older or just sick gets overcome by heat.

It is YOU who needs to have empathy surgically attached to your shrunken heart.

John XB
Reply to  quelgeek
March 19, 2024 8:48 am

Ever been to Paris? It gets very warm because – well… it’s a city and cities even in temperate zones get hot. I spent a week there in Summer attending a congress. The hotel I was allocated had no air-con and was like a bake house.

mohatdebos
Reply to  quelgeek
March 19, 2024 8:52 am

Please do some research before posting. Thousands of people died in France in the last heat wave because they did not have air conditioning.

Reply to  mohatdebos
March 19, 2024 10:55 am

(A) I don’t need to do any research. I used to live in France. And (B) why single out AC, of all the interventions that could prolong a dying person’s life? Medical professionals, families, and even the dying themselves routinely prefer not to intervene for the sake of delaying the inevitable. I strongly disbelieve that healthy people died of the heat in Paris.

AC in nursing homes and hospitals is not the same as AC in an atheletes’ village. Olympians are rudely healthy.

All that said, I have no beef with AC. If it was on in my Parisian hotel room I wouldn’t rush to turn it off. It’s nice enough. Making a big fuss of not installing it is pure virtue signalling and deserves to be derided.

Reply to  quelgeek
March 19, 2024 12:33 pm

Yes.. NOT installing it IS pure virtue-seeking and should be mocked and ridiculed.

Reply to  mohatdebos
March 19, 2024 11:12 am

Thousands of people died in France in the last heat wave because they did not have air conditioning.

Apologies in advance, but you just got really unlucky …

I happen to be based in a “banlieue sud” of Paris, and updated the attached graph last autumn following the “Indian summer” in the first half of September.

NB : These are temperatures in the shade. Going out in “42°C temperatures” in direct sunlight, as I did briefly in July 2019 crossing roads on the way to the supermartket, was a very uncomfortable experience !

The “thousands of people died” heatwave was in 2003 (the black line from August 3rd to 13th.

“Thousands” died because it was the most severe heatwave in living memory … 1947 was a long time ago … and happened just after many Parisians had left their elderly relatives in Paris while they went on holiday for 3 (or 4 …) weeks.
_ _ _ _ _ _

“The last” heat wave was in 2020, from the 6th to the 12th of August, and was subject to the (by then) boringly monotonous “Alerte canicule ! ! !” messages that are now broadcast on French TV every time temperatures go above 25°C, along with exhortations to “check on your elderly neighbours”.

Note that in August of 2020, however, a few tens (/ hundreds ?) of “heat related deaths” would have been completely overwhelmed by COVID numbers.

Since 2003 whenever temperatures go above 35°C every evening TV news program starts with reporting from old people’s homes … “EHPADs” in France … with cameras closely filming residents “happily” accepting glasses of water from the “attentive” carers.

People, and countries, adapt to extreme events … go figure !

Paris_Selected-Tmax_1947-2023
Writing Observer
Reply to  Mark BLR
March 19, 2024 11:49 am

Considering that the “death count” from either CoViD OR heat waves is highly suspect – that proves very little. Quite a few were probably neither.

ozspeaksup
Reply to  mohatdebos
March 20, 2024 4:44 am

old? frail? and didnt know how to use windows doors and breezes? of course living in anthills doesnt help

Greg61
Reply to  quelgeek
March 19, 2024 11:38 am

Short memory. They had multiple deaths a few years ago in a heatwave when a few of their nuke plants were shut down

Reply to  quelgeek
March 19, 2024 12:29 pm

I was in Paris probably 25 years ago, and on three days in a row where it reached above 35ºC

The Paris record is 41.9ºC..

Obviously they are trying desperately to cause heat stroke deaths among the athletes…

They will blame it on “climate” rather than stupidity.

Edward Katz
Reply to  quelgeek
March 19, 2024 2:17 pm

What do you mean here? I thought climate change was making temperate regions a lot hotter, and aren’t the alarmists constantly warning about an increasing number of heat waves that will affect western Europe unless it renounces fossil fuels? Let’s see how all the tourists react if the hotels, restaurants and other venues decide to deprive them of A/C. Maybe there was no A/C during the last time Paris hosted the Games, but that was in 1924. This is the 21st Century.

CampsieFellow
Reply to  quelgeek
March 20, 2024 3:51 am

Does climate change mean that heatwaves will be more common and more intense or does it not?

Reply to  quelgeek
March 20, 2024 8:38 am

Easy for someone who’s not competing at the edge of human ability to say A/C isn’t needed.

Trying to Play Nice
March 19, 2024 6:18 am

I certainly trust Eliud Kipchoge’s knowledge of climate change. After all he did graduate from secondary school in Kenya.

Walter Sobchak
March 19, 2024 6:19 am

I have a good friend whose daughter is on the US National Swim Team. I am sure they will be thrilled to read this.

strativarius
March 19, 2024 6:22 am

Hidalgo is much like our own Khan

[in]Seine

charlie
March 19, 2024 6:27 am

The mayor of Paris is listening to climate scientists who say the Earth is “on the brink of a prescipice,” and athletes should make sacrifices.

Of course, if the Earth really was on the brink of a precipice, the Olympic Games should’t be held at all. But it isn’t so they are held, but athletes must suffer while somebody tries for a gold medal in virtue signalling.

Reply to  charlie
March 19, 2024 6:49 am

“while somebody tries for a gold medal in virtue signalling”

Yes, as if this gesture will have any effect at all on the Earth’s climate or the current situation. The mayor is just virtue signalling and probably thinks she is setting a good example.

The mayor should “trust, but verify” when it comes to alarmist climate scientists and their dire claims of CO2 doom. If she did, she wouldn’t be shutting off the airconditioning.

Western leftist politicians have a serious lack of critical thinking. Maybe that is part of being a leftist and they can’t help themselves. If they were critical thinkers, they wouldn’t be leftists.

MarkW
Reply to  Tom Abbott
March 19, 2024 7:11 am

Meanwhile, the French and Parisian governments keep their ACs on full blast.

Reply to  Tom Abbott
March 19, 2024 9:52 am

Your last sentence describes the reason for most of our problems…right there with the observation that some ideas are so ludicrous that only an intellectual would believe them.

Reply to  Tom Abbott
March 19, 2024 11:21 am

Perhaps the question should be
How much $$ does the mayor expect to save by not paying for AC electricity?

Writing Observer
Reply to  AndyHce
March 19, 2024 11:51 am

No, it’s how much $$ go into the pockets of her cronies for the alternative method – and how much gets stuffed into her brassiere as her cut.

Dave Fair
Reply to  Tom Abbott
March 19, 2024 2:30 pm

Have Her Honor explain the tipping point caused by a 1°K (+) to the current approximately 288°K (+) average global temperature.

MarkW
Reply to  charlie
March 19, 2024 7:10 am

Where are all the trolls who repeatedly declare that there are no “responsible” climate scientists who are predicting an eminent climate disaster?

Reply to  charlie
March 19, 2024 7:34 am

It of course depends on WHICH climate scientists she is listening to.
If it were up to me, I’d go with Lindzen, Happer, Curry, Spence, Christie et al, and stay cool after a day of competition.

Sparta Nova 4
Reply to  George Daddis
March 19, 2024 10:00 am

There are no climate scientists (IPCC). Climatologists, yes, computer nerds, yes.

rayswadling
Reply to  charlie
March 19, 2024 9:07 am

Yes…all those flights bringing athletes and assorted hangers on.
Maybe they could do a sort of remote zoom race? Syncronised timing from home countries?

Reply to  charlie
March 19, 2024 9:31 am

Maybe a sailing ship themed transportation company will start up to take all the athletes and tourists to Paris in a sustainable fissile free way.

Dave Fair
Reply to  charlie
March 19, 2024 2:22 pm

Notice that the temperatures forecast for individual rooms, etc. are based on models of outside temperatures and humidity and the efficiency of their rooms and air handling systems; no scale tests.

Decaf
March 19, 2024 6:27 am

Trust a woman to make such a stupid decision about what a sufficiently cool temperature is. But why is everyone else going along with it?

strativarius
Reply to  Decaf
March 19, 2024 6:45 am

She’s the boss

Randle Dewees
Reply to  Decaf
March 19, 2024 8:23 am

If it were my wife determining the settings the air would blow cold then hot, cold then hot, as her wonky metabolism wobbles about. Me, I’m just cold all the time.

Ron
Reply to  Decaf
March 19, 2024 9:41 am

If she was that concerned about climate change and the earth being on the precipice why in the world did they host the games? I mean, the Olympics or earth’s destruction…hmmmm.

Coach Springer
March 19, 2024 6:38 am

Not even if all of France abides by those rules. And it does not.

March 19, 2024 6:41 am

Is there any limit to the depth of stupidity these people can reach?

Apparently not.

March 19, 2024 6:48 am

Being an international example of graft and corruption at the highest levels it’s no surprise that something like this should occur as an adjunct to the Olympic scam. The games were held at the French city twice before air conditioning even existed but nobody seems to have remembered that fact. Of course those were in the days when Arctic sea ice extended nearly to Calais.

It might be more impressive if Mayor Hidalgo banned the use of electric lights, which consume far more electricity that produces CO2 and raises the local temperature to unendurable levels. After all, the earliest Olympians competed without electricity at all and no international television coverage until Tokyo in 1964.

Ultimately, the issues says more about human society than anything else, that the developed world insists that living in a small temperature envelope is necessary for life to continue. Of course even now humans live in places like interior Alaska, temperature dropping as low as -50F and lower to 130F in Death Valley. Forbidding AC in Paris is, of course, virtual signifying in high heels and fishnet stockings but just the same the climate of Paris is among the most congenial in the world at any time. That’s one of the reasons people have lived there for many centuries even before the invention of AC.

Mary Jones
Reply to  general custer
March 19, 2024 8:50 am

41C (106F) at 70% humidity (average in Jul/Aug in Paris) is NOT “congenial.” It’s stinking HOT. It feels like 77C (171F).

And if the indoor temp is 28C (82.4F), it feels like 30.7C (87.2F).
.

Reply to  Mary Jones
March 19, 2024 4:49 pm

106F and 70 percent humidity is some serious weather!

I didn’t know Paris got that hot. That sounds more like Oklahoma weather.

I usually stay inside under the airconditioner when it is that hot and humid. That’s probably a heat index of about 115F with that high humidity.

High humidity can sneak up on you and tire you out quicker than low humidity, if you are outside working in it. Your body can’t cool itself as efficiently under high humidity conditions.

Reply to  general custer
March 21, 2024 8:35 pm

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

your stupidity is on display here since the two previous SUMMER Olympic games held in France was in 1900 and 1924 when AC didn’t exist to be used affordably in buildings as that didn’t come along for a few more decades after 1924.

J Boles
March 19, 2024 6:50 am

I recall the original Greek Olympics, 3000 years ago, we had no AC and thought nothing of it, of course we just jumped in the ocean to cool off.

1saveenergy
Reply to  J Boles
March 19, 2024 2:01 pm

I didn’t see you there, which end of the Stadium were you ??

David Wells
March 19, 2024 7:13 am

FOI Request to UK Energy and Net Zero department:
Hi, Kindly let me have all of the information that the energy department holds which proves beyond reasonable doubt that the UK being Net Zero will influence the UK’s local temperature weather and climate?

  • Identify in absolute financial terms the true cost of the UK being Net Zero
  • Identify the net effect on the local UK climate temperature and weather if all 66 million of UK inhabitants died next Tuesday
  • Identify in absolute financial terms the true cost of the UK being all electric
  • Identify how the UK being Net Zero will benefit the UK when the rest of the planet and specifically China, India and Africa will not be Net Zero
  • Identify how the UK being Net Zero will beneficially influence the temperature climate and weather of the UK when China is commissioning two new coal fired power plants every week
  • Identify how the UK being Net Zero will beneficially influence the temperature climate and weather of the UK when 1,000 new coal fired plants are being constructed and commissioned across the planet at the same time
  • Identify how the UK being forced to drive EV’s will beneficially influence the temperature climate and weather of the UK
  • Identify how the UK being forced to drive EVs when mining having to increase by 7,000% means we have to destroy the environment which is supposed at risk from 0.04% of the atmosphere in order to save the planet
  • This happened when atmospheric Co2 was 290ppmv “People were dying in the streets from intense heat in Australia in 1896. This didn’t happen at 420ppmv but at 291ppmv. German Xmas flood 1717 14,000 died, China flood 1887 2 million died, US Dustbowl 1936 12,000 died, Great Famine of 1315-1317 decimated Europe extreme crime disease mass death cannibalism infanticide Victorian Great Drought 1876 to 1878 30 million died.” Identify all of the evidence that the energy department holds which proves beyond reasonable doubt that the UK will not experience more severe and extreme weather if it becomes Net Zero?
  • Identify how forcing 28 million homes to have heat pumps when net residual emissions from UK gas boilers equates to 0.00004% of global Co2 emissions – that is 4 trillionths – will have any influence whatsoever on local or global temperature weather and climate
  • This video The True Cost of Mining for the $500 Billion Electric Car Industry | True Cost | Insider News (youtube.com) reveals the true decimation and desecration of the environment which is necessary to enforce the belief that because of 0.04% of the atmosphere is Co2 this poses a direct threat to humanity and the planet Mark Mills: The energy transition delusion: inescapable mineral realities – Bing video Net Zero means increasing mining/extraction by 7,000%.
  • How does this manic destruction of the environment and chopping down trees to build wind solar and battery farms help to save the planet? China’s BYD Auto company alone used 13,000 tons of copper to make EVs in 2016. Based on average porphyry ore deposits today, every 100,000 tons of copper requires processing 23,000,000 tons of copper ore, after removing 35,000,000 tons of overlying rock – using explosives and fossil fuels! Known copper reserves exhausted by 2040. “Back in the day”, as they say, ores which were 4% or even 6% copper were not uncommon. But newly discovered ores are on the order of 0.1% copper. Every Tesla battery consumes 50 barrels of oil for mining and manufacture gasoline cars diddly squat. For just one lithium supply mine where entire mountains are eliminated. Each mine usually consists of thirty-five to forty humongous 797 Caterpillar haul trucks along with hundreds of other large equipment. Each 797 uses around half a million gallons of diesel a year. So, with an inventory of just thirty-five the haul trucks alone are using 17.5 million gallons of fuel a year for just one lithium site.
  • Identify how this helps the UK to fight and battle supposed human induced climate change? India Power Sector In 2023 – Watts Up With That? India has increased its thermal power generation added 2120 MW last year, and now stands at 208 GW. In the last three years 9630 MW has been added, at 0.78% of global Co2 why is HMG so dedicated to ripping out the industrial heart of the UK in order to virtual signal to the rest of the world when China and India for a start have no intention whatsoever of reducing their carbon footprint and will eventually destroy our industrial potential, how does this help the temperature climate and weather of the UK?
  • I have had a quote of at least £50,000 to convert four bed home to a heat pump, this includes insulation, an extra room for the equipment, larger radiators or underfloor heating and the rest, I am 76 at 0.00004% of global Co2 emissions kindly provide with will all the evidence that taking out a second mortgage at 76 to replace a £2500 gas boiler will influence climate temperature and weather for the UK?

Whatever?

John Hultquist
March 19, 2024 7:13 am

It is still early in the week, but this may be the silliest idea we hear this week.

March 19, 2024 7:18 am

So no heating for the winter olympics is the next logical step. Will anyone turn up to compete?

Coeur de Lion
March 19, 2024 7:19 am

I think she means carbon dioxide?

March 19, 2024 7:20 am

Something tells me that Mayor Hidalgo will not be suffering if the weather is warm.

Coeur de Lion
March 19, 2024 7:22 am

Anyone who says carbon when they mean carbon dioxide is lazy or has an agenda or is lying.

mleskovarsocalrrcom
Reply to  Coeur de Lion
March 19, 2024 7:28 am

Or has no clue what they are talking about.

Reply to  mleskovarsocalrrcom
March 19, 2024 7:37 am

Bingo

strativarius
Reply to  mleskovarsocalrrcom
March 19, 2024 7:44 am

“It’s what everybody else says…”

That’s good enough for Anne.

Dave Fair
Reply to  strativarius
March 19, 2024 2:37 pm

As the society matron said after Nixon’s election: “How is that possible? Nobody I know voted for him.”

Writing Observer
Reply to  Coeur de Lion
March 19, 2024 11:55 am

Unless they are talking about Red Chinese coal plant soot on the Arctic ice cap. Then they are being correct.

James Snook
March 19, 2024 7:37 am

Underfloor cooling! What moron came up with that Idea.
I suppose the competitors can sleep on the floor.

SteveZ56
Reply to  James Snook
March 19, 2024 9:30 am

Maybe the athletes can literally go underground to keep cool by sleeping in the Metro (subway). There would be a slight risk of being urinated on by vagrants who live there (most Paris subway stations have the odor of urine).

Long-term averages for temperatures in Paris in July and August: Daily Max 76 F / 24.4 C; Daily Min 58 F / 14.4 C. On average, the athletes can keep cool by simply opening their windows at night, closing them in the morning.

But if there is a heat wave during Olympic week, let the athletes sleep in an air-conditioned hotel. An athlete who couldn’t sleep the night before his/her event due to heat and humidity is not likely to perform as well the next day. If Madame le Maire (mayor) is worried about the carbon footprint, what about the CO2 emitted by planes used to transport foreign athletes to Paris?

Denying air conditioning to Olympic athletes will favor athletes from tropical countries, who are more accustomed to the heat.

Reply to  James Snook
March 19, 2024 9:56 am

About as useful as water radiators on the ceiling.

KevinM
March 19, 2024 7:50 am

The first is what scientists are telling us about the fact that we are on the brink of a precipice”
statements like that require a reference one can check.

March 19, 2024 8:04 am

From the above article:

“He said organizers have conducted tests in rooms that are located on the highest floors of the residences and are facing south and exposed to direct sun on two sides. They also considered directions of winds in the region and the water temperature in the Seine. They have worked closely with France’s national weather agency to develop temperature forecasts.”

Excuse me, but weren’t those “tests” carried out with the rest of any such residence building being UNOCCUPIED?

The total heat production of an “average” person at rest per hour is 58.2 x 1.8 = 104.76 = 105 watts
(source: https://ergo.human.cornell.edu/studentdownloads/DEA3500notes/Thermal/thcondnotes.html )

I suspect the metabolism of top notch athletes probably pushes their at-rest average heat dissipation up to around 120 watts.

So, if we assume one of these newly-constructed, room AC-deficit, athlete residences is 10 stories high and has 20 rooms per floor with 2 athletes per room, that’s housing for about 400 athletes. Multiply that by 120 watts per person and you are looking at something like 48 kW of power being generated internal to the building just from human body metabolism!

Also, if the athletes follow the dictum of “making sure the window blinds are shut during the day”, what about the heat load from the indoor lighting then needed for residents to be in those rooms during daylight hours? I’m betting that the aforementioned room temperature measurements were also conducted with all building windows having closed blinds but also with NO room lights being on at the time.

And then add to the waste heat dissipation from indoor lighting (including that used in hallways 24/7) the extra waste heat load produced by building elevators as well as by television sets, portable computers, and other personal electronics being used/charged by athletes in those rooms. All in all, you’re very likely having to continuously remove something like 100 kW of heat from an “average” newly-constructed and occupied Olympic village residence building.

That’s not going to be accomplished easily just using the 5 °C (9 °F) delta-T available between the temperature of the Siene river water and the warm residence buildings. For the months of July and August, the average water temperature of the Seine River in Paris is likely to about 21 °C (ref: https://seatemperature.info/paris-water-temperature.html ) and yet the intent is to use this “natural, geothermal” resource to maintain new building temperatures below 26 °C while considering the above factors? Really???

Sparta Nova 4
Reply to  ToldYouSo
March 19, 2024 9:55 am

48 kW of power is 4.1472 GJ of energy per day.
I wonder how many mol of air is in those buildings.\
Specific heat being what it is, there will be a temperature rise from all those bodies at rest.

1000 mol per m^3. Estimate each room as 6m x 6m x 3m = ~ 1000 m^3 and 200 rooms = 2E5 m^3 = 2E8 mol.
Air is 0.0289 kg per mol. 200 rooms (2E8 mol) = 5.78 E6 kg.
Specific heat is 1 kJ/kg-K.
4.147200 E6 kJ. equates to an overall temperature rise of just under 1 degree, assuming circulation, etc.
So it is probable that the rooms will be warmer than estimated.
With athletes not immediately going into a coma and using the added power mentioned, it is more likely to be a 3 degree rise above the Paris estimate.

And what will they do will all the CO2 (>> 2000 ppm) exhaled by the athletes. I really hope they provide decent ventilation given no open windows.

Reply to  Sparta Nova 4
March 19, 2024 11:11 am

SN4, you posted “1000 mol per m^3.”

Per standard scientific definition, one mole of any gas at STP is equal to 22.4 liters. There are 1000 liters in one cubic meter.Therefore, there are only 1000/22.4 = 44.6 moles of gas per m^3.

This alone introduces an error factor of 22 too low in your calculations.

You also posted “Estimate each room as 6m x 6m x 3m = ~ 1000 m^3.” However, 6*6*3 = 108 = ~100, NOT ~1000. That’s a separate error of a factor of 10 too high in your calculations.

I stopped at this point.

Sparta Nova 4
Reply to  ToldYouSo
March 20, 2024 6:41 am

I was both too quick and trusted Google. Sorry about that.

Sparta Nova 4
Reply to  ToldYouSo
March 20, 2024 1:06 pm

Also, I used 24 hours, but it should have been ~12. Funny how all the errors cancel out. 22 too low, 10 too high, 2 too high.

I should write a climate computer model. All the errors cancel giving the right answer.
Well, that is the IPCC approach anyway.

Sparta Nova 4
Reply to  Sparta Nova 4
March 22, 2024 10:30 am

Giving it another go….

Given 200 athletes resting generate 48KW per hour. = 2.07E9 J in 12 hours
Given rooms are 6m x 6m x 3m and 20×10 rooms = 21,600 m^3 volume of air
1 mol is 22.4 liters = 44.64 mol / m^3
Calculates to 9.64E5 mol in building (200 rooms)
Mass of air is 0.0289 kg / mol
Calculates to 2.79E4 kg air in building
Specific heat capacity of air = 1 kJ/kg/K

Calculates to 74.4 degrees K (or C) above starting temperature assuming no heat removal by walls, air flow, other heat sinks and ignores electricity use.

The walls will sink a lot of this energy. Concrete, for example, has a heat capacity of 0.920. Drywall (gypsum) is between 13.5 and 17.5 but at temperatures much higher (140 C to 170 C) than expected

Without doing a full analysis of the structure, primarily due to the unknowns of the construction, it is a safe conclusion that the rooms will be warmer than estimated.

Also, this does not account for the CO2 respiration which affects the specific heat capacity of air.

MarkW
Reply to  ToldYouSo
March 19, 2024 11:21 am

It’s a safe bet that the athletes won’t be sleeping all the time they are in their rooms.

cgh
March 19, 2024 8:12 am

She and her entire administration deserve all the mockery they get. This is nearly as demented as Jacinda Ardern’s antics in New Zealand during Covid.Scratch a leftist, find a petty, irrational tyrant.

Reply to  cgh
March 19, 2024 5:13 pm

“Scratch a leftist, find a petty, irrational tyrant.”

Radical leftists have a burning desire to control other people’s lives. It’s based on fear. They fear a lack of control, so they want to control everything, in order for them to feel safe.

Imagine how afraid Trump makes them. He is threatening to take away all their leftwing control. Trump is going to dash their socialist “paradise”. And the leftists are beside themselves with panic. They are losing control.

jdbookmarks
March 19, 2024 8:12 am

If its so important to reduce the carbon footprint, why not cancel the games? Brink of a precipice and all that…

strativarius
Reply to  jdbookmarks
March 19, 2024 9:56 am

Do them on zoom!

Leave TV to entertainment

rovingbroker
March 19, 2024 8:14 am

Maybe fill the place with Swamp Coolers.

An evaporative cooler (also known as evaporative air conditionerswamp coolerswamp boxdesert cooler and wet air cooler) is a device that cools air through the evaporation of water. … This can cool air using much less energy than refrigeration.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler

Randle Dewees
Reply to  rovingbroker
March 19, 2024 8:36 am

Well, as someone who has lived with swamp coolers for 38 years, they work when the outside humidity is low. In that case you get about 30 degrees F drop in the air temperature that the cooler pushes out. And the air is humid, which is desirable for arid desert conditions – I don’t have to run a humidifier in the warm part of the year. When we get some subtropical moisture pushing into our area, say dewpoint >45F, it’s just miserable without AC. So, not at all applicable for Paris.

Reply to  Randle Dewees
March 19, 2024 5:21 pm

Swamp coolers (I called them water coolers, in my youth) don’t help much when the temperatures get over 100 degrees F.

I remember an especially hot day one time when I was a kid, where I stood right in front of the water cooler and all it was blowing was hot air. No relief.

I think we got an airconditioner not long after that. Now that was a pleasant experience! Quiet *and* cool, no matter how hot it got outside.

Reply to  rovingbroker
March 19, 2024 11:29 am

Can work if the humidity is low enough, generally in desert or near desert conditions.

JonasM
Reply to  rovingbroker
March 19, 2024 1:40 pm

Goblin Valley State Park in Utah uses them to cool the yurts that you can rent for overnight stays. They are powered by batteries charged by solar panels (no electrical supply to the park was available, at least when we visited). When we were there, and it was about 105 degrees F outside, the inside of the yurt was maybe about 85-90. Far better than outside, but hardly comfortable.

They might provide a decent temp reduction for Paris, though like others have said, humidity would probably make them less useful there. Plus, they require electricity too, so almost certainly verboten, just like regular A/C.

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