AC-free ambition for Paris Olympics melts away as organisers order 2,500 cooling units

France24 ^ | July 2, 2024

[Oldeconomybuyer]

The Paris Olympic village will be fitted with 2,500 temporary cooling units when athletes arrive later this month, organisers said Tuesday, in a blow to the event's eco-friendly credentials. The organising committee had initially announced they would steer clear of air conditioning in the athletes' accommodation, instead using a geothermal cooling system.

The complex in a northern suburb of Paris was built as a showcase of environmentally friendly technology and has a geothermal cooling system that uses cool water pumped from deep beneath the ground.

But the lack of air-conditioning has long worried some national Olympic teams, with athletes concerned about missing sleep, particularly given the summer heat waves suffered by Paris in recent years.

The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, who heads the Olympics infrastructure group Solideo, had ruled out using portable air-conditioners in the village last year, while other officials have stressed that they were not necessary.

"I have a lot of respect for the comfort of athletes, but I think a lot more about the survival of humanity," she told French radio station France Info in February 2023.

[Lurker]

“I have a lot of respect for the comfort of athletes, but I think a lot more about the survival of humanity,” she told French radio station France Info in February 2023.”

I’ll bet her office is air conditioned along with her home and car.

L

[Libloather]

"...but I think a lot more about the survival of humanity,"

Olympic athletes expell an awful lot of CO2. Time to shut it down.

[Steely Tom]

"I have a lot of respect for the comfort of athletes, but I think a lot more about the survival of humanity,"

I do not for one second believe that Madame Hidalgo's office and home, as well as every building in which she sets foot during the course of a normal day, is fully air conditioned.

[NWFree]

So much for all that fake climate change crap

[jjotto]

2019 European heat waves. Hit 100+F, when average highs are 80 degrees.

[livius]

Ha ha ha ha ha….

[OneVike]

The complex in a northern suburb of Paris was built as a showcase of environmentally friendly technology and has a geothermal cooling system that uses cool water pumped from deep beneath the ground

They built the complex using swamp coolers. I would be bringing a portable A/C also. Anyone lives or has ever lived in the deep South, knows how badly swamp coolers drive up the already miserably high humidity into unbearable levels.

I was transferred from Germany in "75" to Ft Benning GA. After my tour of dusty ended I decided to live in Columbus for a few years. I returned 2 more time over the next 10 years, until I left for good in "85". I would rather deal with the heat than deal with the high humidity a swamp cooler creates.