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A senior Paris official has blamed the United States in part for France's deadly heatwave. Audrey Pulvar, the city's deputy mayor for international relations, has raged at Americans mocking France's limited air conditioning - and claimed their greenhouse gas emissions are to blame. "Dear American journalists and social media 'influencers': for days, some of you have been criticising and making fun of Paris because the city does not have A/C in every room..." "As the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions in the world, you bear a significant amount of responsibility for global warming and the consequences we, in France,...

Nice to see the UK has its priorities right. Britons have been ordered to remove air conditioning from their homes - despite the country baking in up to 40C heat this week - under a fresh Net Zero crackdown. Planning officials at councils have told residents to take down their cooling units over concerns about carbon dioxide emissions. They say AC, despite the heat, should serve only as a 'last resort'. But not enough of a "last resort" to, you know, keep you from roasting to death, apparently. Instead, authorities ordered citizens to exhaust all other forms of avoiding heat...

The European Commission’s headquarters was forced to shut down its air-conditioning system on Friday due to the heat wave. Staff working at the Berlaymont building received a text at midday, reading: “BERL — URGENT — Due to extreme weather conditions, forced shut down of air cooling system from floor 1 to 7 for the rest of the day.” The 13-story building is home to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, her 26 commissioners and about 3,000 staff. Von der Leyen works on the 13th floor, and most of her commissioners’ offices are housed on floors eight or above. Belgium and...

…While nearly 90% of US homes have air conditioning, in Europe it’s around 20%. As climate change drives more severe and prolonged heat waves, which arrive earlier and earlier, some are questioning why wealthy European countries have been seemingly reluctant to adopt air conditioning — especially as the heat takes an increasingly deadly toll. … “In Europe… we simply don’t have the tradition of air conditioning… because up to relatively recently, it hasn’t been a major need,” said Brian Motherway, head of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Inclusive Transitions … Buildings on the continent tend to be older, built...

This is true socialism. In France. École Primaire La Planette is a primary school in Nîmes, a town in southern France. A child recently fainted because of the heat (40 deg). Classes were being taught in corridors to get out of the heat. The parents got together to raise money for five portable air conditioning units. It took them only 3 days to raise the €2,000. They installed the units. Great, you think. Not according to the current municipal team in Nîmes (left-wing coalition led by communist mayor Vincent Bouget). Bouget has told the school to remove the units because...

The Tories warned that Britain was being left 'in the dark ages' through the 'bonkers' Net Zero drive. Britons have been ordered to remove air conditioning from their homes - despite the country baking in up to 40C heat this week - under a fresh Net Zero crackdown. Planning officials at councils have told residents to take down their cooling units over concerns about carbon dioxide emissions. They say AC, despite the heat, should serve only as a "last resort". The crackdown comes from building regulations which demand "active cooling" is used only after all "passive cooling" methods, like opening...

If the 2026 FIFA World Cup has taught international visitors anything, it's that Americans take air conditioning very, very seriously. Between the matches, sightseeing and cross-country road trips, European fans have discovered what may be the tournament's most unexpected MVP: aggressively chilled indoor spaces. According to TikTok, where #WorldCup has surpassed 8 million posts and #WorldCup2026 has reached nearly 2 million, videos marveling at America's devotion to air conditioning have become one of the tournament's defining off-field trends. Alongside clips about cowboy culture, Costco runs and late-night IHOP breakfasts, visitors are documenting a newfound appreciation for a country that apparently...

Homeowners are being forced to tear out air conditioning from their private properties under climate laws, despite rising temperatures. Council planning officers ordered residents to remove air-con units over fears they produce too much carbon dioxide, stating they should only be used as a “last resort”. The net zero clampdown is part of building regulations that state “active cooling” should only ever be allowed when all other means of “passive cooling”, such as opening windows or using fans, have been exhausted. The Tories said Britain was being “kept in the dark ages” under a net zero mindset that denies people...

For all the tedium of American political debates, at least we don’t have to defend air-conditioning. Not so in France, where “air-conditioning has become part of the political tug of war” amid a summer heat wave, writes The New York Times (NYT). On the side of air-conditioning, and reason, is Marine Le Pen. Le Pen is variously described as “far-right” (as by the NYT), “right-wing,” or “conservative,” depending on the author’s politics. She’s promised to deploy a “major air-conditioning equipment plan” if her party gains national control, according to the NYT. Le Pen is a former leader of the National...

California’s headlong rush to force people to buy electric cars, trucks, boilers and stoves has skipped over a key detail: Where is all the electricity going to come from, and how will it be delivered? While mandating electrification, California’s regulators have also imposed pricing strategies that punish consumers for using electricity when they most need it. Coupled with the rising costs of wind and solar generation—and the cost of backstopping that generation with batteries—electricity is becoming increasingly unaffordable. For nearly 20 years California’s investor-owned utilities have been installing “smart meters” that measure electricity use in real time. The utilities have...

Dubai, United Arab Emirates — The oil-rich United Arab Emirates on Thursday announced the completion of the Arab world’s first nuclear power plant, calling it a “significant step”. Abu Dhabi’s Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant will produce 40 terawatt-hours of electricity annually after its fourth and final reactor has entered commercial operation, the state-owned Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) said in a statement. It will generate 25 percent of the electricity needs of the hot, desert Gulf state, where air-conditioning is ubiquitous — nearly the equivalent of New Zealand’s annual consumption, ENEC said.

What is it about the New York Times op-ed page and every crackpot idea under the sun. Somehow, they always find each other. So now we have their latest: kill your air conditioner to save the planet The Times found some guy in Salina, Kansas, who praises going without and says he does it himself: "Whenever people ask me how my wife and I have endured 25 Kansas summers almost entirely without air-conditioning, I like to say we do it because air-conditioning makes it too hot outside. We’re not ascetics, Luddites or misers; we just want to keep living comfortably,...

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...

The list of everyday necessities the climate fanatics at The Washington Post choose to complain about as enemies of Gaia continues to grow at an exponential rate. The Post threw a fit over the upcoming Olympic Games “taking a farcical turn” against Paris organizers’ supposed commitment to maintaining the “greenest Olympics” ever. The Athletes Village was supposed to not have air conditioning (AC) in the rooms because other eco-friendly cooling measures will be used, whined the leftist rag. However, The Post cried, “portable air-conditioning units will be everywhere. Wheeled in. Shipped in. Ordered by visiting countries that want their athletes...

Your next new home air conditioner could set you back $12,000 or more, with federal regulators contributing to the rising cost of staying cool. Before 2020, buying and installing a new residential central air conditioner typically cost well under $10,000. Many jobs, including both purchase and installation, fell in the $6,000 to $7,000 range—about half the current price—says Martin Hoover, a co-owner of Atlanta-based Empire Heating & Air Conditioning. While many factors, including rising material costs, have contributed to the increase in prices, regulations have played an outsize role. The Energy Department in January 2023 issued a new efficiency standard...

Scientists say they have created an experimental new high-tech window coating that works similarly to polarized lenses on sunglasses by allowing all of the visible light through while also reflecting unwanted heat. If added to existing buildings and car windows, the new coating could reduce internal temperatures in hotter climates without sacrificing any of the visible light while also reducing energy usage for indoor air conditioning by as much as 30%. The new coating was developed by researchers from Notre Dame University who were looking for a cheap yet viable way to reduce the use of air conditioning in cars...

The athletes competing at the Paris Summer Games will have plenty of condoms, but they will not have air conditioning. “We designed these buildings so that they would be comfortable places to live in in the summer, in 2024 and later on, and we don’t need air conditioning in these buildings because we oriented the facades so that they wouldn’t get too much sun during the summer, and the facades, the insulation is really efficient,” said Yann Krysinski, who is directing the service of infrastructure for the Games. The buildings housing the athletes will apparently have some sort of cooling...

Olympic athletes are going to be on the hot seat this summer in Paris. Not just metaphorically; the Paris Olympic Committee wants this Olympics to be the greenest ever (take that, Classical Greeks!), and one of the measures they have taken is to build the Olympic village without any air conditioning. There will be no air conditioning in athletes' rooms at #Paris2024, which pledged to host the ‘greenest ever’ Olympic Games. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo spoke to @Reuters about the city's plans to keep athletes cool https://t.co/Js9skXtWoF pic.twitter.com/uVBMusztdi— Reuters (@Reuters) March 14, 2024I think this is one virtue signal that...

The climate control used by termites in their mounds could inspire tomorrow’s climate-smart buildings. New research from Lund University in Sweden shows that future buildings inspired by the termites could achieve the same effect as traditional climate control, but with greater energy efficiency and without its carbon dioxide footprint Termite mounds have a sophisticated ventilation system that enables air circulation throughout the structure. This helps to maintain and regulate temperature and humidity. “The digitalisation of design and construction processes creates enormous opportunities for how we shape architecture, and natural and biological systems provide an important model for how we...

DIY (Do It Yourself): Furnace Air Conditioning Saving Project. I've moved into a new home in a retirement community and don't want big bills to replace my furnace A/C down the line. I also don't like the idea that my energy bills may go up significantly with the global climate change policies that many are embracing. What can I do? DIY (easy): Powered Furnace Filter - $149 Amazon. Improves air flow by 30% (lower heat/cooling bills), captures much finer/more particulate matter saving the furnace A/C down the road. DIY (Moderate): Nest 3rd Generation or equivalent Wi-Fi Thermostat - $206 Amazon....