US Olympics is probably being overly cautious ever since Taliyah Brooks collapsed from exhaustion when they refused to delay a US Olympic trials a couple years back due to extreme heat.
Taliyah was on pace to make it to the Olympics until that happened.
How much concrete did they pour to build the infrastructure needed to host the games? I’d really like an analysis of that and the carbon footprint left behind by a few dozen AC units over a couple weeks.
The ability to rest in climate control is going to give them an unfair advantage.
Imagine living in a hot climate country. What a unfair situation.
The ability to rest in climate control is going to give them a
n unfair advantage.FTFY
The organisers should just cut their power supply. Or disqualify the team for trying to gain an unfair advantage.
How is it unfair? Couldn’t any team do the same thing?
ACs are not being provided to reduce emissions. Most teams seem to be respecting this decision.
No, it’s just posturing. The emissions from AC at the Olympic Village would have zero impact on climate change. This is just green washing for public perception points.
The emissions saved from removing a few hundred ACs are negligible. But the message it sends to the millions watching the Olympics is significant. Which, again, is why I am hoping there will be at least some symbolic action against rule-breakers - it will start a conversation about the need to regulate / ban ACs.
As far as I can tell, there is no rule to break here.
Lol that’s bullshit, someone fucked up to save a dime and they’re trying spin it
First of all, [citation needed]. Second, even if it is, a good message is being sent.
If living areas of the Olympics are getting hot enough that AC gives an advantage. They’re too damn hot, and that’s on France…
ACs are not being provided to reduce emissions. Everyone is being asked to accept an equal handicap, so that the world does not become even hotter in the coming years. It’s largely symbolic, I agree, but I suppose kicking out a team that prioritises its medal tally over the climate crisis would send an even stronger signal.
AP again has a shit take: Olympic Village is real estate and will likely be sold off as real estate when the Olympics end. Installing AC, even if it makes sense in the short term, makes zero sense for the long term utility of the building.
What’s wrong with AC if it’s powered by renewable electricity?
France’s energy supply is almost entirely nuclear, which isn’t the easiest to ramp up and down on a minute-by-minute basis.
All electricity has some GHG footprint, and not using that electricity by definition has a lower GHG footprint. Plus, AC creates a heat island effect that forces other city occupants to also install AC, making the outside increasingly miserable over time.
They could sell that renewable energy to Germany who only burns hydrocarbons
I didn’t see the /s, so In case you’re being serious, here’s the wiki for Germany renewable energy. There’s a lot more than hydrocarbons going on.
A bit hyperbolic much?
Hydrocarbons are about 30-40% of their mix.
It’s still bad for the environment, even if powered with green electricity.
Care to elaborate how?
Sure!
“Cooling is a big contributor to global warming. Much of the existing cooling equipment uses hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants, which are potent greenhouse gases, and use a lot of energy, making them a double burden for climate change. Even with the phasedown of hydrofluorocarbons required by the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, business as usual means emissions from refrigeration and air conditioning are expected to double by 2030 and triple by 2050, rising from 7 per cent of global GHG emissions today. Right now, the more we cool, the more we heat the planet.”
This is a bit like complaining that electric heaters are a big problem because they use a lot of energy and may contain greenhouse gas products inside them.
There are entire industries belching thick black smoke into the atmosphere because it’s slightly cheaper than the clean alternative. That’s where climate change efforts should be focused, not on the small creature comforts provided for humans so that they don’t suffer in the heat.
I’m just stating the facts. But as a European I have to say I’m pretty surprised by the attitudes in this thread. Almost no one I know has AC and we do just fine, seems folks are awfully protective of their AC. Obviously there are worse offenders in other industries but the source I gave you shows that by 2050 AC could be over 20% of GHG emissions, from 7% today which is still nothing to sneeze at.
Here are some more facts (though the source kinda sucks, Quora):
Indirect Environmental Impact: Even if the electricity powering your air conditioner comes from renewable sources like solar or wind power, there are still environmental impacts associated with the production and installation of the air conditioning unit itself. Manufacturing the units, transporting them, and disposing of them at the end of their life cycle all have environmental consequences.
Energy Efficiency: The energy efficiency of the air conditioning unit is crucial. Even if the electricity comes from renewable sources, using an inefficient air conditioner will still consume more energy than necessary, putting strain on the grid and potentially increasing demand for non-renewable energy sources during peak times.
Heat Island Effect: Air conditioning can contribute to the urban heat island effect, where cities are significantly warmer than rural areas due to human activities. This can have various environmental impacts, such as increased energy consumption, air pollution, and health risks.
Refrigerants: Air conditioners use refrigerants that can be potent greenhouse gases if leaked into the atmosphere. Some older refrigerants like hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) have a high global warming potential. Using air conditioners with environmentally friendly refrigerants can help mitigate this impact.
And here is some more information on what European countries are doing to reduce the use of them, even to the point of dictating how low you can set the temperature and banning it in shops that leave the door open.
My point is that the anti air conditioner stuff is just greenwashing, that’s all. The facts are that air conditioning isn’t a particularly bad technology in any way.
Sure, of course, air conditioners have environmental impacts, that’s obvious - but so does building solar panels or electric cars.
Inverter heat pumps are one of the obvious solutions to mitigate climate change because they’re much, much more efficient than other forms of heating and cooling, we should be pushing for them to become common in Europe, not jumping on some bandwagon we don’t really understand because traditionally Europe hasn’t been hot enough to need it.
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Are you vegan?
Where do you think the energy for electric heating and cooling comes from? Thin air?
AC still makes up like 7% of global GHG emissions. That’s more than aviation and computing… Combined. That’s on par with the entire iron and steel industries. In fact, it’s almost on par with the GHG emissions of all agriculture output and is expected to exceed the entire agriculture industry’s GHG emissions before 2050.
Except when we have 100% renewable low emission electricity and transition away from CFC refrigerants, they’ll essentially drop to zero emissions. There’s nothing particularly bad about air conditioning. It is more and more becoming a necessity for survival due to climate change. If you don’t like that, your target is the fossil fuel industry, not the working class people who use air conditioning to avoid suffering.
Meanwhile, animal agriculture will always be extremely harmful to the environment due to methane, nitrous oxide, and various other issues. I’m happy for you to criticise people for using air conditioning if you’ll commit to going vegan.
I never thought heat would be an issue in Île-de-France
It’s not. Americans just can’t live without AC.
That is correct. We cannot.
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Probably using portable ones where you put the pipe out of the window and seal around it.
