The U.S. Olympic team is one of a handful that will supply air conditioners for their athletes at the Paris Games in a move that undercuts organizers’ plans to cut carbon emissions.
U.S. Olympic and Paralympic CEO Sarah Hirshland said Friday that while the U.S. team appreciates efforts aimed at sustainability, the federation would be supplying AC units for what is typically the largest contingent of athletes at the Summer Games.
“As you can imagine, this is a period of time in which consistency and predictability is critical for Team USA’s performance,” Hirshland said. “In our conversations with athletes, this was a very high priority and something that the athletes felt was a critical component in their performance capability.”
The Washington Post reported earlier this month that Germany, Australia, Italy, Canada and Britain were among the other countries with plans to bring air conditioners to France.
I have a wild idea here. What if, they didn’t build an entire Olympic sports complex with multiple stadiums and other infrastructure every 2 years around the globe? Maybe that would save a bit on carbon emissions. And hey, the billions that would have gone to building that complex? Maybe that could go toward building up renewable energy resources instead.
But no that’s crazy, it’s the portable air conditioning units for some athlete’s apartments that are the problem. /s
Though some props to Paris, it sounds like they didn’t have nearly the amount of insane new constructions that some Olympics have had. Sounds like only one major new venue with most venues being used already pre-existing.
Just hold it in Greece every time. Those poor fuckers could use some foreign money coming in every few years, they might not have to work 6 days a week then.
Just hold it in Greece every time.
One of the hottest places in Europe, atm.
By all means, it wouldn’t hurt to build high efficiency stadiums and sports centers the one time in a big “Olympics Zone” that gets used regularly rather than building a big new thing every two years at a random spot in the world. But if you’re looking for maximal efficiency, Greece ain’t your girl. Its cooking at record-breaking 46.4°C temperatures over there, weeks before the games even start.
Might as well make Qatar the permanent venue for the World Cup.
I think it would be helpful for many people to experience the world without the luxury of ac. It uses a huge amount of power and in most places it’s just a convenience. I haven’t run the AC in something like 18 months not. It’s been in the upper 90s here in the states and my house has gotten up to about 86 inside. I work outside so even a few degrees cooler feels great. At night with a couple fans in the window it goes back down to mid 70s.
I understand that some places get a lot hotter and corporations are to blame for a larger percentage of our climate issue, but we shouldn’t expect to live in luxury while the planet catches on fire around us. All that said I think people would give more of a fuck if they didn’t sit around all day in a climate controlled environment.
I think it would be helpful for many people to experience the world without the luxury of ac.
steps outside in Texas 110 degree heat index temperatures
No sir. I do not like it. I do not like it one bit.
At night with a couple fans in the window it goes back down to mid 70s.
I was up in Boston recently, and the dry heat of the 80s/90s was not pleasant but bearable. The coastal air brought in a breeze and a bit of shade made a huge difference.
Then I got back down to Houston, disembarked from the plane, and immediately started sweating out my balls like I was in some kind of enormous sauna.
we shouldn’t expect to live in luxury while the planet catches on fire around us
I don’t consider mitigating heat stroke a luxury. I consider it fundamental to my health and productivity. And while I’m the first to admit my shitty ticky-tack house has paper-thin insulation and $500 electricity bills as a result, I’m not going to tell anyone to turn down the AC and flirt with the wet bulb maximum temperature their bodies can allow.
This has to be something we engineer around, not something we just endure as a matter of course. Better building codes. More efficient AC units. More cheap renewable energy and regulation on energy sales during peak usage (fucking staring right at you ERCOT you pack of greedy dick weasels). Denser housing units. More shade and underground development. More locations that can keep temperatures at comfortable levels.
Otherwise a bunch of people are going to suffer and a not insignificant number are going to die as a result.
People aren’t going to do anything about the increasing temperatures of the planet until it affects them directly. When people have no place to run from the heat I expect things would change politically. Sure it could just mean we double down and further fuck the planet, but a bunch of hot and angry people would be more likely to eat the rich in my head. Right now some people are mad about it but as long as they can crawl back into their hole and enjoy some comfort however short sighted nothing will change, and our grandchildren will have to suffer for our insistence on what little luxury we have at this time.
Much of the world will become uninhabitable in the future due to our arrogance and greed. I’m sorry if your choice of living in the desert causes you to suffer disproportionately.
People aren’t going to do anything about the increasing temperatures of the planet until it affects them directly.
Its affecting Houston directly, but we still struggle to do anything about it, because the folks suffering the most are the farthest away from any kind of administrative position.
a bunch of hot and angry people would be more likely to eat the rich in my head
Not if the rich eat them first.
I’m sorry if your choice of living in the desert causes you to suffer disproportionately.
I’m not in the desert, I’m in the swamp.
The world will continue to get hotter year by year until climate change is solved. I’d fully expect to see more AC use, not less. This won’t be limited just to athletes, but it will be limited by affordability.
Big cities already periodically provide “Cooling Centers” to support the large population of working poor who can’t afford the sky high energy bills. I have no idea what rural communities do during a heat-wave induced brown out. Everyone gets in the lake that’s full of industrial agricultural run off? They retreat into the mines, like a bunch of Morlocks? Y’all just fucking die?
But this is entirely unsustainable long term. Either we find a way to keep our large populations cool during the killer hot months or we stop having large populations all together.
