the Athletes’ Village will be cooled by a system of water pipes running beneath the floorboards.
Cool, like underfloor heating but in reverse. If it works well, of course.
Officials aim to keep the rooms at between 73 to 79 degrees Fahrenheit
Nice 26c is fine.
Officials … will also provide fans.
oh, so it doesn’t work…
26C is way too hot for me to sleep properly.
Imagine training your whole life for one Olympics where you’re at peak performance, then having it fucked up because organisers decided to do this performative nonsense.
No wonder half the teams are bringing air con.
Underfloor heating is great. Underfloor cooling without some form of dehydration will lead to condensation, moisture, and mould.
Not to mention, hot air rises up from the floor. Cold air…doesn’t.
Therefore they need ventilators
Or run the piping in the ceiling?
Indirectly they are, since they’re multistory buildings.
RIP to the top floor.
79f is not exactly chilly, circulating air makes it feel more comfortable.
It’s not exactly hot either though, after being in 35+c sun, it’s pretty chill.
For reference, my aircon is set to 27c in summer (still comfortable, but cost effective) and 18c in winter (WHO minimum recommended house temp, any less is a health hazard - also for cost effectiveness - electricity is expensive)
I hear you, but 79 is “hot” if you are used to be in 70 degree ac. They will get used to it of course but athletes don’t want to have to get used to it.
No no, they’ll provide FANS to serve as butlers. Fetch the odd cool drink, ice cream or condoms. That sort of thing
Idk if they tested enough to work out if it will be able to keep up with all the screwing they will happen
Why would having fans means it doesn’t work? I use fans along with AC to make the cold air distribution faster, doesn’t mean my AC is not working.
If you’re running an AC and the room is still at 24°C+ I would say it’s not working.
If the AC was set to 26 °C, you’re expecting the temp to be below 24 °C? What are you even talking about?
You’re not wrong, but if you’re setting to 26c and still need a fan, you should just set it lower.
I personally run 27c in summer and don’t need an additional fan.
Yeah, but we’re talking about an underfloor cooling system here. They don’t really have a way to distribute the cold air like air-conditioning systems do. So in the Olympic village’s case, a fan should be needed.
I disagree, a fan is way more economical and ecological than the AC.
So you should put the fan first and if the fan is not enough then you put the AC on. Especially if it’s a ceiling fan that is almost completely quiet.
Hidalgo, who is against countries bringing their own units, stressed earlier this year that Paris organizers would not change course.
“I think we have to trust science on two counts,” she said. “The first is what scientists are telling us about the fact that we are on the brink of a precipice. 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.”
France has the highest percentage of nuclear power of any power grid in the world and its electricity is generated emitting a very low level of carbon dioxide.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/carbon-intensity-electricity
According to this, France emits about a seventh the carbon dioxide per unit of power generated as the US does. We can use seven times as much electricity in Paris as back in the US and still have about the same carbon dioxide emissions.
Just because it is less damaging in France doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a carbon impact.
Life has a carbon impact. Forcing this burden disproportionately on athletes while spectators (not to mention corrupt IOC officials) enjoy hotels with AC is ridiculous.
Kinda seems like we should just listen to the French then
Tldr: the rooms will have pipes INSIDE the floors to cool rooms between 73-79F.
What about the humidity?
Cold floors + humidity = slippery wet floors
humidity shouldnt be a problem with modern ventilation and such large cooling surfaces.
I’m honestly shocked how much of a fuss the participants are making over 22-26° rooms. My apartment is almost never below 25°, even in the winter. Are they somehow going to perform better if it’s 20° and they freeze? Not to mention fucking loud portable air conditioners are. There’s a heatwave going through Sweden right now, and my apartment was up to 30° this afternoon.
Also really defeats the point about not using air-conditioning when all the participants just bring in super-inefficient portable units and then immediately throw them in the trash. I guess it’s good for energy efficiency in the long run though for when these buildings become normal apartments.
It’s all in what you’re used to. My house is never that warm, even in summer. I can sleep as warm as 22° in the summer, but always keep it below 20° in the winter.
So, yes, if I have to sleep where it’s 25° or 27° or warmer, I’m probably not sleeping well and we’ll all be happy I’m not an athlete
as warm as 22°
as warm
This broke my Indian brain.
It is not even 8 am and my apartment crested 80f with the ac on. If I could have a colder living space without the noisy compressor I’d be so happy.
humidity shouldnt be a problem with modern ventilation
‘Modern ventilation’ is out since Covid, can’t have big shared ventilation systems anymore, too dangerous.
Condensation shouldn’t be an issue as long as you’re not cooling below the current dew point.
However, after experiencing one of these underfloor cooling systems once, I can say that the biggest issue is that cold air tends to be heavier and thus stay down. So in order to cool the entire room, not just the layer of air right above the floor, you need something to move the air, which is probably why they’re providing fans. Either that or you can just lie on the floor all the time…
Floor heating works because warm air rises. I never understood why ‘floor’ cooling wasn’t piped through the ceiling, instead. There are probably some engineering or heat transfer issues there, though.
I’ve seen a video where they did have cool pipes in the ceiling of a big building or skyscraper.
Heating/cooling works better with a heat sink, such as concrete. Water is also heavy, so laying it on top of the floor is far easier than suspending it from the ceiling. Also, in many places you will want to both heat and cool, and running heating and cooling in different locations costs up to twice as much. The easiest solution is to move the air, so fans do just fine.
Don’t think that’s ever been a problem anywhere close to Paris climate. It’s not that humid and it’s not that hot. The difference between inside and outside climate is not that extreme.
And if humidity is a problem, you are dealing with mold, not actual wet floors. That is if the buildings are not well engineered and it would show in the long run, not during the gamee.
I have this system at home and it’s great. Similar climate to Paris and never a problem.
It’s one thing to have hotels in the city do this for the millions of tourists, but to force this on the highest performing athletes trying to achieve peak performance at the absolute most important competition of their life is kind of shitty. It’s a two week event for about 11,000 people. I’m pretty sure the AC from that doesn’t put a dent on the AC from the rest of the tourists from the event or the tourists throughout the year in freaking Paris.
The emissions from ACs for 2 weeks likely isn’t close to the emissions from all the construction they did just to host . The whole thing is ridiculous. The corrupt IOC officials watching from box seats and staying in 5 star hotels are all going to have AC.
If, as one of the quotes stated, they are worried about being “on a precipice”, maybe worry about the fact that you are doing tons of construction for games facilities, and athletes and staff are flying in from all over the world.
That massively dwarfs the ac the athletes want, I’m sure by several orders of magnitude.
This system of water pipes could have made for excellent, very low energy heat pumps. Imagine how efficient that could be with a ground source only 5-10° away from comfortable at all times!
As people are dying from the heat, this isn’t cool.
If Paris wants to make an impact, They can ban Bitcoin and AI which is burning an incredible amount of energy. Otherwise let them have their air conditioners. This is stupid.
What a lovely metaphor for the self-created doom our species is sleep walking towards.
