Now that the Paris Olympics are over, the temporary air conditioning units shipped in for athletes are poised to have a second \u2014 and hopefully third \u2014 life. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
There was a good amount of drama around these units<\/a>. Planners initially didn\u2019t include them in their design for competitors\u2019 housing, opting instead for more energy-efficient options. Moreover, AC just hasn\u2019t been as necessary in cooler climates until lately and is still relatively uncommon in homes across Europe<\/a>. But heatwaves pose big risks for athletes, many of whom decided to supply their own mobile units to stay cool.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n There was a good amount of drama around these units<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Thousands<\/a> of them were reportedly ordered for the Olympic Village, where more than 14,000 athletes stayed during the Olympics. The Games came to a close on August 11th, but the AC units aren\u2019t going anywhere yet. They\u2019ll stay there a while longer for the Paralympics scheduled for August 28th through September 8th. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n And while competitors in the Olympics had to pay for their own air conditioning, organizers say they\u2019ll provide units to Paralympics athletes \u201cfree of charge for medical reasons, at a ratio of one for every three athletes\u201d in an email to The Verge<\/em>. The village is expected to host some 8,000 athletes during the Paralympics. Some of the people competing have disabilities that affect their bodies\u2019 ability to regulate temperature, the email notes. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Heat was already a safety concern going into the Olympics<\/a>. Beyond affecting athletes\u2019 performance, unyielding heat can potentially also lead to exhaustion and heatstroke. Temperatures in Paris reached upwards of 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit)<\/a> in Paris in July as a heat dome suffocated the Games<\/a> for several days. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Similar concerns<\/a> have been raised at previous Olympic events, but the risks rise each year with climate change. \u201cThe world watched athletes swelter in 35\u00b0C heat. If the atmosphere wasn\u2019t overloaded with emissions from burning fossil fuel, Paris would have been about 3\u00b0C cooler and much safer for sport,\u201d Friederike Otto, a physicist with an international group of researchers called World Weather Attribution, said on X on July 31st<\/a>. World Weather Attribution published an analysis<\/a> that found that the heatwave affecting the region that month wouldn\u2019t have occurred without human-induced climate change.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Paris Olympic organizers faced a conundrum. Air conditioners can help people stay safe during a heatwave, but they also contribute to the climate crisis because of all the energy they burn through. ACs can also stress the power grid during heatwaves, which can lead to dangerous power outages when people need cooling the most. Urban planners around the world are trying to find more sustainable options, including installing energy-efficient heat pumps<\/a> or topping buildings with gardens or white roofs to avoid trapping heat. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Paris Olympic Village used a geothermal cooling system<\/a> that piped cool water underneath the floor. Paired with other insulating design elements, the system was intended \u201cto achieve a target temperature of 23-26\u00b0 Celsius [73.4-78.8 Fahrenheit] at the hottest time of the day in a heatwave,\u201d the email from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) says. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n That just wasn\u2019t enough to assuage competing teams\u2019 concerns. The IOC says that the AC units were rented. After the Paralympics, they\u2019re supposed to be refurbished and reused by the supplier. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The village will continue to rely on its built-in cooling system, part of an effort to turn it into a new \u201csustainable city district<\/a>\u201d after competitors leave. That includes plans<\/a> for 2,500 homes, a student residence, and a hotel \u2014 all designed with the hopes of minimizing their impact on the environment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe tried to find a balance in the design and fit-out of the Village between a long-term objective to create a sustainable neighbourhood; and a short-term responsibility to give high-performance athletes the best conditions in which to prepare,\u201d IOC spokesperson Arthur Fel said in the email to The Verge<\/em>. \u201cA\/C is culturally widespread in some parts of the world, but not in France.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n