Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Paris breaks all-time high temperature as deadly heat wave grips Europe

accuweather.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 176 posts

Re: Paris breaks all-time high temperature as deadly heat wave grips Europe

#71

Post by the_duke »

criddell wrote: post #48
gilbetron wrote: post #10

Not only broke it, destroyed it: +2.2C (+4.0F). That's incredible, in a terrifying, "well, I guess this is going to happen" kind of way.

If every disaster contains opportunities, what are they here? The obvious thing would be investing in green technology, but what else? Are HVAC equipment producers about to see a big uptick in sales?

Probably. Much of Europe hasn't really needed AC until now.

It would often only have been really impactful for one or two weeks a year. Not really worth the investment.

With temperatures climbing this high, and being maintained for longer periods, I recently bought my first mobile AC unit and am thinking about installing a permanent one after the summer.

Re: Paris breaks all-time high temperature as deadly heat wave grips Europe

#72

Post by Sharlin »

criddell wrote: post #48
gilbetron wrote: post #10

Not only broke it, destroyed it: +2.2C (+4.0F). That's incredible, in a terrifying, "well, I guess this is going to happen" kind of way.

If every disaster contains opportunities, what are they here? The obvious thing would be investing in green technology, but what else? Are HVAC equipment producers about to see a big uptick in sales?

Even in Finland where we’ve been mostly spared from >30° weather, portable AC units have been sold out for a couple of months now.

Re: Paris breaks all-time high temperature as deadly heat wave grips Europe

#73

Post by saalweachter »

xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #32
b_tterc_p wrote: post #19

Do heatwaves pose a threat to local fauna and flora?

Yes, they can be devistating to agriculture as well. Animals are just as susceptible to heat stroke and dehydration. Plants are of course similarly susceptible to extreme temperatures. There are tactics farmers can apply such as coating their crops but there are limits.

One thing that should worry you in particular is that there is a temperature range photosynthesis happens in, and that temperature range ends at about 40C.

This isn't necessarily an immediate problem for plants, because plants store extra calories generated from photosynthesis for future use, and when the temperature is too hot they can switch from photosynthesis to respiration, consuming their stored sugars for energy. During this time, plants become net producers of CO2 instead of net consumers, taking in oxygen, burning their sugars (in the same slow chemical burn we use) and releasing the CO2 at the end.

This is an immediate concern for us, because those stored calories are what we wanted to eat. Plants may survive higher temperatures, but they produce fewer stored calories in the form of delicious fruits, vegetables and grains for us to eat. Climate change is complicated for agriculture, but extra days above (or close to) 40C is just bad, bad, bad.

Re: Paris breaks all-time high temperature as deadly heat wave grips Europe

#74

Post by bodyfour »

sangnoir wrote: post #64
criddell wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If every disaster contains opportunities, what are they here? The obvious thing would be investing in green technology, but what else? Are HVAC equipment producers about to see a big uptick in sales?

Vast swathes of land in Russia that have been frigid are becoming arable. Lots of formerly inland properties will become seafront all around the world - invest wisely!

Temperate, not necessarily arable. Arable implies soil conditions, etc which most of these areas probably don't have.

Re: Paris breaks all-time high temperature as deadly heat wave grips Europe

#75

Post by Brakenshire »

AdamJacobMuller wrote: post #44

> French energy company EDF stated that it would shut down two nuclear reactors in an attempt to limit the amount of heating water used to keep the reactors cool at Golftech nuclear power plant. I don't see why that would be a necessary or even good thing? Surely they must have higher demand for power from AC loads with the heat, even if AC isn't quite as prevalent in the EU as the US.

Because reactors need a lot of water as coolant, and they were designed with assumptions about how high the temperature of the water would be, which are now being broken. They started building that reactor in 1982, before they understood that temperatures were in the process of rising 1.5C (up to now).

Re: Paris breaks all-time high temperature as deadly heat wave grips Europe

#77

Post by gibbonsrcool »

y4mi wrote: post #9
henrik_w wrote: post #4

No mention of climate change in the article.

I was talking about climate change with a co-worker on Monday. He still doesn't "believe" in it. "Nobody can know if it's happening" and "earth went through countless high and low temperature passes over the years. It's nothing special" It was a great example of today's reality we live in. It's truly an age of misinformation.

I've gotten similar responses arguing with climate crisis deniers. I think a reasonable retort is: how do you know there were countless high and low temperature phases? If you listened to overwhelming science for climate history why don't you agree with equally overwhelming science that we are the cause of the climate crisis?

Re: Paris breaks all-time high temperature as deadly heat wave grips Europe

#78

Post by kcseg »

wongarsu wrote: post #41
kcseg wrote: post #17

Every day two or three articles like this one reach the front page. I guess they are upvoted by people who want to feel good about themselves. "There are some people out there who don't believe in climate change. Let's upvote this to show how enlightened I am". Because, otherwise, what's the point on having these "summer is hotter than it used to be" articles all day up?

Or maybe it's Europeans sweating in 40°C heat (>100°F) without AC. >Because, otherwise, what's the point on having these "summer is hotter than it used to be" articles all day up? Maybe let's do something about it or it will only get worse?

I live in Southern Europe and >40 degrees is the normal and has always been the normal. I am not particularly preoccupied, myself.

Re: Paris breaks all-time high temperature as deadly heat wave grips Europe

#79

Post by lordnacho »

y4mi wrote: post #9
henrik_w wrote: post #4

No mention of climate change in the article.

I was talking about climate change with a co-worker on Monday. He still doesn't "believe" in it. "Nobody can know if it's happening" and "earth went through countless high and low temperature passes over the years. It's nothing special" It was a great example of today's reality we live in. It's truly an age of misinformation.

It's a funny kind of fooled by randomness, the argument that there is variation, so it wasn't caused by a specific effect.

Suppose Iceland were to win the World Cup. Would people be saying that Iceland had spent a bunch of effort training players, or would they be saying that it's natural for different teams to win, and that it had to happen eventually?

One major issue is that probability and statistics are very far down the pecking order of what is considered part of a good education. A huge number of people think "it varies randomly" means the same as "there's no way to know any more".

Re: Paris breaks all-time high temperature as deadly heat wave grips Europe

#80

Post by bad_user »

geddy wrote: post #7

We're seeing record shattering temperatures in different parts of the world a lot this yet - yet the article doesn't even mention climate change. As long as we keep shoveling meat into our faces 5x per day and the population keeps expanding at break-neck rate, we have massive heatwaves and endless storms to look forward to. And then that road will come to an end, and it won't be pretty.

> As long as we keep shoveling meat into our faces 5x per day

Right, because that's your biggest problem.

It couldn't be the fossil fuels used for transportation (29%) or the industry that produces the goods and the raw materials like cement (22%), the production of electricity (28%), or even the commercial and residential emissions (12%).

Oh no, our biggest problem has to be agriculture (9%). And let's not talk about the use of fertilizers, or of the transportation of food for thousands of miles before it reaches the table. Let's also not talk about the practice of burning crop residues, or of the seas of plastic.

The problem has to be meat and the solution is to shame meat eaters.

Post reply on HN