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'Unprecedented' alerts in France as blistering heat grips Europe

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Re: 'Unprecedented' alerts in France as blistering heat grips Europe

#51
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you despise public transport as a concept or just the current subpar implementation? I think climate research is orthogonal to any political agenda, i.e. opposing private transportation and meat consumption doesn't follow from accepting that the climate is getting warmer and the validity of political agendas has no effect on the authenticity of climate research data.

I don’t really care too much about what happens to public transportation as long as I’m not forced to use it, which is what they want to do.

So do you reject the theory that weather is getting warmer on average on its one or only when it is combined with a specific political agenda?

Re: 'Unprecedented' alerts in France as blistering heat grips Europe

#52
post #39
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

40 C is extremely high for Paris. Why lie about information that is easy to lookup? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_extreme_temperatures_i...

https://www.extremeweatherwatch.com/cities/paris/highest-tem...

Out of interest, how do you interpret that diagram?

Me I see a gradual increase since the 50’s, with the very latest year being very low (20 degrees) probably because the dataset has not yet been updated for this year.

How do you read it?

Re: 'Unprecedented' alerts in France as blistering heat grips Europe

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because below zero the air humidity goes away You need much colder for this to happen. Google says: Water vapor, even in freezing temperatures, doesn't instantly freeze into ice unless it comes into contact with a surface or the temperature drops extremely low (around -40°C).

I think what they meant is humidity is lower when freezing, not necessarily zero.

The relative humidity goes up when the temperature goes down. The water doesn't go anywhere, but the ability of the air to hold it drops, so the relative humidity rises until it hits 100% and water starts precipitating out.

The relative humidity of the air in winter at it's coldest point during a cycle is almost always 100% where I live.

Re: 'Unprecedented' alerts in France as blistering heat grips Europe

#54
post #5
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How common is air conditioning in Paris? What proportion of homes have air conditioning, either built-in or portable? How about businesses? Does Paris have sufficient "cooling stations", as in, large, air conditioned, public-friendly businesses like malls or community centers?

Fairly uncommon in homes (although I wouldn't go as far as the sibling comment that it's only for very upscale homes—I know plenty of people who are getting equipped). Because the unit has to be outside, there are many historic buildings where you can't install AC. It's less of a problem in other parts of France. Businesses open to the public and offices almost universally have AC, though, except maybe for mom and po…

Not the answer I expected. From what I understand many homes in Germany have gotten air conditioning "for free" recently. They installed heat pumps due to incentives, which can run as air conditioners in the summer.

Re: 'Unprecedented' alerts in France as blistering heat grips Europe

#55
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fairly uncommon in homes (although I wouldn't go as far as the sibling comment that it's only for very upscale homes—I know plenty of people who are getting equipped). Because the unit has to be outside, there are many historic buildings where you can't install AC. It's less of a problem in other parts of France. Businesses open to the public and offices almost universally have AC, though, except maybe for mom and po…

Not the answer I expected. From what I understand many homes in Germany have gotten air conditioning "for free" recently. They installed heat pumps due to incentives, which can run as air conditioners in the summer.

Most heat pumps in Germany are air to water which can't be used as air conditioner. Mainly, the existing plumbing is used.

Re: 'Unprecedented' alerts in France as blistering heat grips Europe

#56
post #3

Thankfully in Paris it doesn't look like we're going to get it as bad as was expected. It's "only" going to be 100f/38c today and 90f/32c tomorrow. Hot, but considering that just a few days ago my weather app predicted 107f/42c, it's welcome. Still, it's hot. My daughter's school actually suggested parents keep their kids home today, as they aren't equipped for this heat.

How common is air conditioning in Paris? What proportion of homes have air conditioning, either built-in or portable? How about businesses? Does Paris have sufficient "cooling stations", as in, large, air conditioned, public-friendly businesses like malls or community centers?

In my experience most homes/apartments in Europe are stone/cement/brick and many were built before central heating/cooling was a thing. US homes being much newer, and built from wood, means getting air ducts in isn’t such a huge deal. So European homes often heat ultimately via hot water pipes (radiators, heated floors), etc but there isn’t a way to cool using the same mechanisms. Of course this is a huge generalization.

Re: 'Unprecedented' alerts in France as blistering heat grips Europe

#57
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How common is air conditioning in Paris? What proportion of homes have air conditioning, either built-in or portable? How about businesses? Does Paris have sufficient "cooling stations", as in, large, air conditioned, public-friendly businesses like malls or community centers?

Very uncommon / inexistant in private appartements except I guess if you live in a very very very upscale appartement. Installing AC is actually not allowed in many places ( because of urbanism laws) Only possible AC is those single hose mobile units which are wildly inefficient and close to useless while burning energy.

>Only possible AC is those single hose mobile units which are wildly inefficient and close to useless while burning energy.

FWIW at least in the US (and I can't imagine they wouldn't be available worldwide) there are also dual hose portable AC units which can perform fairly decently, at least far better than single hose. I needed to use one for awhile at an old office (I think it was a Whynter model) and it was effective. There are also more exotic portable units that use water as the fluid dump, but that requires having a sufficient water source that you can utilize, and probably isn't going to be doable in a residential unit in a city. We had a couple at the chemistry lab I worked in 10-15 years ago that hooked into the lab water lines.

Re: 'Unprecedented' alerts in France as blistering heat grips Europe

#58
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the answer I expected. From what I understand many homes in Germany have gotten air conditioning "for free" recently. They installed heat pumps due to incentives, which can run as air conditioners in the summer.

Most heat pumps in Germany are air to water which can't be used as air conditioner. Mainly, the existing plumbing is used.

Why wouldn't air/water be able to cool the air? It'd just output hot water instead of hot air

Re: 'Unprecedented' alerts in France as blistering heat grips Europe

#59
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How common is air conditioning in Paris? What proportion of homes have air conditioning, either built-in or portable? How about businesses? Does Paris have sufficient "cooling stations", as in, large, air conditioned, public-friendly businesses like malls or community centers?

The more people install air conditioning the more energy we use, warming up the world even more, requiring even more AC units to be activated.

Energy used in private AC is very small fraction of total bill and has no meaningful effect on the climate.

Compare with data centers running entirely off grid, powered by tens of massive gas generators.

Re: 'Unprecedented' alerts in France as blistering heat grips Europe

#60
post #52
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.extremeweatherwatch.com/cities/paris/highest-tem...

Out of interest, how do you interpret that diagram? Me I see a gradual increase since the 50’s, with the very latest year being very low (20 degrees) probably because the dataset has not yet been updated for this year. How do you read it?

Yeah, can’t conclude anything about 2025. But it seems the temperatures are mostly stable over many decades, with large variations between each year.
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