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.
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.
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)
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
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.
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.
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!