Climate Change > Paris's clever cooling system; Sahara getting hammered with rain, hundreds die

 

Paris's plan to ditch ACs and expand

urban cooling system

By:Valérie DEKIMPE|Alexandra RENARD

Around the world, record-shattering temperatures are feeding demand for air conditioning. 135 million individual ACs are sold every year, a figure set to triple by 2050 according to the International Energy Agency. 

This rush to cool air could in turn become a major driver of electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. 

In Paris, a little-known network of underground water pipes aims to cool down buildings, without resorting to polluting AC units. 

Before climate alarmists claim that global warming is causing flooding in the Sahara Desert, it has yet to be proven. It is certainly possible as an El Nino like effect in the Atlantic is causing the deluge, although Chad's Met. service say it is something that happens every 5 or 10 years. 

Floods in Chad have killed hundreds of people and affected 1.5 million, UN says

Every single one of Chad's provinces have been hit by intense floods brought on by severe rainfall that have left 341 dead and affected a total of 1.5 million inhabitants since July, the UN said on Monday. 

By:NEWS WIRES

Weeks of severe flooding in Chad have left 341 people dead and some 1.5 million affected since July, the United Nations said Monday.

The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the flooding had hit all of the country's 23 provinces.

It cited government data which said some 164,000 houses had been destroyed and almost 70,000 heads of cattle lost with 259,000 hectares (640,000 acres) of fields ruined.

The government has yet to publish a breakdown of the damage wrought by the deluge which has broken over the nation of some 16 million.

Last week, 14 students and their teacher died when a school collapsed after torrential rains battered the province of Ouaddai in the semi-arid east.

By mid-August, at least 54 people had lost their lives in flooding in Tibesti province, in Chad's desert far north.

Typically, "rainfall hardly reaches 200 mm per year" in the mountainous region, but severe rainfall does occur "every five or 10 years", according to Idriss Abdallah Hassan, director of meteorological observation and forecasting at Chad's National Meteorological Agency.

The UN warned last week of the impact of "torrential rains and severe flooding" in the region generally, particularly in Chad, while urging immediate action and funding to tackle the climate crisis.

More than 700,000 people have been affected by severe flooding in South Sudan, according to a September 5 OCHA tally.

This summer has been the hottest ever recorded globally with a slew of record temperatures, heatwaves, drought and severe flooding.

Climate alarmists make a big deal out of the fact that Lake Chad is a fraction of the size it used to be. I suspect that argument will quickly disappear.

(AFP)