A Paris resident is sleeping under wet towels to survive a record-breaking European heatwave that has claimed dozens of lives, as experts warn European homes were designed to retain heat, not repel it.
A severe heatwave in Western Europe has exposed the vulnerability of aging urban housing in cities like Paris and London. Many homes were designed to retain heat for winter, turning them into \"ovens\" during summer spikes. While air conditioning remains controversial due to energy costs, experts advocate for structural changes and external shading to mitigate rising temperatures.
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I'm taking a shower right before bed.
I'm sleeping with wet towels over me,
just to try to survive, honestly, and just try to sleep.
In Ulysse Zachary's top floor home in Paris,
bars of soap have melted and pressure in wine bottles
has started pushing out the corks.
Under its zinc rooftop, the 97-square-foot flat
becomes an oven after a few hours of sunshine,
the Swiss-American says.
It's been really, really difficult.
I must say, when you're tired, when you're hot,
it's just, you feel miserable, you can't work.
Western Europe is in the grip of a heat wave
that has claimed dozens of lives, disrupted power supplies,
and shut schools and tourist attractions.
Zachary's struggles highlight the shortfalls of homes
in cities like Paris and London that were built
to retain rather than deflect heat.
Governments have no quick solutions
to adapting aging housing stock
with tight budgets and complex problems.
Air conditioning is uncommon and divides opinion
as the extra energy use can add to the problem
of a warming world and the strain on the power grid.
The simplest measure is to minimize direct sunlight
entering windows, according to Anna Mavrogiani
at University College London's Institute
for Environmental Design and Engineering.
External shading or other means that block solar radiation
before it enters a building are the most effective
when it comes to overheating mitigation.
Mavrogiani says many European homes being built
are still designed mainly to retain heat in winter.
That's despite temperatures in Europe rising far faster
than on other continents amid the changing climate.
She's urging for better planning with the use
of external shutters, cross ventilation,
lighter colors, as well as more urban greening
to help neighborhoods stay cool.
This week, Paris hit a June record
of 105.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 40.9 Celsius.
And Zachary has resorted to adaptation tips
from social media.
Apparently, if you put some foil on your windows,
it reflects the sun away, but I only have this much,
so it covers about like a fourth of it.
Unfortunately, he found himself needing
to be better prepared, like much
of the Parisian housing stock.
