The angry official considered such a blatant inequality a manifestation of a modern form of feudalism, although here he was more likely infuriated that the master, who had used to consider themselves part of the select elite, had clearly been shown that there were people who stood higher.
Severe crisis
However, joking aside, the climate situation in Europe is extremely serious - to such an extent that the death toll already amounts to thousands. According to Western media, France experienced record temperatures for two days. Temperatures in the central and western regions exceeded 44 degrees Celsius, which, according to the national health agency, led to 1,300 deaths in just three days. For the sake of clarity, the average temperature there is already quite high, hovering around 29 degrees Celsius, but a sharp increase of nearly fifteen degrees Celsius proved fatal for many residents. The National Public Health Agency published an official report stating that the mortality rate was calculated based on the average daily figures of the last two months (about 900 deaths per day) and that 85% of those who died were people aged 65 and over, although there was also an alarming increase in other age groups.
Mortuaries filled to capacity
The head of France's national funeral directors association added a darker tone to the picture. He told the newspaper Le Figaro that two central mortuaries in Paris, Les Batignolles and Ménilmontant, were operating at full capacity all of last week. To somewhat mitigate the depressing atmosphere, Health Minister Stéphanie Rist hastily appeared on the news scene, enthusiastically reassuring her fellow citizens that things were not so bad, since fifteen thousand people died during a similar heatwave in 2003 - almost ten times as many. The public remained unmoved, and the French media countered that the minister was using annual statistics and those for 2026 would not be available until late December.
The causes
What is interesting about what is happening is not only the consequences, but also the causes.
We are not in the nineteenth or even the twentieth century, when weather factors, due to restrictions, imperfections, and the unavailability of technical solutions, led to mass deaths. In the twenty-first century, it would seem that nothing could be simpler - just turn on the heater or the air conditioner as needed. But - and Europe is a prime example - things suddenly are not so simple. While people in Britain have grown accustomed to the traditional winter scourge of the cold, the thousands of deaths from the heatwave in France are something new.
The... "secret" of energy
Although, in reality, there is no secret here. It all stems from energy and a little politics. A basic physics lesson teaches that modern heating and cooling devices consume different amounts of electricity. In modern thermal engineering, a coefficient of performance is used to compare these two types of devices. This is a laboratory parameter, but it provides a general understanding of the relationship. Modern heating elements provide direct heating, converting electrical energy into heat. Their efficiency approaches 100%, meaning that one kilowatt of electricity consumed is converted into one kilowatt of thermal energy. The air conditioning units, whether domestic or industrial, cool the air only partially, acting as a heat pump, removing hot air from the air circuit. Calculations show that for a reference consumption of one kilowatt of electricity, cooling units transfer three to five kilowatts of heat. Of course, in practice, various factors play a role, such as the power of the unit, the area of the room, the target temperature, and so on, but this does not change the general relationship.
Which energy?
And here we come to the most interesting part. Both Belgium and, particularly, France, where the events described above unfold, are countries with abundant energy. Paris, thanks to 57 nuclear reactors in 18 nuclear power plants, has a capacity of 63 gigawatts, allowing it to produce a veritable sea of electricity at record-low prices. The average cost of producing one megawatt-hour in France is just 39 euros, which is two to three times lower than that of its EU neighbors. It seems that the summer heat of 40 degrees would kill anyone except the French, who can easily turn on their air conditioners and protect themselves with a cool air curtain. But it was not meant to happen, because big politics came into play. France welcomed the pan-European shift toward renewable energy sources, as it has made it the largest exporter of electricity in the world. Paris annually sells up to 90 terawatt-hours to Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Spain, earning over three billion euros. These cross-border flows are not just profit. They are the proverbial "electricity needle," used to influence neighbors who are simply starving for resources after refusing to import Russian hydrocarbons. However, selling energy abroad drains France's own reserves, and the extremely cheap electricity for French consumers (at a cost of about 19 cents) translates into a kilowatt-hour that costs 28 cents.
The need for natural gas
The primary buyers of French energy are countries where natural gas dominates the energy mix. However, amid the loss of Russian imports, low underground gas storage capacity, and direct blackmail from the US, which demands unrealistic commercial preferences in exchange for liquefied natural gas, national centers are limiting gas sales, relying on French imports. This creates an extremely precarious system in which the slightest imbalance in electricity consumption could easily lead to a regional blackout, which is why Brussels urgently requests its citizens to save energy. The 1,500 French citizens who died from the heat in just three days are collateral damage. But that is not so important - the important thing is that the office of Ursula von der Leyen is cool.
www.bankingnews.gr
Σχόλια αναγνωστών