As world heats up, U.N. cools itself the cool way: with water
By Amélie BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS
Deep in the bowels of the U.N. headquarters, a pump sucks in huge amounts of water from the East River to help cool the complex with an old but energy-efficient mechanism.
As more and more people want to stay cool in a planet that is steadily heating up, energy experts point to this kind of water-based system as a good alternative to air conditioning. But in many cases they are hard to set up.
The system has been part of the New York complex since it opened in the 1950s, chief building engineer Michael Martini told AFP during a tour of the cooling equipment.
The system, overhauled with the rest of the complex from 2008 to 2014, cools the U.N. center using less energy than a conventional air conditioning system. U.N. policy is to bring the air temperature down to about 24 degrees Celsius, or 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
In summer in New York, the river running beside the U.N. headquarters -- it is actually a salt water estuary -- stays much cooler than the surrounding air, which can reach 100 degrees. So cooling the building eats up less energy.
As many as 26,000 liters per minute of water flow through fiber glass pipes to the complex's cooling plant, which uses it and a refrigerant gas to produce cold.
The system has two independent loops to prevent contamination of the water that flows back into the river at a higher temperature, said the head of the cooling system, David Lindsay.
Looking at the gleaming glass tower of the U.N. headquarters and the dome of the General Assembly, you would never know that the East River serves this purpose for the U.N. and is more than just part of the scenery.
The U.N.'s New York headquarters is not its only building that depends on water.
In Geneva, its Palais de Nations features a cooling system that uses water from Lake Geneva. And the U.N. City complex in Copenhagen, which houses 10 UN agencies, depends on cold seawater that almost eliminates the need for electricity to cool the place.
This a huge benefit compared to the estimated two billion air conditioning units installed around a world.
With the number of air conditioners due to increase so as to help people who are more and more exposed to dangerous temperatures, energy consumption for the purpose of cooling has already tripled since 1990, says the International Energy Agency, which wants more efficient systems.
Examples of these are centralized air conditioning networks using electricity, geothermal systems or ones that use water, like the U.N. complex in New York.
This latter system "has not been deployed as much as it should be for the issues we face today," said Lily Riahi, coordinator of Cool Coalition, a grouping of states, cities and companies under the aegis of the United Nations.
Some big organizations have been able to run such systems on their own, like the United Nations or Cornell University in New York State, which relies on water from Lake Cayuga.
But for the most part these systems require a lot of coordination among multiple stakeholders, said Riahi.
"We know it's technically possible, and we know actually there are many cases that prove the economics as well," said Rob Thornton, president of the International District Energy Association, which helps develop district cooling and heating networks.
"But it requires someone, some agent, whether it's a champion, a city, or a utility or someone, to actually undertake the aggregation of the market," he said.
"The challenge is just gathering and aggregating the customers to the point where there's enough, where the risk can be managed," Thornton said.
He cited Paris as an example, which uses the Seine River to run Europe's largest water-based cooling grid.
These networks allow for the reduced use toxic substances as coolants, and lower the risk of leaks.
And they avoid emissions of hot air -- like air conditioning units spew -- into cities already enduring heat waves.
But hot water from cooling units, when dumped back into rivers and other bodies of water, is dangerous for aquatic ecosystems, environmentalists say.
"This challenge is quite small, compared to the discharge from nuclear plants," said Riahi, adding the problem can be addressed by setting a temperate limit on this water.
© 2025 AFP
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Japan Today
3 days ago
- Japan Today
Restored Nagasaki bell rings in 80 years since A-bomb
Doves fly past the "Peace Statue" after being released into the air during the annual memorial ceremony at the Peace Park in Nagasaki on August 9, 2025 By Mathias CENA Twin cathedral bells rang in unison Saturday in Japan's Nagasaki for the first time since the atomic bombing of the city 80 years ago, commemorating the moment of horror. On August 9, 1945, at 11:02 am, three days after a nuclear attack on Hiroshima, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. After heavy downpours Saturday morning, the rain stopped shortly before a moment of silence and ceremony in which Nagasaki mayor Shiro Suzuki urged the world to "stop armed conflicts immediately". "Eighty years have passed, and who could have imagined that the world would become like this? A crisis that could threaten the survival of humanity, such as a nuclear war, is looming over each and every one of us living on this planet." About 74,000 people were killed in the southwestern port city, on top of the 140,000 killed in Hiroshima. Days later, on August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered, marking the end of World War II. Historians have debated whether the bombings ultimately saved lives by bringing an end to the conflict and averting a ground invasion. But those calculations meant little to survivors, many of whom battled decades of physical and psychological trauma, as well as the stigma that often came with being a hibakusha. Ninety-three-year-old survivor Hiroshi Nishioka, who was just three kilometers from the spot where the bomb exploded, told ceremony attendees of the horror he witnessed as a young teenager. "Even the lucky ones (who were not severely injured) gradually began to bleed from their gums and lose their hair, and one after another they died," he recalled. "Even though the war was over, the atomic bomb brought invisible terror." Nagasaki resident Atsuko Higuchi told AFP it "made her happy" that everyone would remember the city's victims. "Instead of thinking that these events belong to the past, we must remember that these are real events that took place," the 50-year-old said. On Saturday, 200-300 people attending mass at Nagasaki's Immaculate Conception Cathedral heard the two bells ring together for the first time since 1945. One of them, 61-year-old Akio Watanabe, said he had been waiting since he was a young man to hear the bells chime together. The restoration is a "symbol of reconciliation", he said, tears streaming down his face. The imposing red-brick cathedral, with its twin bell towers atop a hill, was rebuilt in 1959 after it was almost completely destroyed in the monstrous explosion just a few hundred meters away. Only one of its two bells was recovered from the rubble, leaving the northern tower silent. With funds from U.S. churchgoers, a new bell was constructed and restored to the tower, and chimed Saturday at the exact moment the bomb was dropped. The cathedral's chief priest, Kenichi Yamamura, told AFP "it's not about forgetting the wounds of the past but recognizing them and taking action to repair and rebuild, and in doing so, working together for peace". He also sees the chimes as a message to the world, shaken by multiple conflicts and caught in a frantic new arms race. Nearly 100 countries were set to participate in this year's commemorations, including Russia, which has not been invited since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Israel, whose ambassador was not invited last year over the war in Gaza, was in attendance. An American university professor, whose grandfather participated in the Manhattan Project, which developed the first nuclear weapons, spearheaded the bell project. During his research in Nagasaki, a Japanese Christian told him he would like to hear the two bells of the cathedral ring together in his lifetime. Inspired by the idea, James Nolan, a sociology professor at Williams College in Massachusetts, embarked on a year-long series of lectures about the atomic bomb across the United States, primarily in churches. He managed to raise $125,000 from American Catholics to fund the new bell. When it was unveiled in Nagasaki in the spring, "the reactions were magnificent. There were people literally in tears", said Nolan. Many American Catholics he met were also unaware of the painful history of Nagasaki's Christians, who, converted in the 16th century by the first European missionaries and then persecuted by Japanese shoguns, kept their faith alive clandestinely for over 250 years. This story was told in the novel "Silence" by Shusaku Endo, and adapted into a film by Martin Scorsese in 2016. He explains that American Catholics also showed "compassion and sadness" upon hearing about the perseverance of Nagasaki's Christians after the atomic bomb, which killed 8,500 of the parish's 12,000 faithful. They were inspired by the "willingness to forgive and rebuild". © 2025 AFP
The Mainichi
6 days ago
- The Mainichi
Hiroshima marks 80 years since atomic bombing as aging survivors worry about growing nuke threat
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Mayor says world should have learned from tragedy Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui warned against a growing acceptance of military buildups and of using nuclear weapons for national security during Russia's war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Mideast, with the United States and Russia possessing most of the world's nuclear warheads. "These developments flagrantly disregard the lessons the international community should have learned from the tragedies of history," he said. "They threaten to topple the peacebuilding frameworks so many have worked so hard to construct." He urged younger generations to recognize that such "misguided policies" could cause "utterly inhumane" consequences for their future. "We don't have much time left, while we face a greater nuclear threat than ever," said Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese grassroots organization of survivors that won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for its pursuit of nuclear abolishment. "Our biggest challenge now is to change, even just a little, nuclear weapons states that give us the cold shoulder," the organization said in its statement. Prayers, tributes and hope About 55,000 people, including representatives from a record 120 countries and regions, including Russia and Belarus, attended the ceremony. A minute of silence was held while a peace bell rang out at 8:15 a.m., the time when a U.S. B-29 dropped the bomb on the city. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, the city's mayor and other officials laid flowers at the cenotaph. Dozens of white doves, a symbol of peace, were released after the mayor's speech. Hours before the official ceremony, as the sun rose over Hiroshima, survivors and their families started paying tribute to the victims at the Peace Memorial Park, near the hypocenter of the nuclear blast 80 years ago. Kazuo Miyoshi, a 74-year-old retiree, came to honor his grandfather and two cousins who died in the bombing and prayed that the "mistake" will never be repeated. "We do not need nuclear weapons," Miyoshi said. "There is hope," U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a statement read by Izumi Nakamitsu, U.N. Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, noting Nihon Hidankyo's Nobel Peace Prize and countries' re-commitment to a nuclear free world in "the Pact for the Future" adopted last year. Guterres stressed the importance to carry forward the survivors' testimony and message of peace and added: "Remembering the past is about protecting and building peace today and in the future." Near Hiroshima's iconic Atomic Bomb Dome under high security, more than 200 protesters gathered, holding posters and flags carrying messages such as "No Nuke, Stop War" and "Free Gaza! No more genocide" while chanting slogans. Local police said two people were arrested in separate cases, each on suspicion of assaulting a security guard. Survivors want nuclear abolishment, not deterrence Wednesday's anniversary comes at a time when possession of nuclear weapons for deterrence is increasingly supported by the international community, including Japan. Some survivors said they were disappointed by President Donald Trump's recent remark justifying Washington's attack on Iran in June by comparing it to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the mild response from the Japanese government. "It's ridiculous," said Kosei Mito, a 79-year-old former high school teacher who was exposed to radiation while he was still in his mother's womb. "I don't think we can get rid of nuclear weapons as long as it was justified by the assailant." In the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV said Tuesday that he was praying that the 80th anniversary of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima "will serve as a call to the international community to renew its commitment to pursuing peace for our own human family." Japan seeks US nuclear protection Japan's government has rejected the survivors' request to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons or attend its meetings as observers because it is under the protection of the U.S. nuclear umbrella. Matsui, the city's mayor, in his speech Wednesday, urged Japan's government to sign and ratify the nuclear weapons ban treaty, a request also made by several groups of survivors in their meeting with Ishiba after the ceremony. Ishiba, in a speech, reiterated his government's pledge to work toward a world without nuclear weapons, but did not mention the treaty and again indicated his government's support for nuclear weapons possession for deterrence. At a news conference later Wednesday, Ishiba justified Japan's reliance on U.S. nuclear deterrence, saying Japan, which follows a non-nuclear principle, is surrounded by neighbors that possess nuclear weapons. The stance, he said, does not contradict Japan's pursuit of a nuclear-free world. Past prime ministers have stressed Japan's status as the world's only country to have suffered nuclear attacks and have said Japan is determined to pursue peace, but survivors say it's a hollow promise. The Japanese government has only paid compensation to war veterans and their families, even though survivors have sought redress for civilian victims. They have also sought acknowledgment by the U.S. government of its responsibility for the civilian deaths.
Japan Today
05-08-2025
- Japan Today
'Unspeakable horror': The attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima by the U.S. bomber Enola Gay, nicknamed "Little Boy." Japan this week marks 80 years since the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. The first on August 6, 1945 killed around 140,000 people in Hiroshima and three days later another 74,000 perished in Nagasaki. Here are some facts about the devastating attacks: The bombs The first atomic bomb was dropped on the western city of Hiroshima by the U.S. bomber Enola Gay, nicknamed "Little Boy". It detonated about 600 meters from the ground, with a force equivalent to 15,000 tons of TNT. Tens of thousands died instantly, while others succumbed to injuries or illness in the weeks, months and years that followed. Three days later the U.S. dropped a second bomb, dubbed "Fat Man", on the southern city of Nagasaki. The attacks remain the only time atomic bombs have been used in wartime. The attacks In Hiroshima, the first thing people noticed was an "intense ball of fire", according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Temperatures near the blast reached an estimated 7,000 degrees Celsius (12,632 degrees Fahrenheit), which incinerated everything within a radius of about three kilometers. "I remember the charred bodies of little children lying around the hypocenter area like black rocks," Koichi Wada, a witness who was 18 at the time of the Nagasaki attack, has said of the bombing. ICRC experts say there were cases of temporary or permanent blindness due to the intense flash of light, and subsequent related damage such as cataracts. A whirlwind of heat generated also ignited thousands of fires that ravaged large parts of the mostly wooden city. A firestorm that consumed all available oxygen caused more deaths by suffocation. It has been estimated that burn- and fire-related casualties accounted for more than half of the immediate deaths in Hiroshima. The explosion generated an enormous shock wave that blew people through the air. Others were crushed to death inside collapsed buildings or injured or killed by flying debris. Radiation effects Radiation sickness was reported in the aftermath by many who survived the initial blasts and firestorms. Acute symptoms included vomiting, headaches, nausea, diarrhea, hemorrhaging and hair loss, with radiation sickness fatal for many within a few weeks or months. Survivors, known as hibakusha, also experienced longer-term effects including elevated risks of thyroid cancer and leukemia, and both Hiroshima and Nagasaki have seen elevated cancer rates. Of 50,000 radiation victims from both cities studied by the Japanese-U.S. Radiation Effects Research Foundation, about 100 died of leukemia and 850 suffered from radiation-induced cancers. The group found no evidence however of a "significant increase" in serious birth defects among survivors' children. The aftermath The twin bombings dealt the final blow to imperial Japan, which surrendered on August 15, 1945, bringing an end to World War II. Historians have debated whether the bombings ultimately saved lives by bringing an end to the conflict and averting a ground invasion. But those calculations meant little to survivors, many of whom battled decades of physical and psychological trauma, as well as the stigma that sometimes came with being a hibakusha. Despite their suffering, many survivors were shunned -- in particular for marriage -- because of prejudice over radiation exposure. Survivors and their supporters have become some of the loudest and most powerful voices opposing nuclear weapons, including meeting world leaders to press their case. Last year, the Japanese anti-nuclear group Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of hibakusha, won the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2019, Pope Francis met several hibakusha in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, decrying the "unspeakable horror" and calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. In 2016, Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima. He offered no apology for the attack, but embraced survivors and called for a world free of nuclear weapons. Russia is one of around 100 countries expected to attend this year's memorial in Nagasaki, the first time Moscow has been invited to commemorations in the city since the start of the war with Ukraine. © 2025 AFP
