Everyone is tired of the heat

Extreme heat is no longer a separate story of a region or a season. In the last days of June, hundreds of millions of people across Europe have to live in temperatures exceeding the tolerance limit, leading to a series of health, infrastructure and living consequences. The World Health Organization has warned about the severity of this situation, as the number of deaths exceeding the expected level continues to increase in many countries.

Meanwhile, in a field that seems less related to weather, technology, heat is also creating significant disruptions. The explosion of artificial intelligence leads to the need to build more and more data centers, which operate a series of powerful but extremely sensitive temperature processing chips. As heat waves become more frequent and harsh, infrastructure designed for stable weather conditions now faces unprecedented risks.

High heat affects many countries

World Health Organization Director General - Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently warned that Europe is the fastest growing continent on Earth, with temperatures doubling compared to the global average. According to him, about 150 million people in this continent are currently living in extreme heat conditions, leading to hundreds of deaths, many schools are forced to close and power grids are overloaded.

WHO recorded more than 1,300 deaths exceeding expectations across Europe that may be related to unusually high temperatures. This is a health statistical index calculated by taking the total number of actual deaths during the crisis period minus the average number of deaths in the same period many years earlier. Mr. Tedros emphasized that diseases related to heat stress are considered "silent killers", while most houses, workplaces and schools in Europe are not designed to withstand the current temperatures.

Estimated data from AFP shows that about 191 million people in Europe suffered temperatures from 35 degrees Celsius or higher on June 28, of which Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland are the most severely affected areas. Another analysis from the Austrian organization Klimadashboard, based on data from the German Meteorological Agency and the European Union Joint Research Center, shows that about 381 million people in Europe, excluding Turkey, will live in temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius.

In France, health officials announced that the country recorded about 1,000 deaths exceeding expectations in just a few days from June 24, when hot weather covered most of the territory. WHO said it is coordinating with member countries to strengthen the response capacity of the health system to extreme heat, and called on European countries to soon implement action plans to protect public health as part of a climate change adaptation strategy.

Not only humans are affected by heat.

While Europeans are fighting record heat, major technology corporations are also facing their own battle to keep AI chips in the data center operating stably. Rising temperatures are causing air conditioning demand to skyrocket, causing power grid overload and infrastructure disruption, not only in Europe.

According to Zurich Insurance Company, severe weather in the past 3 years has become the leading cause of losses in the company's insurance portfolio of building data centers in the US, accounting for about one-third of the total damage. Many data centers are moving to suburban or rural areas, where land prices are cheaper and extreme weather does not affect as much as in the city.

Major technology companies are adjusting infrastructure designs to adapt. Microsoft said that its data center is built to operate stably in many environmental conditions, while Nvidia announced that the new AI server operates with liquid cooling at 45 degrees Celsius, higher than before, helping to reduce cooling energy costs.