Though little known to most sports fans, many stadiums around the world rely on diesel generators for the power that runs their lighting, broadcast facilities and computer systems.
Seen as more reliable than regular connections to the electricity grid, the generators are also highly polluting, emitting dirty particulate matter and carbon dioxide that leads to global heating.
"An evening of (French Ligue 1) football is around 4,000 litres of diesel burned and the equivalent of 12 tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere," said Nicolas Perrin, Paris director of the French public power grid provider, Enedis.
Powering the London Olympics in 2012 led to an estimated four million litres of diesel being burned for electricity purposes, according to the Paris 2024 organising committee.
French organisers view the new electricity connections at venues around France, including at the 80,000-capacity national stadium in northern Paris, as part of the legacy of the Games which run from July 26-August 8.
To remove the need for generators at the 42 Olympic sites and 19 Paralymic sites, Enedis has invested around 100 million euros, resulting in around 8,000 different interventions at sites around its network.
"To guarantee maximum quality, we have offered a doubling of the feed with two delivery points per site," Perrin said.
This means that "if there's a problem with the usual schema, the site will trip onto the emergency feed," he added.
Much of the Paris Olympics will take place in temporary venues around the city, but major sites such as the national stadium used for the athletics will retain their generators as a third line of defence.
"During a 100-metres of 9.58 seconds you can't allow there to be a power cut," said Damien Pillac, energy manager at Paris 2024, referring to the world record held by Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt.
- Renewable energy -
Paris organisers are aiming to reduce by half their carbon emissions compared with the 2012 Olympics in London and the 2016 edition in Rio de Janeiro.
They initially set a target equivalent to 1.58 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, but that ambition has been lowered to around 1.75 million tonnes -- the equivalent of the annual carbon footprint of a French town of 200,000 people.
All the energy supplied to the sites will be certified by national power generator EDF as being renewable.
Although it is impossible to verify the source of the electricity -- France relies on nuclear for 70 percent of its needs -- EDF will guarantee that an equivalent amount of energy used by the Games was generated from renewable sources.
"What is really pleasing is to know that all the events after the Games can do the same," Georgina Grenon, director of environmental excellence for the organising committee, told AFP in an interview earlier this year.
Thanks to the new high-capacity electricity connections installed around Paris, other events such as fashion shows or open-air concerts can also keep the generators turned off.
French charity boycotts Olympic torch relay over Coca-Cola
Marseille (AFP) April 30, 2024 -
A French environmental charity said it had turned down the chance to take part in the torch relay ahead of the Paris Olympics over the role of Coca-Cola as a major sponsor.
"Clean My Calanques", an NGO in Marseille which specialises in beach-cleaning, received funding from the 2024 Paris Olympics organising committee for its work educating school children.
But it announced on Monday that it would not take part in the torch relay which will begin in Marseille on May 8, thanks in part to financing from premium Olympics sponsor Coca-Cola.
"We are not going to carry a flame which is paid for by the same people who make us bend over," the founder of Clean My Calanques, Eric Akopian, told AFP.
Set up in 2017, the organisation's volunteers clean beaches around Marseille and in the nearby national Calanques park, whose narrow coves and azure waters make it a popular spot for tourists and locals.
Akopian said Coca-Cola was one of the "most polluting (companies) in the world", with its bottles and cans some of the products found most frequently during the charity's beach-combing operations.
In a video message posted on Instagram, he said the organisation had decided it was "not at ease" with the commercial aspects of the Olympics, although he stressed they had "nothing against sports, or the athletes".
Akopian noted the mass production of so-called "goodies" linked to the Games such as stickers, key rings, pens or mascots.
"They can seem cute, but we know that we're going to find them on the coastline," he told AFP.
French authorities say up to 150,000 people are set to gather in Marseille for the start of the torch relay, which will see the Olympic flame carried through mainland France and the country's overseas territories in the Caribbean and Indian Ocean.
The Olympics are set to start on July 26 and run until August 11, followed by the Paralympics from August 28-September 8.
Paris 2024 organisers have worked with Coca-Cola to reduce plastic waste from its drinks packaging.
The group has agreed to install 700 newly designed drink fountains at Olympic venues, meaning that around 50 percent of soft drinks will be served without a plastic bottle, according to the organising committee.
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