The Hottest Talk of the Summer

The summer of 2026 has been melting much of the European continent with temperatures occasionally surpassing 40°C. Nobody was ready, and now the question on everyone’s mind is how to deal with it, now and in the future, given that this may well be the coolest of summers to come.

If you are a current or future apartment owner in Paris, you are aware of the administrative difficulties of installing conventional A/C. In this article we’ll review those difficulties, some work-around solutions and other viable options. We’ll also take a look at how Paris may tackle the heat problem in a more comprehensive way.  

The rest of the “developed” world is incredulous about France’s resistance to conventional A/C. The current crisis demonstrates that France went wrong somewhere, but not necessarily in resisting the conventional technology, which does in fact consume energy and pump heat back out into the city. If every Paris apartment were to be equipped with conventional A/C,  studies have shown that the outdoor temperature could rise by as much as 2°C. Not only that, but the noise generated by the exterior units would prevent many Parisians from opening their windows at night, precisely when they need to be opened in order to replace the hot inside air with the cooler outside air.  

People visit Paris for its architectural beauty, and that beauty would indeed be blighted were there millions of A/C compressors hanging from its historic facades.

 It is also true that millions of households attempting to combat the heat individually is simply less efficient than a collective solution. France understood this principle with regard to transportation and energy generation, but seems to have ignored it with regard to cooling. “Global warming” should have been replaced with “locally severe overheating”, to make things happen.

What now, that the discomfort has become acute? 

For Paris, alternatives do in fact exist in the form of a vast underground cooling system, using the water from the Seine. This is called le Réseau de Fraîcheur, and many public buildings already benefit. The current infrastructure is far from sufficient to meet the needs of all residential buildings, the cost is far too great, and neither the city nor the state have stepped up to seriously finance its development. The network currently spans 120 km, and Paris authorities aim to expand it to 250 km and connect 3,000 buildings across the city by 2042, making it the largest district cooling network in the world. But that is still far from enough to serve all Paris residential buildings. 

Other French initiatives have demonstrated how it is possible to create cooler local environments by natural means, such as Le Plessis Robinson near Paris. 

Reducing the heat load in cities like Paris will no doubt require deployment of a whole array of complementary solutions, and these will take time to implement.

Until then, what should you do and what can you do as a Paris apartment owner, present or future?

The conventional A/C solution featuring a split between an outdoor compressor and an interior fan, is the most complicated to install in Paris. Units visible from the street are not allowed by the city. Those visible in courtyards are usually not allowed by the building, and must in any case receive authorisation prior to installation.  There are, however, some “tricks of the trade”. Many Haussman-style apartments feature a boxed opening in the wall of the kitchen. These are called a “garde-manger” and were used, prior to mechanical refrigeration, to store food at lower temperatures than the room interior. They are therefore part of the acceptable facade appearance, and often have just enough room to accommodate an external compressor.Other tricks include the dissimulation of the compressor on a balcony, using potted plants for example. Such tricks are not officially accepted, but in practice they are tolerated.

If your apartment really has no outer space to accommodate the split system, there are three other options: the stand-alone internal compressor, the water-based system, and the mobile A/C unit.

The stand-alone unit sits inside your apartment, but requires two vents toward the outside. Blowers can be installed in one room or throughout the apartment. 

The lesser-known water-based system is entirely internal, using water to generate cooling. It requires about the same amount of space as a below-counter refrigerator, and needs to be installed near a water source. The system is as effective as the air to air systems, but it does consume significant quantities of water. 

 Finally, those in desperation with a minimal budget can resort to a mobile unit, with an air duct directed out through a window. This is the least-efficient solution, but has the advantage of not requiring any permanent installation or approval. 

Below is a review of the different options for permanent A/C installations.

Mobile units are not reviewed here because they are not installations per se. 

Criteria	Water-based interior unitnit	Stand-alone interior unit	Conventional split units
Exterior aesthetics	No impact	Two vents installed in the facade	Compressor visible from outside
Interior noise	Audible during intense cooling phase; otherwise discrete	Compressor noise inside the room	Minimal
External noise	No impact	Minimal noise from air vents	Bothersome noise for nearby neighbors
Co-owner requirements	No requirement, but water usage may need monitoring	Approval required in most cases	Approval required in most cases
City requirements	None	Vérification indispensable pour les grilles	Preliminary declaration required (in theory)
Installation conditions	Flexible, but requires installation proximity to a water source. Can cool an entire apartment.	Priority to one room with an outer wall.	Suitable for an entire apartment.
Manufacturers	Teknopoint	Olimpia, Argo, Elfo	Daikin

In the course of my apartment searches, I have encountered many different installation challenges and can help you find the best solution for your own future apartment.