Note: in none of the coverage of this story, no one actually says how the damn thing will work. They have no CLUE that it will be environmentally unfriendly!

Just goes to show, the environmentalist movement is not about the environment - it's about wealth. Environmentalists are filled to the brim with hate, for anyone who is wealthier then they.

What the last guy just said...

Luv how brainwashed the people of this website are by Gore and his Global Wierdophiles! Ya know, people used to be pretty sure the Earth was flat and the Sun revolved around the Earth too!!

@naman
Hate to be picky but there is no documentary evidence anywhere to suggest anyone, ever, thought the world was flat. Sorry, it's a myth. As for the hotel, who the hell would be stupid enough to want to go there anyway? Don't worry, when the sea level rises all these new developments will sink gracefully into the sunset. It's a self rectifying situation.

@the first two:

Regrigeration takes energy. The point is that refrigerating/cooling an artificial beach is a monumentally inefficient way to use energy. I submit to you, that supplying energy to convert salt water to fresh water for drought stricken areas, supplying electricity to a hospital, or even for you to run your computer (on which you type your response) is a more efficient use of energy (a finite resource if you think about it) than cooling the sand of an artificial beach.

I actually read about the plans for this on another site. They're gonna use a pipe-system under the sand (as actually alluded to above) to cool the sand. Oh yeah, and then there are the fans they'll use to blow artifically cooled air over the sunbathers...

There are more important things in life than defending conspicuous consumption. And if you're so close-minded that you can't see the actual science behind what's going on with our planet, you're lumping yourself in with the then-backwards-minded people who couldn't accept what science is now showing.

A lot of presumptions without research here. First, there IS documentary evidence that people thought the world is flat, from mesopotamian writings, to maps drawn up through the 17th century. What you are misinterpreting is the idea that Columbus sailed to prove the world was round is false. Most Europeans by Columbus' time believed the world was round (though some contemporary maps did depict otherwise), however in the Far East, particularly in China, it was still widely accepted that the world was flat.

As for the environmental naysayers, I say this: you don't have to believe in global warming to understand the importance of conservation. Current world estimates predict the world population hitting 10 billion in less than 30 years. There are a finite number of resources on this planet. The more rapidly we consume them, the more screwed we'll be in the future. You don't have to trust scientists: use some freakin' common sense.

The first two commenters must be liberals or the like to make such ludicrous comments seem like they are from people who believe what they say. Lets look at the size of the thing first; during peak summer hours the sand in that region will get to approximately 130 degrees F, say they are cooling a small beach at 300,000 square feet down to a comfortable temperature (to make the 100 degree plus ambient seem just warm) say 75 degrees. This, of course, involves a mechanical refrigeration circuit similar to those used in cooling the ice floor to a hockey rink without the steady state dynamics which result after the ice is frozen. The temperature range is 30 degrees floor ice, with an ambient of around 65 degrees resulting in a 35 degree difference. Comparing the two you can cool about 24 rinks with what it would take to cool the beach in this region (NHL hockey rink is 20,000 square feet). The same size of equipment that cools one hockey rink can cool a well constructed 40 story office building in downtown Houston, Texas at peak summer loads. The wealthy have always been prone to distinguish themselves from us common folk by material extravagance with little regard to any external affects since those affects have little chance of bothering them; it is just the way it is.