Repeat >> PNNL: Creating a Cool Room for Extreme Heat Events
"Given the reality of global climate change and the increasing likelihood of extreme heat events, designing and retrofitting homes for resistance to extreme heat and power outages should be considered in all climates. Extending the "hours of safety" that a home can provide when air-conditioning is not available can be life-saving. However, it is not necessary for an entire home to be resistant to extreme heat. Instead, the design or retrofit can concentrate on just one room. "
Cool roofs as a disaster-resistance measure in extreme heat events.
"Regardless of the amount of energy savings, cool roofs and walls can increase the "hours of safety" provided by a home during extreme heat events... Extreme heat is the deadliest of all natural disasters and is predicted to increase in intensity and frequency. The benefit of cool roofs and walls to non-air-conditioned homes is clear (the interior of the home stays cooler and thus safer)... Cool roofs and walls can ease the strain on the system and, if A/C is lost, can improve the occupants’ ability to survive a heat wave." #DisasterPreparedness#ExtremeHeat#heatwaves#climate
"To minimize health and comfort effects related to extreme heat events, create a “cool room” or space within the home to shelter from extreme heat.
Select a room that can be closed off from the rest of the home, has minimal heat gain through windows, walls, or ceilings, and is large enough to shelter the home’s occupants during a heat wave.
Use shading, low solar heat gain coefficient windows, and other solar control techniques to reduce solar heat gain to the room.
Use insulation and air sealing to minimize heat gain through the walls and ceilings.
... (continued)
" Limit electrical loads and other internal sources of heat within the space.
Provide a dedicated emergency cooling source.
Provide emergency refrigeration (located outside the room) for food and medications.
Provide backup power sufficient to serve emergency cooling and refrigeration loads."
Hmm, window manufacturer who don't post their U-Factor and SHGC get removed from my consideration mmediately for a window replacement (both are published results on how efficient those windows are). I don't care how nice your photos look, what styles you have, but how efficient they are... #windows#remodel#EnergyEfficiency#energy
"I'd like to get a quote on your highest performance windows" doesn't get window sales people as excited as you might think. Neither does "I'm an engineer, so I'm interested in performance, and don't care about the other stuff". What I did not say was: "getting the highest performance windows on the market will be well worth it because of climate change and coming heatwaves, and this will help mitigate some of that" #climate#remodeling#heatwaves#windows
“About 489,000 people are estimated to have died annually due to heat between 2000 and 2019” and sadly the #heatwaves will get much worse as #ClimateChange continues to enhance summer heat.
In #Australia🇦🇺 Beyond the tree-lined high streets, many regional towns are lacking tree cover🌳 and experts say the reliance on cars 🚕 could be to blame.
Whats missing in this article? The impact on elderly, children and those who can't drive during #heatwaves.
#ClimateDiary As 2023 is ending, I recall my hopeful optimism a year ago that 2023 might be a #TurningPoint for climate awareness, carbon emissions plateauing and #Transition / #Regeneration - it being the 50th anniversary of Schumacher’s #SmallIsBeautiful and all that (see 🧵 in link) .
I kept on sharing this great cover (“the new world is almost born” #Gramsci). But has 2923 been a turning point? 1/5
#ClimateDiary 2/5 No, it’s not really been a turning point. It is still very much the time of monsters, the new world is not yet born. It’s been a really bad year for #Floods, #Drought#Wildfires and #Heatwaves but awareness is not really rising (if anything it feels like interest is waning); carbon emissions, as far as i know have not yet plateaued (please correct me if wrong); and there has not been a transition or #GreatTurning, to use Joana Macy’s phrase, away from capitalism.
Emissions of Richest 1% Will Cause 1.3 Million Heat Deaths: Oxfam
"The super-rich are plundering and polluting the planet to the point of destruction and it is those who can least afford it who are paying the highest price."
You think it was hard this year when inflation raised the prices of everything because of the #UkraineWar, #heatWaves, #floods or #forestFires? Well you better be prepared because that's only the start! Every year from now on will be worst!