The Title Says It All
by Sonam Velani It's so hot, they've wrapped a bridge in foil in the UK.
It's so hot, a museum roof melted in China.
It’s so hot, wildfires are burning in Greece.
It's so hot, pipes are bursting in the US.
It’s so hot, wheat crops are damaged in India.
It’s so hot, meteorologists named a heat wave for the first time in Spain.
IT’S SO HOT.
Shady, if not scenic: One man cooled off under the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive in Manhattan. Photo by Hiroko Masuike, The New York Times.
These were the headlines that caught our eyes, but we didn’t need our Twitter feeds to tell us that the thermometer was off the charts around the globe.
Here in New York City, we broke record temperatures. Electricity demand soared to 29 gigawatts (for those who are counting, 1 gigawatt is enough to power about 900,000 homes across the Empire State). Startups like OhmConnect are creating virtual power plants, incentivizing residents to turn off their high energy appliances and helping the local utilities manage record-high electricity demand. Every little bit counts!
Climate change is making heatwaves hotter and longer around the world. According to Friederike Otto, Senior Lecturer in Climate Science at the Imperial College Grantham Institute in London, the heatwaves in Europe alone have increased in frequency by a factor of 100 or more. In New Delhi, India, temperatures have soared to 108F degrees for 25+ days this year, and this was even before summer began. Over 35% of the wheat crop in the “bread bowl of India” has been damaged, adding to a global food shortage, particularly for poor countries.
Hammersmith Bridge wrapped in foil as London temperatures soar above 104F degrees. Photo by William Mata, Evening Standard.
All of these outcomes are primarily caused by human actions as we continue to pour GHG emissions into the atmosphere. The current heatwaves are occurring as earth has warmed by about 1.2C above pre-industrial levels. Nations pledged to limit the increase to 1.5C at the COP26 UN Climate Summit last November, but we’ve got to do A LOT to get there and these current events show the urgency of reaffirming lofty climate pledges!
NYC CoolRoofs program has helped to paint over 9.2 million square feet of roofs white, reflecting sunlight and keeping surface temperatures cooler across the city. Photo by Ben Huff, Untapped Cities.
At the local level, cities are doing all they can to reduce the impact of heatwaves for communities - from painting roofs white here in New York to reflect the sun’s rays (9.2 million square feet of roofs, to be exact!) to growing ivy on walls in temperate regions to planting new trees to provide shade.
We also need to invest in more heavy duty adaptation measures – changing the materials we use for our buildings, transport networks, and other infrastructure so that we keep the roads from melting and the rails from buckling. It’s a tall order for us in the climate tech community to build the sustainable hardware of our cities in an ever-warming world!
by Sonam Velani