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Beat the Heat

Beat the Heat

Wed 3 Jul 2024, 7:00pm – 8:15pm

How to prepare your home and stay cool in heatwaves

    • Heat waves are becoming more frequent and severe
    • Most UK homes are poor at staying cool in heatwaves

Follow-up this successful talk with:

  • Video of this online talk, edited with sections marked in the timeline
  • Slides from the Presentations with clickable links

 

90% of UK homes will be at risk of overheating if worldwide temperatures rise 2°C, which is expected by 2050 if global warming continues on its current trajectory. – Arup

This free online expert talk will have  plenty of time for questions and discussion:

Tom Bragg, previous OEH Host, particularly interested in avoiding overheating, testing ideas at home with his wife Anne,. eg: a popular YouTube video on DIY awnings.

Olly Cooper, an Architect and Passivhaus designer, with a professional interest in minimising overheating. An OEH Host last year with a great presentation of his Garlic Row retrofit. 

It’s mostly easy to improve your home and for you to stay cooler in heatwaves: 

      • Shading of windows & skylights. Types & effects of shading

     

    • Thermal mass for steadier temperatures
    • Ventilation: minimise during hot days and maximise in cool nights  + challenges 

    • Insulation      :  Internal vs external wall insulation.  Loft & roof insulation
    • Accidental heating from electricals, hot water systems, etc.
    • Personal cooling: clothes, sprays, fans, cool showers, cold drinks. Risks to health. 

 

  • Human choices: who’s vulnerable,  being neighbourly 

We recommend plenty of low-cost and DIY solutions.

 

This 42 sec video shows how to make awnings which can be deployed from upstairs windows.

“A very high proportion of existing homes already overheat in a normal summer, never mind ones like the summer of 2020 which caused around 2,300 deaths in England. There’s now a real prospect we’ll have more and more of these events, but we are not doing anything like enough to tackle the threat.”  Julia King,  UK Committee on Climate Change (CCC).

 

 

 

Thanks to our 2024 Open Eco Homes funders and supporters