Climate Point: Addressing extreme heat with new technology, warning systems, and roommates

Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and the environment. I'm Erin Rode from Palm Springs, California. Temperatures have dipped back into the double-digits here, but preparing for the next heat wave is still top of mind in California and across the West following record-shattering heat last week. 

Nearly 1,000 heat records were broken over the 10-day heat wave earlier this month, from Sacramento to Salt Lake City to Seattle, marking the most severe heat wave ever recorded in September, as Jason Samenow reports for The Washington Post. 

This summer's high temperatures have shown the need for urgent solutions to address extreme heat in the West and elsewhere, from warning systems to buddy systems. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed several pieces of legislation related to extreme heat last week, including AB 2238, which will create the nation's first extreme heat advance warning and ranking system to prepare communities ahead of heat waves. 

Meanwhile, researchers and start-ups are racing to create more efficient air conditioning technology as global demand for air conditioning soars, Shannon Osaka reports for The Washington Post. Current air conditioning units strain the electricity grid and their chemical refrigerants can accelerate global warming. 

And in France, devastating heat waves have sparked an intergenerational housing movement, with organizations pairing older people who live alone with younger housemates in exchange for reduced rent, as Sofie Kodner reports for Grist. The younger housemates can then prevent at-risk seniors from becoming victims of deadly heat waves. 

“Almost all the deaths in a heat wave are preventable,” Kristie Ebi, an epidemiologist at the Center for Health and the Global Environment at the University of Washington, told Kodner.“But when seniors live on their own, with fewer family and friends around them, they can become isolated. They don’t have that outside reminder that they are at much higher risk when temperatures go up.”

Read on for more environment and climate news, including the latest on Colorado River cuts in California and a new analysis on the impact of rising seas.