Is the rental property or properties you own or manage capable of killing your tenants?

 

Are you on the board of a not-for-profit organisation that provides social or affordable rental housing? Do you have a residential property portfolio or do you just own a second home your rent out?

Then this post is written for you to consider.

Is the rental property or properties you own or manage capable of killing your tenants?

ACOSS Heat Study 2024, 1 March 2024, excerpt:

Hotter days and homes with poor energy performance create hot boxes that cannot be cooled

People variously described living in hot homes that they cannot cool as “awful”, “unliveable”, “miserable”, “unbearable”, “torture” and “a prison.”

Of the 1007 people who completed the survey, most (80.4%) said their home gets too hot in the summer.

Over half the people surveyed (56.7%) said they struggle to cool their home.

At a state and Territory level, more than half of people in Western Australia (67.2%), Queensland (66.1%), Australian Capital Territory (64.3%) and New South Wales (55.0%) said their home gets too hot and they struggle to cool it. Nearly half of the people surveyed in Victoria (45.8%), South Australia (45.7%) and the Northern Territory (45.5%) also had this experience. Tasmania was the only jurisdiction where all people surveyed said either their home was comfortable, or they are able to cool it when hot.

Some groups were more likely to struggle to cool their home:

• people renting in social housing (78.3%)

• people receiving income support (60.8%)

• people renting directly from a real estate agency (68.6%) or landlord (56.7%).

People in social or private rental properties have very limited control to make changes to their home to make it more energy efficient and resistant to extreme temperatures. They have limited control to install insulation, draft proofing, shading, fans or air conditioners, regardless of whether or not they can afford these changes. Of the 558 people living in social housing or private rental, most (69.7%) said they struggle to cool their home. [my yellow highlighting]

“I rent and there is no air con. Though I have fans, that can’t compete with high temps.

My apartment is north-west facing at top of the block.”

- Judith, New South Wales

People who indicated that they were in insecure housing (3%) also spoke of having limited control to cool their home when it gets too hot.

Healthy Futures, media release, 26 March 2024, excerpt:

Heat-related illnesses kill thousands of Australians every year (1) and roughly one-third of these deaths can be attributed to climate change (2,3). Heatwaves increase the risk of dehydration, kidney failure, heart attacks and strokes. Older people, children, people with pre-existing health conditions and people unable to afford air conditioning are most vulnerable. [my yellow highlighting]

Currently, many social housing dwellings are poor quality and prone to temperature extremes (4-6). A 2023 survey of people on low incomes by the Australian Council of Social Services found that 94.5% avoided using air conditioning because it is too expensive (7). Solar panels can significantly reduce air conditioning costs, and while 30% of Australian homes now have rooftop solar, rooftop solar coverage on social housing in New South Wales, for example, is only 7% (8).

Energy efficiency retrofits and renewable-powered air conditioning will not only protect people from extreme temperatures and drive down costs of living; they will also mitigate climate change and its health impacts in the long term by reducing dependence on polluting fossil fuel-based electricity.

Nature Climate Change, 11, pages 492–500 (2021)

Published 31 May 2021:

The burden of heat-related mortality attributable to recent human-induced climate change

A. M. Vicedo-Cabrera, N. Scovronick, F. Sera, D. Royé, R. Schneider, A. Tobias, C. Astrom, Y. Guo, Y. Honda, D. M. Hondula, R. Abrutzky, S. Tong, M. de Sousa Zanotti Stagliorio Coelho, P. H. Nascimento Saldiva, E. Lavigne, P. Matus Correa, N. Valdes Ortega, H. Kan, S. Osorio, J. Kyselý, A. Urban, H. Orru, E. Indermitte, J. J. K. Jaakkola, N. Ryti, M. Pascal, A. Schneider, K. Katsouyanni, E. Samoli, F. Mayvaneh, A. Entezari, P. Goodman, A. Zeka, P. Michelozzi, F. de’Donato, M. Hashizume, B. Alahmad, M. Hurtado Diaz, C. De La Cruz Valencia, A. Overcenco, D. Houthuijs, C. Ameling, S. Rao, F. Di Ruscio, G. Carrasco-Escobar, X. Seposo, S. Silva, J. Madureira, I. H. Holobaca, S. Fratianni, F. Acquaotta, H. Kim, W. Lee, C. Iniguez, B. Forsberg, M. S. Ragettli, Y. L. L. Guo, B. Y. Chen, S. Li, B. Armstrong, A. Aleman, A. Zanobetti, J. Schwartz, T. N. Dang, D. V. Dung, N. Gillett, A. Haines, M. Mengel, V. Huber & A. Gasparrini

Abstract

Climate change affects human health; however, there have been no large-scale, systematic efforts to quantify the heat-related human health impacts that have already occurred due to climate change. Here, we use empirical data from 732 locations in 43 countries to estimate the mortality burdens associated with the additional heat exposure that has resulted from recent human-induced warming, during the period 1991–2018. Across all study countries, we find that 37.0% (range 20.5–76.3%) of warm-season heat-related deaths can be attributed to anthropogenic climate change and that increased mortality is evident on every continent. Burdens varied geographically but were of the order of dozens to hundreds of deaths per year in many locations. Our findings support the urgent need for more ambitious mitigation and adaptation strategies to minimize the public health impacts of climate change. [my yellow highlighting]

The Lancet, Planetary Health, Volume 5, Issue 7, E415-E425

Article published July 2021, excerpts:

Global, regional, and national burden of mortality associated with non-optimal ambient temperatures from 2000 to 2019: a three-stage modelling study

Prof Qi Zhao, PhD Prof Yuming Guo, PhD Tingting Ye, MSc Prof Antonio Gasparrini, PhD Prof Shilu Tong, PhD Ala Overcenco, PhD Aleš Urban, PhD Alexandra Schneider, PhD Alireza Entezari, PhD Ana Maria Vicedo-Cabrera, PhD Antonella Zanobetti, PhD Antonis Analitis, PhD Ariana Zeka, PhD Aurelio Tobias, PhD Baltazar Nunes, PhD Barrak Alahmad, MPH Prof Ben Armstrong, PhD Prof Bertil Forsberg, PhD Shih-Chun Pan, PhD Carmen Íñiguez, PhD Caroline Ameling, BS César De la Cruz Valencia, MSc Christofer Åström, PhD Danny Houthuijs, MSc Do Van Dung, PhD Dominic Royé, PhD Ene Indermitte, PhD Prof Eric Lavigne, PhD Fatemeh Mayvaneh, PhD Fiorella Acquaotta, PhD Francesca de'Donato, PhD Francesco Di Ruscio, PhD Francesco Sera, MSc Gabriel Carrasco-Escobar, MSc Prof Haidong Kan, PhD Hans Orru, PhD Prof Ho Kim, PhD Iulian-Horia Holobaca, PhD Jan Kyselý, PhD Joana Madureira, PhD Prof Joel Schwartz, PhD Prof Jouni J K Jaakkola, PhD Prof Klea Katsouyanni, PhD Prof Magali Hurtado Diaz, PhD Martina S Ragettli, PhD Prof Masahiro Hashizume, PhD Mathilde Pascal, PhD Micheline de Sousa Zanotti Stagliorio Coélho, PhD Nicolás Valdés Ortega, MSc Niilo Ryti, PhD Noah Scovronick, PhD Paola Michelozzi, MSc Patricia Matus Correa, MSc Prof Patrick Goodman, PhD Prof Paulo Hilario Nascimento Saldiva, PhD Rosana Abrutzky, MSc Samuel Osorio, MSc Shilpa Rao, PhD Simona Fratianni, PhD Tran Ngoc Dang, PhD Valentina Colistro, MSc Veronika Huber, PhD Whanhee Lee, PhD Xerxes Seposo, PhD Prof Yasushi Honda, PhD Prof Yue Leon Guo, PhD Prof Michelle L Bell, PhD Shanshan Li, PhD

Introduction

Earth's average surface temperature has risen at a rate of 0·07°C per decade since 1880, a rate that has nearly tripled since the 1990s.1 The acceleration of global warming has resulted in 19 of the 20 hottest years occurring after 2000 and an unprecedented frequency, intensity, and duration of extreme temperature events, such as heatwaves, worldwide. Exposure to non-optimal temperatures has been associated with a range of adverse health outcomes (eg, excess mortality and morbidity from various causes).2, 3, 4, 5, 6 All populations over the world are under certain threats from non-optimal temperatures, regardless of their ethnicity, location, sex, age, and socioeconomic status. For example, in China, 14·3% of non-accidental mortality in 2013–15 might have been related to non-optimal temperatures, with 11·6% of deaths explainable by cold exposure and 2·7% explainable by heat exposure.7 In the USA, the risk of mortality increased by 5–12% due to cold exposure and 5–10% due to heat exposure between 2000 and 2006.8 An association between ambient temperature and mortality risk has also been reported in India, Australia, the EU, South Africa, and other countries and regions. 9, 10, 11  [my yellow highlighting]

Figure 1 Average daily mean temperatures of the 750 locations from the 43 countries or territories included in the analysis

The colours represent the different ranges of average daily mean temperature during the data collection periods shown in the appendix (p 4).

Daily minimum and maximum temperatures between Jan 1, 2000, and Dec 31, 2019, were collected from the Global Daily Temperature dataset (grid size 0·5° × 0·5°) of the Climate Prediction Center. This dataset was developed, by use of a Shepard algorithm with observational data from 6000 to 7000 weather monitoring stations worldwide,15 as a benchmark for a range of reanalysis products and climate change models. Daily mean temperature was calculated by averaging daily minimum and maximum temperatures.

ScienceDirect

Energy and Buildings

Volume 272, 1 October 2022:

Integrated assessment of the extreme climatic conditions, thermal performance, vulnerability, and well-being in low-income housing in the subtropical climate of Australia

Shamila Haddad, Riccardo Paolini, Afroditi Synnefa, Lilian De Torres, Deo Prasad, Mattheos Santamouris

Abstract

Social housing stock worldwide can be characterised by poor indoor environmental quality and building thermal performance, which along with the increasing urban overheating put the low-income population at higher health risk. The dwellings’ thermal performance and the indoor environmental quality are often overlooked in the context of social housing compared to the general building stock in Australia. In the present study, the synergies between urban microclimate, indoor air temperature, housing characteristics and quality of life of residents have been investigated by employing subjective and objective assessment of indoor environmental quality in 106 low-income dwellings during the winter and summer of 2018–2019 in New South Wales. It further examines the impact of urban overheating and levels of income on indoor thermal conditions. The subjective method involved assessing the links between the type of housing in which low-income people live, energy bills, self-reported thermal sensation, health and well-being, and occupants’ behaviours. The results show that many dwellings operated outside the health and safety temperature limits for substantial periods. Indoor air temperatures reached 39.8 °C and the minimum temperature was about 5 °C. While the upper acceptability limit for indoor air temperature was 25.6 °C for 80 % satisfaction, periods of up to about 997 and 114 continuous hours above 26 °C and 32 °C were found in overheated buildings, respectively. Indoor overheating hours above 32 °C were recorded up to 238 % higher in Sydney’s western areas compared to eastern and inner suburbs. Similarly, residents in westerns suburbs and regions experience more outdoor overheating hours than those living near the eastern suburbs. This study highlights the interrelationships between ambient temperature, housing design, income, thermal comfort, energy use, and health and well-being in the context of social housing. The evidence of winter underheating and summer overheating suggests that improvements in building quality and urban heat mitigation are required to minimise the impacts of poor-performing housing and local climate. [my yellow highlighting]

Climate Council sounding the alarm on a severe bleaching event unfolding across more than 1,100kms of the Great Barrier Reef from Lizard Island to the Keppel Islands

 

Coral Bleaching, Heron Island
Great Barrier Reef
IMAGE: Divers for Climate, February 2024
Climate Council

Climate pollution is “cooking” the Reef with law reform needed

Climate Council

MEDIA RELEASE TUESDAY 5 MARCH 2024

THE CLIMATE COUNCIL is sounding the alarm on a severe bleaching event unfolding across the Great Barrier Reef, with new vision showing the damage that stretches more than 1100 kilometres from Lizard Island to the Keppel Islands.

Marine heatwaves are bleaching swathes of the Southern Great Barrier reef white, which have brought direct observers to tears. With an ominous marine forecast for the coming weeks, authorities could declare another mass bleaching event.

The Reef, a cherished global icon and home to diverse marine life and a cornerstone of Australian natural heritage, faces repeated and escalating threats from climate pollution, caused by the burning of coal, oil, and gas, including more frequent and severe marine heatwaves.

Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie said: “Relentless pollution from coal, oil and gas is Australia’s number one environmental problem and it’s literally cooking the Reef. Our environmental protection laws are outdated and in desperate need of an overhaul to prevent new reef-destroying gas and coal projects.

“At least five coal and gas projects have been waved through under our outdated law by the Federal Government since it was elected, and more than 20 other highly polluting proposals are sitting on the Environment Minister's desk right now. These projects will keep being waved through without stronger laws, endangering our Reef, all marine life and the livelihoods of Queenslanders who depend on a healthy, vibrant reef.

“Australians expect our national environment law will protect the precious natural environments like the Great Barrier Reef, and the numerous communities that depend upon it - not destroy them. Unless this law is fixed to make climate pollution a core consideration, the Great Barrier Reef will continue to deteriorate before our children’s eyes.”

Climate Councillor Professor Lesley Hughes said: "As ocean temperatures continue to increase, our precious Great Barrier Reef is in grave danger. The composition and diversity of our once mighty Reef has already been changed after repeated marine heatwaves and mass bleaching events driven by the relentless burning of coal, oil and gas. Our focus must be on limiting further harm as much as possible.

“Australians understand the Reef is irreplaceable. Many Queensland workers and communities rely directly on it for their livelihoods, and every one of us depends on a healthy ocean. Scientists and tour operators are being brought to tears by what they’re observing.

“The Reef can be restored, but it needs at least a decade to recover from a severe bleaching event, and the only way to ensure that can happen is to rapidly reduce climate pollution from coal, oil and gas. The only way to safeguard the Great Barrier Reef as well as everyone and everything that depends on it is to cut climate pollution at the source."

Dr Dean Miller, Climate Council Fellow and reef expert said: "We're seeing the most vulnerable corals to heat stress start bleaching along the length of the Great Barrier Reef, which is alarming.

“It's not just about how many corals are bleaching, but that the ones most at risk are suffering. This stress is affecting corals of all sizes, from the largest ones that have survived past bleaching events to the smallest, youngest corals.

“If the heat stress continues, we'll see more widespread bleaching affecting a higher diversity of coral species, which is a major concern for the reef's health and ultimately its resilience."

For a closer look at the impacts of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef, explore our collection of recently recorded footage.

The Climate Council is Australia’s leading community-funded climate change communications organisation. We provide authoritative, expert and evidence-based advice on climate change to journalists, policymakers, and the wider Australian community.

For further information, go to: climatecouncil.org.au

Or follow us on social media: facebook.com/climatecouncil and twitter.com/climatecouncil

What is happening on the Great Barrier Reef is not something concerned people on the NSW far north coast can ignore. In addition to the rich marine biodiversity along its est. 2,300km length, the southern section of the Great Barrier Reef as a feeding and breeding ground for edible fish forms part of the sustainability cycle for our regional wild caught fisheries. Keppel Island is less than 700kms from the Clarence Coast fishery, perhaps the largest estuary-ocean fishery in New South Wales. 

Climate Change Australia State of Play 2024: will there ever be climate resilient housing for the poor and disadvantaged?

 

IMAGE: The Guardian, 9 December 2023

Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS), "ACOSS Summer Heat Survey 2024", 1 March 2024, excerpts:

* Introduction

Summers are becoming hotter with climate change. In fact, the last nine years were the world’s hottest on record, with 2023 being the hottest year to date. Australia is experiencing more very hot days and heatwaves, and Bureau of Meteorology data forecasts more days where the national daily average is over 40 degrees. For people in remote areas and places like central and northern Australia, high temperatures are already common and daily temperatures reach 35 degrees for over half the year.

Severely hot days and heatwaves affect people experiencing financial and social disadvantage worst because they have fewer resources and choices to protect themselves from extreme heat. This is an urgent and critical public health problem. Heatwaves cause more deaths than all other extreme weather events combined. In Australia, there were an estimated 36,000 deaths associated with heat between 2006 and 2017. A lack of access to energy-efficient homes is often a primary factor in these deaths.

People experiencing financial and social disadvantage are vulnerable to high temperatures because they often live in homes that are poorly insulated, with no or limited shading; and no air conditioning or fans to help cool indoor temperatures. Even if the home has air conditioning and/or fans, rising energy costs mean that people on low incomes often cannot afford to run them. They are also less likely to have rooftop solar, which would significantly reduce their energy bills.

Further, people in rental properties are not able to make changes in their home that could make them more liveable, healthy and safe. Minimum rental standards could address this problem by placing requirements on landlords to ensure their property protects tenants against heat or cold. For example, the ACT requires landlords to have ceiling insulation and Victoria is implementing minimal rental standards.

ACOSS conducted a public, online Heat Survey over the 2023-24 summer to explore the intersection between high temperatures, energy performance of homes, energy costs and income. The data is gathered to advocate for support for people experiencing financial and social disadvantage to secure cooler, healthier and more climate-resilient homes, putting people with the least at the centre of government policy and planning.

The survey gives us valuable insight into how severely high heat affects people’s physical and mental health, their wellbeing and activity when they cannot cool their homes. The survey highlights how seriously poverty and poor energy-performing homes can reduce people’s resilience and capacity to cope with debilitating hot weather.

The ACOSS Heat Survey was open from 1 December 2023 to 28 January 2024. It was made available online via the survey tool, TypeformTM.

* Key findings

Exposure to high heat is a major threat to human health. More people die in Australia from heatwaves than all other extreme events combined. With climate change, Australia is becoming hotter. Very hot days and heatwaves are becoming more common. People experiencing financial and social disadvantage are worst impacted by these events.

Those worst affected experience a combination of:

• homes with poor energy performance;

• high energy prices;

• low incomes; and

• health conditions.

To track the intersection between housing, energy costs, heat, and people experiencing financial and social disadvantage, ACOSS conducted a public, online Heat Survey over the summer months, from December 2023 to January 2024. We received 1007 responses from people across the country, including: 66.1% receiving income support; 19.2% in social housing; 36.1% in private rental; 6.4% First Nations respondents. Additionally, 62.7% reported they or someone in their household has a disability or chronic health condition.

The survey found the majority of 1007 people surveyed (80.4%) said their homes get too hot. This was often to do with being in homes with low energy efficiency (e.g., no insulation or shading, dark roofing, no eaves).

More than half (56.7%) could not cool their home because:

• they do not have air conditioners or fans, or have them but they are broken, or have them only in part of the home or they are ineffective in cooling the home; or

• if they had functioning air conditioners and or fans, they could not afford to run them.

People most likely to struggle to cool their homes were:

• people in social housing (78.3%) or private rental (65.7%) with limited control to modify their home or access working efficient air conditioners to better deal with extreme temperatures;

• people receiving income support (60.8%) with limited resources to modify their homes, afford air-conditioning or fans, or afford the running costs to cool their home;

and

• First Nations people (71.9%), two thirds of whom were in social or private rental, and more than three-quarters of whom were receiving income support.

Exposure to high temperatures in the home has a range of serious negative impacts on household members. Respondents to the survey reported:

• Negative physical and mental health impacts, making them unwell (80.5% of all 1007 respondents; 94% of First Nations respondents). For many, the heat seriously aggravated existing chronic health conditions or disabilities.

• Having to seek medical attention for heat stress (14% of all respondents; 25% of First Nations respondents).

• Difficulty sleeping (94% of all respondents; 98% of First Nations respondents), reduced productivity for work and study, and raised tensions in the home.

• Avoiding everyday household activities due to the heat (like housework and cooking).

While medical and government advice often is to leave home to go to a cooler place during very hot weather, this is not always easy. Most people (90.5%) reported that they face mobility, cost and other barriers to doing so.

Many people reported challenges affording their energy bills which meant they couldn’t cool their home and/or afford other essentials:

• 59.8% reported finding it increasingly difficult to pay their energy bills, which affected their capacity to cool their homes.

• Many reported that high energy bills made it difficult to pay for essentials like food (46.7%), medicine (41.4%) or housing (34%).

First Nations respondents were even more likely to be struggling to pay for essentials such as energy and other bills (86%), food (75%), medicine (63%) and housing (58%).

A quarter of all 1007 people surveyed (25.8%) were currently in energy debt with their retailer or believed they would go into energy debt because they could not afford their next energy bill. People receiving income support (69.4%) and First Nations people (55%) were more likely to say they had an energy debt or that they considered it to be imminent.

We note that while the people surveyed are currently housed, extremes of temperature present more severe health risks from exposure and threats to life itself to people living on the streets or sleeping rough.

Findings from the ACOSS 2024 Heat Survey raise similar concerns to the previous ACOSS 2023 Heat Survey Report and Sweltering Cities’ 2021 and 2022 Summer Survey Reports.

However, a hotter summer in 2023/24, coupled with rising costs for energy, housing, food and other essentials were reflected in people’s comments. There was a clear level of distress amongst people surveyed about the growing challenge to reduce the impacts of

heat while affording energy bills and avoiding – or compounding existing - energy debt.

For people experiencing financial and social disadvantage, especially those living with disability or a health condition, the situation of hot homes that cannot be cooled remains untenable, putting lives at risk. The situation facing First Nations people surveyed is much worse on almost every measure. Therefore, prioritising this report’s recommendations for First Nations communities is essential.

Almost all 1007 people who completed the 2024 Heat Survey (96.5%) called on governments to do more to improve homes to be more resilient to extreme heat (and cold) and to support people to be able to afford energy bills and other essentials....

Read the full 30 page report and recommendations at:

https://www.acoss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ACOSSHeatSurveyReport2024.pdf

That Australia faces rising air, land & sea surface temperatures is a situation that can no longer be denied and yet federal, state and local governments are not fully addressing the thermal mass of subdivision & individual residential dwelling design

 

The fact that ambient air temperature, lad surface and sea surface temperatures are rising across the Australian continent can no longer be denied.

GRAPH: Australian Bureau of Meteorology

In New South Wales generally average maximum temperatures in the month of January 2024 ranged from around 24°C to 36-39°C, spiked by days on end of heatwave temperatures which often broke temperature records for individual localities.

MAPPING:  Australian Bureau of Meteorology

In the north-east coastal zone of the state the minimum air temperature was 1°C higher and maximum air temperature 1-2°C higher than they were between 1981-2010.

In January the highest Northern Rivers region minimum & maximum recorded daily temperature range was:

Evans Head 24.8—38°C

Grafton 24.5—37.6°C

Yamba 25.6—37.2°C

Murwillumbah 27.1—36.2°C

Casino 27.1—36.2°C

Lismore 24.5—35.6°C

Tabulam 23.0—34.9°C

Byron Bay 25.6—32.7°C

Ballina 24.9—34.2°C

Note: These are the nine official Bureau of Meteorology weather stations in the Northern Rivers region.

Yet despite all this new subdivision schemes and housing designs are paying little more than lip service to sustainability and mitigating the thermal load of both the internal road networks of these subdivisions or the collective & individual loads of dwelling contained there in.

Apparently, multi-dwelling structures that increasing look like a collection of boxes are skating through BASIX requirements on the presumption that each individual box within these boxes will be fully air conditioned at some point before occupation or that if ceiling fans are fitted to some of the rooms then this will mitigate heat.

An assumption which:

(i) takes no account of the increasing stress air conditioning places on a household's cost of living. Because the price per kilowatt hour & associated charges of residential electricity supply continues to rise and commonly these multiple dwelling boxes are not built with any rooftop solar power grid to mitigate cost;

(ii) completely ignores the increasing risk of destructive storms causing levels of damage to power supply infrastructure that cuts power supply to both collections of streets or entire towns for days/weeks at a time. As occurred in heatwave conditions in 2024; and

(iii) appears to leave the thermal load of closely clustered internal roads out of the equation completely.

I expect the latest collection of boxes being considered by Clarence Valley Council will also get the nod because I have yet to see this local government apply the full suite of climate change policies to every development application before deciding consent. The heat footprint of an application rarely rates a mention in Council-in-the-Chamber debates or elicits questions to senior staff attending. Neither are there many mentions of the heat island affect caused by new roads, pavements and driveways. Nor does the wind resistance factor of a proposed building arise - and given the entire Clarence Coast is now in a cyclone risk zone that borders on the negligent when assessing new development applications.

Artists impression of street view of 6 Yamba Road, Yamba proposed subdivision. IMAGE: BDA

Set out below are some basic facts about how the freestanding houses, town houses, duplexes, units and flats we live in attract and retain heat.

Australian Government, Your Home, retrieved 19 February 2024:

Passive Design

What is thermal mass?

In simple terms, thermal mass is the ability of a material to absorb, store and release heat. Materials such as concrete, bricks and tiles absorb and store heat. They are therefore said to have high thermal mass. Materials such as timber and cloth do not absorb and store heat and are said to have low thermal mass.

In considering thermal mass, you will also need to consider thermal lag. Thermal lag is the rate at which heat is absorbed and released by a material. Materials with long thermal lag times (for example, brick and concrete) will absorb and release heat slowly; materials with short thermal lag times (for example, steel) will absorb and release heat quickly.

Thermal mass

Thermal mass, or the ability to store heat, is also known as volumetric heat capacity (VHC). VHC is calculated by multiplying the specific heat capacity by the density of a material:

• Specific heat capacity is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1kg of a material by 1°C.

• Density is the weight per unit volume of a material (ie how much a cubic metre the material weighs).

The higher the VHC, the higher the thermal mass.

Water has the highest VHC of any common material. The following table shows that it takes 4186 kilojoules (kJ) of energy to raise the temperature of 1 cubic metre of water by 1°C, whereas it takes only 2060kJ to raise the temperature of an equal volume of concrete by the same amount. In other words, water has around twice the heat storage capacity of concrete. The VHC of rock usually ranges between brick and concrete, depending on density. Most common building materials with high VHC also tend to be quite conductive, making them poor insulators.

Thermal lag

How fast heat is absorbed and released by uninsulated material is referred to as thermal lag. It is influenced by:

• heat capacity of the material

• conductivity of the material

• difference in temperature (known as the temperature differential or ΔT) between each face of the material

• thickness of the material

• surface area of the material

• texture, colour and surface coatings (for example, dark, matte or textured surfaces absorb and re-radiate more energy than light, smooth, reflective surfaces)

• exposure of the material to air movement and air speed.

To be effective in most climates, thermal mass should be able to absorb and re-radiate close to its full heat storage capacity in a single day–night (diurnal) cycle.

In moderate climates, a 12-hour lag cycle is ideal. In colder climates subject to long cloudy periods, lags of up to 7 days can be useful, providing there is enough solar exposed glazing to ‘charge’ the thermal mass in sunny weather.

Embodied energy

Some high thermal mass materials, such as concrete, cement-stabilised rammed earth, and brick, have high embodied energy when used in the quantities required. This highlights the importance of using such construction only where it delivers a clear thermal benefit. When used appropriately, the savings in heating and cooling energy from the thermal mass can outweigh the cost of its embodied energy over the lifetime of the building. Consideration should be given to using high thermal mass materials with lower embodied energy, such as water, adobe or recycled brick.

Why is thermal mass important?

When used correctly, materials with high thermal mass can significantly increase comfort and reduce energy use in your home. Thermal mass acts as a thermal battery to moderate internal temperatures by averaging out day−night (diurnal) extremes.

In winter, thermal mass can absorb heat during the day from direct sunlight. It re-radiates this warmth back into the home throughout the night.

In summer, thermal mass can be used to keep the home cool. If the sun is blocked from reaching the mass (for example, with shading), the mass will instead absorb warmth from inside the home. You can then allow cool breezes and convection currents to pass over the thermal mass overnight to draw out the stored energy.

Conversely, poor use of thermal mass can reduce comfort and increase energy use. Inappropriate thermal mass can absorb all the heat you produce on a winter night or radiate heat to you all night as you try to sleep during a summer heatwave.....

CLIMATE CRISIS ANALYSIS: “2023 has broken so many records that a number of new hypotheses, including the dawn of a new phase in the global warming rate, have been floated "

 

Starting 2024 the way we ended 2023.........

SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE PERSPECTIVE

ABC News (Australia), 8 February 2024:

Global temperatures through January were the warmest on record at 1.66 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, according to data released by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).

The month was 0.12C above the previous warmest January in 2020 and extends the run of record warm months to eight, following similar unprecedented temperatures from June to December last year.

Monthly Global Temperature Anomaly

Relative to pre-industrial 1850-1900 baseline

The greatest anomalies last month were seen across eastern Canada and south-west Asia where temperatures were nearly 5C above the 1991-2020 average.

Australia's mean was 1.54C above the 1961-1990 baseline average, making it the country's third warmest January on record, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

The run of abnormal heat has now lifted the 12-month for the first time.

With the target now temporarily breached, a permanent rise above 1.5C is now projected to arrive in less than 10 years.

World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said the agency was "sounding the alarm" that the world would "breach the 1.5C level on a temporary basis with increasing frequency".

Oceans simmering - warm enough for a tropical cyclone off the NSW coast

The average global sea surface temperature (SST) was also at unprecedented levels last month, a staggering 0.26C warmer than the previous January record in 2016 and only 0.01°C off the all-time record from August 2023.

The heat observed in the world's oceans has been a notable feature of the climate during the past year – passing global monthly records for 10 consecutive months.

The record run is almost certain to reach 11 months as the Earth's water temperature is currently running at levels well beyond all previous years — daily SSTs climbed to 21.05C this week, more than 0.2C above the previous February high and above the previous all-time high of 21.02C from August 2023.

The warm global waters are also being felt off Australia's east coast.

Data from the Climate Change Institute shows parts of the northern Tasman Sea are currently as much as 3C above average at around 28C - equal to a typical summer water temperature off the tropical Queensland coast.

The waters are so warm right now off the NSW north coast they could theoretically support the formation of a tropical cyclone, exceeding the threshold for development of 26.5C.

While enough evaporation is occurring for a cyclone to form off the NSW coast, they require numerous additional ingredients which are currently absent.

Climate change the main driver of records

Historical data shows than even though El Niño increases global temperatures, the trend during the past 12 months is well outside the typical warming.

"Rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are the only way to stop global temperatures increasing," Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service Samantha Burgess said.

However, considering the year after El Niño forms is typically warmer than the previous year, there is a good chance 2024 will end up beating the recent record warm 2023.

Out of the past 15 El Niño episodes, 13 led to a rise in the Earth's air temperature in the second year.

NORTHERN HEMISPHERE PERSPECTIVE

The Guardian (UK), 7 February 2024:

From deadly floods in California to devastating fires in Chile, scientists say the world is not prepared for the climate disasters that are hitting with increasing frequency as human-driven global heating continues to break records.

The hottest year in history has been followed by the warmest ever January. Many regions in the northern hemisphere are sweltering in heatwaves that would be more normal in June. Marine scientists are shocked by the prolonged and intense heat at the surface of the oceans.

Scientists say the extreme heat is mostly the result of human activity, such as the burning of oil, gas and coal and the cutting down of forests. This has been amplified by natural factors, particularly the El Niño – a phenomenon associated with Pacific Ocean warming – that started last year and is expected to continue until spring at the earliest.

This year has a one in three chance of being even hotter than last year’s record, according to the US’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The higher the global temperature, the greater the risk of fires and flooding. This month alone has seen two grim records of such climate-related disasters.

The Chilean president, Gabriel Boric, has declared two days of national mourning after the country’s deadliest ever forest fires claimed more than 120 lives in the Valparaíso region. This follows a decade-long drought in the area and a shift from diverse natural forests, which are more resilient to fire, to monoculture plantations, which are more vulnerable.

In the US, the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, announced a state of emergency as an “atmospheric river” – which was supercharged by the unusually warm Pacific Ocean – dumped unprecedented amounts of rain on San Diego and neighbouring districts, killing at least three people.

Attribution studies will be needed to ascertain the precise extent to which these particular calamities were drive by human-driven climate disruption, but they are in line with a broader trend towards increasingly severe impacts.

“Fuelled by extreme weather and climate extremes, the frequency of climate-related disasters has dramatically risen in recent years,” said Raul Cordero, a climate professor at the University of Groningen and the University of Santiago. “In some regions of the world, we are facing climate-fuelled disasters for which we are not prepared, and it is unlikely that we will be able to fully adapt to them.”

Richard Betts, of the Met Office’s Hadley Centre in the UK, said many extremes, including longer heatwaves, heavier rainfall, increased drought and more fire weather, were becoming more severe due to human-caused climate change.

“We can still limit the extent to which extremes get worse if we urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero – but with global emissions still rising, it’s hard not to be increasingly concerned about how we will deal with what’s coming,” Betts said. “We already need to adapt to the changes that we’ve already caused, and adaptation will become increasingly difficult the longer we leave it to reduce emissions.”

Of prime concern is what is happening to the oceans, which cover 71% of the planet and absorb most of the excess heat from global warming. In a letter published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Science last month, a group of scientists warned that sea surface temperatures last year were “off the chart”, with dire implications for atmospheric regulation and storm intensity.....

Guglielmo said scientists were now considering risks that had been unthinkable until recently. “2023 has broken so many records that a number of new hypotheses, including the dawn of a new phase in the global warming rate, have been floated. These hypotheses were not nearly as prevalent a year ago.”