A number of homes in the UK increases the rise in a temperature of 80 % in a contract, and found the study | Extreme heat
The number of houses in the United Kingdom that rises in the summer quadrants to 80 % over the past decade, according to a study, with experts calling the situation a crisis.
Hit already kills thousands of people every year in the UK, and the outcome will rise as the climate crisis is intensified. The researchers said that an urgent work is needed to inform people about how to deal with high temperatures and homes, which are largely designed to maintain heat during the winter.
The study also found that the use of air conditioning has risen seven times to 21 % of the houses between 2011 and 2022. The researchers warned that the continuation of this trend could put pressure on the national electricity network, increase carbon emissions and nourish social defects between families unable to withstand air conditioning.
The research was paid through severe heat waves in 2022, when temperatures in the UK rose above 40 ° C for the first time. The past two years have been the most recorded in the world, driven by burning fossil fuels, which shows no sign of slowdown. More than 10,000 people died as a result of summer heat waves from 2020 to 2024, and data from the UK Health Security Agency appears.
“On the presence of the heat waves that I witnessed in 2022, we had nearly 4,500 people, but this extra deaths” hidden “:” the great rise in the feverish homes and the use of the air conditioner was “a shocking result.” Many thermal waves are caused by heart attacks, strokes, respiratory problems and kidneys, exacerbated by high temperatures.
Khasrafi said: “The British people are not aware of heat and often do not see the heat they represent a danger – most of them consider something nice, for social communication, go out, and go to the beach.” “Staying inside, drinking alcohol, and not being on the beach [can help cope with extreme heat]. But these are cultural things that we are not aware of. “
“This study highlights the extent of the risks caused by the high temperature of buildings in the United Kingdom, which kills hundreds of people who are weak every year and costs millions of pounds in lost productivity,” said Bob Ward, London Climate Partnership, “
“Successive governments have failed to deal with this issue with the danger they need and now face a crisis,” he said. The climate adaptation plan in the United Kingdom, which was published in 2023 under the previous conservative government, was condemned as “very weak” in dealing with increased heat waves.
The study was published in the magazine Energy and social science research. I asked approximately 1,600 families if they had suffered from an uncomfortable warmth in a room or more during the summer of 2022, which is the same question Request in 2011.
It found that the rate of low temperature has jumped from 18 % to 80 % in 2022. More than a third of families said that their homes increased their temperature daily and another 19 % said that this had happened five or six days a week.
Half people reported that they suffer from poor sleep due to heat, while a quarter said that they suffered from frequent headaches and fatigue and were forced to work less. The half also said that they had no little knowledge of how to deal with severe heat, with another study found that a A third of people Heat waves are still not considered immediate risk. Most people in the survey tried to cool somehow, with lighter clothes, cold and cold drinks among the most common measures.
Similar high levels of temperature from all kinds of home, from apartments to separate homes. However, the houses that were built after the year 1900 were likely to reach a high temperature, as well as those that had the highest energy efficiency classifications, the EPC A and B
However, she said: “Research shows that the adaptation of buildings design is not enough – we also need to adapt people’s behavior. Simple examples are in the UK, when the weather becomes hot, the first thing that many do is to open windows. But this calls more heat to our homes.”
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The high temperature was higher in London, the southeast, northwest and lowest in the northeast, Wales and Scotland. Low -income families were more than twice that are likely to report high temperature from high -income families, perhaps because tenants cannot make changes to their homes and air conditioning expensive.
Building design regulations were updated in 2021 to consider negative cooling options, such as shading and window ravages. But this only applies to newly created houses and no research has been made to see if the changes have any effect.
“Many policy makers do not believe that excessive risks are.” One said to me: “We have only one month of summer. Why do we need to focus on this, when we have 11 months of cold weather? ” The highest death rates associated with heat In Europe in 2022.
She said that communication with the public in the United Kingdom about the high temperature is not sufficient. “The only warning system depends on the color, but it does not explain the meaning of red, amber or yellow warming, or what people need to do.” Khosravi now aims to search for how to improve such a communication.
“The government must implement the urgent modernization program to improve ventilation and negative cooling in homes, so that we do not rely on expensive air conditioning. This is targeting people most vulnerable to weakness, and their homes are likely to be a high temperature in London and southeastern England, which tends to experience more temperature,” Ward said.