Creating cool community oases in heat waves
Nicky Ison
This article was first published in early 2012 in the Adelaide Advertiser in response to a heatwave on New Years Day and its still as relevant today.
In the sweltering heat of the current South Australian heat wave, 3500 homes and businesses were without power on the Fleurieu Peninsular and Hindmarsh Island. Days like these are fraught with danger. As we know it’s not just the very real risk of fire we have to be aware of, but also the health of those vulnerable to temperature extremes. Statistics from the 2009 Victorian heat wave show that more people died in the week prior to the tragic Black Saturday fires due to a lack of respite from heat than in the fires themselves (the Royal Commission put Black Saturday deaths at 173, while a Monash University Report states there were in excess of 374 deaths due to heat related illnesses).
Unfortunately, Australia’s highly centralized electricity system is not set up to manage these dual threats to health and safety arising from heat waves. The 3500 customers sitting without power on the Fleurieu Peninsular had their electricity cut by the power companies to prevent high winds blowing down power lines and causing fires. By responding to the fire threat, older people and others with health vulnerabilities are left without electrically powered cooling systems and are thus vulnerable to dehydration, heat stroke and in severe cases, death. However, if the power were to be kept on the threat of fire would be very real. On days like these and within the current structures of our electricity system, we are essentially stuck between a rock and a hard place.
However, it doesn’t have to be this way. The days of most risk of fire and blackouts are characterized by strong winds and burning sun. These extreme weather conditions can be harnessed to create cool community oases using technologies already widely in use across South Australia — solar panels and batteries. With only a moderate amount of funding, it would be possible to install solar pv arrays backed up with batteries, on or near community facilities to provide cooling. Thus, when the power is down, members of the community and particularly those at most risk could come to these cool community facilities. These would need to have renewable energy and energy storage systems that can work independent of the wider electricity system (islanding) and are sized to generate enough electricity to power the cooling system and other essential services for up to 24 hours, thereby creating a cool island effect.
Similar programs already exist in other countries. Scotland, for example suffers from the opposite problem. In Scotland in the middle of winter, for communities to function they need a well-heated place where people can gather when pipes freeze and power is cut due to extreme cold. Thus for the past seven years the Scottish government has provided grant and loan funding for community facilities such as schools and community halls to install renewable energy technologies that provide heat. For such a program to work here in South Australia, the right policy support would be needed. However, if the State or Federal Government were to provide start-up funding for such a program, it could be contingent on these facilities putting in place management plans for how in heat waves these community cool islands would operate not only technically, but socially.
By creating these simple, decentralized energy solutions, the resilience of communities will be increased through their ability to respond to the multiple threats associated with heat waves.
Nicky Ison is a sustainable energy Research Consultant at the Institute for Sustainable Futures and Co-director of the Community Power Agency.