Ensuring the Health and Safety of Heat-stressed Areas from Extreme Heat in Moderate and Coastal Climates
Even though it has a generally mild coastal climate, heat waves in Oakland are projected to increase in the future to about three to four times more extreme heat days in 2050 compared to historical levels. Health and safety risks are further compounded by the concurrent risk of wildfires and/or power outages in the Western U.S.. Coincident heatwave and power outage events pose the greatest health risk to residents. Solar PV with electric battery storage can provide critical power to meet the essential services (including space cooling, ventilation and medical devices) to save people’s lives during the extreme heat coincident with wildfires or power outages. This DOE project provides guidance for heat-stressed areas to stay cool during increasingly frequent heat waves, quantifies the benefit of improved air filtration devices during worst case smoke events, and quantifies the benefits of solar+ storage for cool rooms and community microgrids.
Our research and cooling reliability guidance incorporates both stakeholder inputs and science:
- Stakeholder Engagement
- A heat vulnerability index assessment tool
- Neighborhood-scale building modeling of cooling measures and air filtration measures
- Solar + storage modeling for greater cooling reliability
- Overview slides [pdf file]
This toolkit was funded by the DOE's Solar Energy Technologies Office and completed in October 2025.
Team:
La Familia
La Familia led stakeholder surveys
Rising Sun Center for Opportunity
Indicia Consulting