Heating and cooling in the extreme

When it gets too hot or cold in most buildings, you’re expected to put on a jacket, turn on a fan, or just deal with it. That’s not an option for healthcare facilities and laboratories, which must maintain a consistent indoor temperature regardless of outdoor conditions.

Data shows that 2011 to 2020 was the warmest decade on record, and the heatwave that struck the Western U.S. and Canada in June 2021 killed at least a 100 people in Oregon and Washington state, and even melted power lines in Seattle.

On the other end of the mercury, global warming has also destabilized the artic polar vortex—the high altitude winds circling the Artic.  As they’ve become destabilized, the vortex pushes farther and farther south (picture a spinning top slowing down and wobbling). For places unprepared for this, the effects can be deadly, like the record cold front that struck Texas in February 2021, crippling the state’s power grid and resulting in dozens of deaths.

Humanity will have to change nearly every aspect of our lives to halt climate change—or it must adapt to it. That includes healthcare facilities.

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