Novel Metrics for Evaluating Home Thermal Security: A case study of manufactured housing

Keywords: heat vulnerability, housing, adaptation, resilience
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 08:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 09:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 69

Abstract

Little is known about the thermal conditions people experience in their homes or how the adverse and disproportionate impacts of home heat differ by geography, occupation, race, age, gender, and housing type. To learn more about the role of housing type, we conducted a mixed methods analysis of the home thermal security of 21 low-income MH households from May to July in Tucson, Arizona. Home thermal security is the (in)ability of a household to maintain a stable thermal environment consistent with basic health, social, and financial needs. Principal components analysis was used to assess indoor and outdoor real-time temperature, survey and interview data to identify metrics best capturing a household’s thermal security. Our study revealed novel metrics to better understand the connections between heat and health as well as the overall thermal security of MH residents. Preliminary findings show that there is considerable variation among similar MH households (i.e. low-to-very-low income, home greater than 35 years old) in their ability to maintain their desired home thermal environment. We show that households use a range of cooling strategies and devices instead of, or in addition to, air conditioning. Our analysis suggests that the presence or absence of air conditioning does not adequately account for observed variations in household vulnerability to extreme heat.