London’s risk from rising temperatures

Installing air conditioning in schools , public buildings, council homes that are worst affected by heat, as well as busses should be combined with solar panels which would cover the needed electricity as the generated power is highest when temperatures are hottest. This would make a/c more sustainable and solar panels make sense anyway. 

Insulating houses brings improvement for both winter and summer. But it needs to be combined with effective air circulation and ideally outside shutters for windows facing the midday and afternoon sun, that's by far the most effective way of reducing overheating indoors. And educate people about how best to avoid the indoors heating up (shutting windows and shutters before it gets too hot outside, until evening). 

Councils and City led initiatives should prioritize council housing and those who are least well off, as well as making it a requirement for private landlords to install home insulation and heat proofing.

Before, I've been boiling during heatwaves since my room is at the top of the house and and all the heat rises, before I have just slept downstairs in my dad's study since it's generally cooler, but it's gotten to the point where my dad has bought an AC for my room since I consistently couldn't sleep in my room, it's helped but it uses alot of power.

I wish busses had better airflow since past a certain point, the air inside is hotter but the AC cannot cope, and opening the windows has little effect,

Good luck and thanks for your hard work

Living in a new-build with tiny windows and low ceilings, it's almost impossible to cool the inside down once the outside temperature gets above 25°C. The windows don't open enough to provide any sort of draught, and yet they're still so small as to make the flat dingy and depressing in winter.

Frankly, we need to be upgrading the Grid so it can cope with the fluctuations of wind-generated electricity, and then installing air conditioning and external shutters as standard. The alternative is people using the more inefficient portable air conditioning units. 

* Reflective walls and Reflective pavements which was an option in one questions is not the same as reflective roofs. Reflective pavements and walls can bounce back heat through windows into nearby properties, making them warmer still. These sort of solutions need further technical research.

* Green walls and more trees in the streets can give shade to building reducing heat input in the buildings. Trees in the streets also provide shade for pavements and pedestrian. Many streets in London virtually have no trees. This needs to be changed.

* Blinds and curtains inside the building do not actually reduce the amount of heat greatly. There is some reduction if the windows are open for the heat behind the curtains to escape.

The real solution comes from the outside by preventing direct sunlight into the building. This can be in the form of various types of external shutters, shades, and ultraviolet reflecting tint on the window glass.

* Increasing shade in the streets by trees, by encouraging stores and shops to open shades that hang over the pavements.

* Fountains and water features do help keep their immediate surrounding cooler, depending on wind or air flow conditions. They work better in narrow spaces with good air flow.

We need external shutters and where not possible such as in tall blocks, we need glasses with a reflective layer for ultra-violet light. This technology already exists. 

Small flats in large blocks can get extremely warm. Small flats are where large number of old people are housed. They are extremely vulnerable to heat waves. Some older people live with ailments such as cancer in their flats. Some have become disabled and bed-bound. A systematic solution is required for such people. 

There is need for new regulations, as many owners of large blocks, housing associations, and property developers are not willing to spend extra for the required changes.

Confusing questions for some of us, giving rise to different interpretations, effecting survey outcome.

Question 5: mode of transport to “work or study” excludes pensioners, unemployed,maternity leave etc. some travelling on daily basis – e.g. family carers, who may answer not in the expected way.

Question 6 asks how “worried” are you about extreme heat – it is not asking how much does it effect you – some people may just interpret this as how much worry does it give them (mental health factor) for example not worried even if it does effect them and some others may take worry as an indicator of how much it effects them.

Question 12 – 15 does not take account of Studios, one bed flats that are the size of studios, people living in single rented rooms… answers from people living in these sort of accommodation, cannot reflect the exact situation the questions seem to have in mind. 

Question 17 – asks about effectiveness of a number of factors in keeping “London” cooler. Some people may take this to mean London the large geographic area with a macro-climate and some people may interpret it as Londoners in a their local areas with micro-climate. For example fountains will effect people who are near the fountains but will not have significant effect on London’s weather. Other factors are similar. I expect different people have interpreted the question in these two different ways with their answers reflecting, in fact, two different questions.

Question 18 – asking which changes would you make to your home, is essentially addressing home owners. Renters in council flats, housing associations and some others do not have the rights or ability to makes changes to their homes in this way and there is no option to indicate it.

Question 19 – which community based activities is about programmes “during extreme heat” but I wonder when reading the different options, everyone would consider the question as not about preparing before extreme heat.

In other European cities every building has external shutters on which is far more effective at blocking heat than curtains or blinds. Why are developers still allowed to build new flat blocks without this? I’d love to install external shutters as my flat is 28-29 degrees for 3 months of the year but as a leaseholder I don’t have the rights to do it. London is totally ill equipped to deal with the heat and I dread to think how much worse it’s going to get. 

Introducing a driving ban on extremely hot days would also have several benefits - less cars on the road would mean less air pollution which is exacerbated by heat and thus increases the risk to health for everyone especially vulnerable people.

More green and blue spaces in all neighbourhoods and along roads and on public squares would reduce the urban heat island effect by a few degrees, can also create more air movement and reduces air pollution. Also improves mental health, and makes a city look much nicer. Win win win. 

Umbrella shaped trees, trellises, pergolas, mini forests etc would all do the trick. Also planting more street trees and pollarding the larger ones less severely.

Using road space to create more green spaces, like in parklets, and digging up some of the heat absorbing concrete in favour of greenery would also reduce car traffic which in itself creates heat and hot surfaces.

And preserving, watering and caring for all existing trees and green spaces in the city.

We have a cottage in Hounslow and during the heatwaves it gets absolutely baking in the bedrooms at night. We had to buy a portable air con unit to keep us cool and we have planted lots of trees in the garden as well as put black out blinds up. It's still too hot!  There has been an awful lot of new build flats in the area and there's talk now of four high rise towers being built right behind us. This is surely going to generate more heat, more light pollution and more air pollution. Councils need to be looking to cool areas down, not increase the intensity of the heat and pollution for residents. Of course we need more buildings but high rise tower blocks and over building in already overpopulated areas is not the answer. 

Even if aircon on buses is difficult to retrofit, how about some reflective foil on the windows - to reduce the heat inside. Travelling on buses is awful - especially when they are crowded, and many tube lines are overcrowded and the ambient temperature is above 28 degrees C.

One of the most important things not mentioned here is air con on public transport - buses and the tube and some trains are unbearably hot - up to 40 degrees 

Hello everybody! I believe for thousands of us the main issue is buses without AC; I realize that would be a costly improvement but will save many people gloing to A&E, and also sometime might only be to instruct the driver correctly to turn the AC on where available; new buses are ok but they are a minority and going forward this should really be  plan for London TfL and various departments as will get hotter and buses will be our main transport - aside tube and bicycles which are not for everybody... :-)

Make it legal for new builds to have air conditioning. We are so focused, in this country, on insulating homes from the cold and wet, which is great. My flat is nice and warm in the winter, sure.  But it is an absolute oven in the summer. In 2022 it was unbearable- the survey asks “what did you do to cope?”. I bought an air conditioning unit; if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have got any sleep for three weeks. 

Planning regs for floor size and fire escapes mean that most new builds are single aspect- this means there is no through draft. Change this. 
Air conditioning is effectively banned- change this. 
Sash windows are also effectively banned on safety grounds- change this. 
Stop worrying about the extremes of cold, which we have largely solved. The planet, and London, is getting hotter- try to solve the problems we are going to have, not the ones we had in the 20th century. 

And for those saying air conditioning is bad for the environment, just eat less meat and fly less etc- what makes you so defeatist? Temperature increase is already baked in, and air conditioning will become more necessary, not less. 
We have access to this technology now, so it should be used. In the UK we are already at 50% renewables and rising- when we get to net zero, will you still be against air conditioning then? If not then why not use it now, when we are actually one of the countries in the world doing better at getting energy from renewable sources?

Please for the love of god just put aircon on the tube 

One of the key things that would make it better is public transport with proper air conditioning - something that this survey completely missed. 

So many people wanting AC which requires energy which leads to more global warming!  Maybe stop flying, driving eat less meat etc.  

I keep windows and curtains shut during the day …electric light costs less than AC.  I keep a small spray bottle of water and spray face and arms if have to go out and before sleep.  

Good old paper fan is  effective and more environmentally friendly than those battery operated plastic ones.