HOPE Students Final: Case: Residents Association Initiative to Protect Their Building from Heatwaves

Case: Residents Association Initiative to Protect Their Building from Heatwaves

Phase 1

The Lakeside Grove Residents Association (LGRA) is a community-driven organization located in a suburban area prone to increasingly frequent heatwaves during the summer months. With rising temperatures becoming a growing concern, the LGRA has embarked on a initiative to protect their apartments and its residents from the adverse effects of heatwaves. They have chosen to start with focusing om interventions with immediate effects, that can be taken during heatwaves.

Lakeside Grove, comprising primarily of apartment complexes and condominiums, houses a diverse community of residents including families, elderly individuals, and young professionals. About half of the apartments have their own airco-device. Others use a variety of interventions, such as electric fans, or individual sunblinds. These apartments have relatively large windows, directed towards the south. Every apartment has an isolated balcony, where residents like to sit in spring and autumn. In the building, residents have little social contact with each other. The region experiences significant temperature spikes during the summer months, leading to discomfort, health risks, and increased energy consumption due to excessive use of air conditioning.

Now, the residents want to make an action plan in order to:

Immediately decrease the effect of heatwaves on their health
Decrease the costs of electricity because of the high use of airconditioning when it gets hot and, in the long run:
Reduce their carbon footprint.

You are asked to make a thorough plan of action for them. Could you provide them with an overview of measures that can be taken on a meso, or building level? Including an estimation of costs and benefits?