LAKEPORT, Calif. — The Lake County Vector Control District confirmed Friday that five more mosquito samples from Lake County tested positive for West Nile virus this week.
“We’re seeing West Nile virus active throughout the state, and Lake County is no exception,” said Jamesina Scott, Ph.D., district manager and research director of the Lake County Vector Control District. “If you are outside around dusk or dawn, use a mosquito repellent that contains Picaridin, IR3535, Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus, or DEET.”
West Nile virus occurs every year in California, and the summer heat increases virus activity and mosquito populations.
In Lake County this year, a total of seven mosquito samples and one dead bird have tested positive for West Nile virus, or WNV.
The positive mosquitoes were collected in Clearlake Oaks (1), Kelseyville (1), Lakeport (2), Lower Lake (2), Middletown (1).
The positive dead bird was an acorn woodpecker found near Cobb.
Mosquitoes develop in water, so tipping over any buckets or other containers of water prevents adult mosquitoes.
For water sources that can’t be drained, like a pond, livestock watering trough, water feature, or an out-of-service (green) hot tub or pool, residents should contact the District for free mosquito-eating fish to prevent mosquitoes from growing there.
A video of mosquito eggs and larvae can be viewed here.
To prevent mosquito bites, the district offers the following tips:
• Apply mosquito repellents to exposed skin before going outdoors; reapply as recommended. • Wear repellent containing Picaridin, IR3535, DEET, or oil of lemon eucalyptus. • Dump and drain any containers filled with water at least once a week. • Close unscreened doors and windows to prevent mosquitoes from entering your home; repair broken or damaged screens. • Wear loose-fitting long-sleeved shirts and long pants.
Dr. Scott reminds residents that the Lake County Vector Control District is here to help if they are noticing biting mosquitoes, would like help with a neglected pool or spa, or have an in-ground yellowjacket nest on their property that they want treated.
Residents should report dead birds — especially crows, ravens and scrub-jays — to the California West Nile Virus Call Center online at https://westnile.ca.gov/report or by calling 1-877-968-2473 (1-877-WNV-BIRD).
Statewide, this year 27 California counties have detected WNV, mainly in mosquitoes. As of Aug. 4, eight human cases of West Nile virus illness have been reported in California residents.
For more information about West Nile virus, visit http://westnile.ca.gov/. Information about mosquito repellents can be found on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website at http://www.cdc.gov/westnile/faq/repellent.html.
LAKEPORT, Calif. — The city of Lakeport has welcomed its new Community Development director, a Lake County native who has worked in a variety of jobs in bigger cities around the state but is returning to move up to a new step in his career.
Joey Hejnowicz was introduced to the Lakeport City Council and the community at the council’s Tuesday evening meeting.
Hejnowicz grew up in Kelseyville, and after graduating from high school at age 18, he decided to head off to San Diego because he was looking to live in a bigger city.
He received his undergraduate degree in business with an emphasis in hospitality and tourism and was a hospitality manager for 10 years.
Hejnowicz then made his way closer to home, to Santa Rosa, where he worked in wine sales and business development for a winery for about a year.
Then he landed a job with the city of Santa Rosa, working for the finance department and later in the city manager’s office for several years.
During his time at the city of Santa Rosa, Hejnowicz gained diverse experience, from working on utility billing and rent stability ordinances, to acting as the city’s zero waste coordinator.
Hejnowicz said he is excited to meet more of the community in his new role with the city of Lakeport.
He and his wife and dog are living in Kelseyville, in the home he grew up in, which has remained in his family.
Hejnowicz succeeds Jennifer Byers, who left in November to take the assistant economic development director job with the city of Bakersfield after just over two years with the city of Lakeport.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKEPORT, Calif. — The Lakeport Police Department has welcomed three new sworn personnel, among them the first woman to hold the rank of sergeant in the agency’s 135-year history.
The new department members are Sgt. Sarah Hardisty, and officers Jonatan Moreno and Austin Eldred, all of whom took their oaths earlier this week.
Hardisty, a 16-year veteran of local law enforcement, is the newest sergeant, joining sergeants Ryan Cooley and Andrew Welter.
She previously worked as a deputy sheriff for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and as an officer for the Clearlake Police Department.
Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen said Hardisty is so far the highest-ranking female officer in the department, which has served the city since its founding in 1888.
Rasmussen said Eldred attended the police academy and had prior experience with the Ukiah Police Department.
Moreno also attended the police academy and had previously served as a correctional deputy in Lake County, Rasmussen said.
All three new hires are residents of Lake County. “We are proud they have chosen to work for our agency,” said Rasmussen.
Over the past few years the Lakeport Police Department has struggled to keep staff, a challenge not unique just to that agency but part of a nationwide trend.
However, with the arrival of Hardisty, Eldred and Moreno, the total sworn officers on the police force is up to full staffing with 14 officers to serve the city of about 5,000 residents.
Lakeport Police’s 14 sworn officers include two reserve officers, along with two recruits who are attending the police academy.
In addition, the department has a K-9 officer, Olin, a German shepherd who is partnered with Sgt. Welter.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control is continuing to look for homes for a variety of great dogs.
The Clearlake Animal Control website continues to list 33 dogs for adoption.
This week’s dogs include “Boo,” a handsome male husky with a gray, black and white coat.
There also is “Dawn,” a female Labrador retriever mix with a black and white coat.
Another featured dog is “Sosa,” a 4-year-old American Staffordshire terrier mix.
The shelter is located at 6820 Old Highway 53. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
For more information, call the shelter at 707-762-6227, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.
This week’s adoptable dogs are featured below.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
On Thursday, Gun Violence Prevention Task Force Chairman Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-04) led 109 members of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force in calling on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to schedule votes on gun violence prevention bills as soon as possible.
Although gun violence is the leading cause of death for American kids, the House of Representatives has yet to vote on even one gun violence prevention bill in this Congress.
“American children should not be scared to go to school. Parents should not be scared that when they send their kids off in the morning that it may be the last time they see them alive,” said Thompson, who represents Lake County in the House of Representatives.
“Gun violence demands our attention, yet the Republican House Leadership has not brought a single gun violence prevention bill up for a vote. The Gun Violence Prevention Task Force is calling on Speaker McCarthy to help us save lives and pass legislation that would keep our kids safe,” Thompson said.
Republicans canceled the last day of scheduled votes in July over disagreements within the Republican conference about how to proceed on a government funding bill.
Should the vote schedule fall apart again, the letter calls on House Republican Leadership to use that time to vote on life-saving gun violence prevention legislation, instead of canceling votes altogether.
The full text of the letter is below.
Dear Speaker McCarthy,
We are disappointed that Republican leadership cancelled votes in July with so many pressing issues facing our country. Foremost amongst those is the gun violence crisis that is the leading cause of death for children in America.
As Members of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, we call on you to schedule votes on gun violence prevention legislation as soon as possible this year. We also have a new standing request that should the vote schedule fall apart again, you would fill that time to vote on life-saving gun violence prevention legislation, instead of canceling votes altogether.
Gun violence is the leading cause of death of children in America since 2020. Last year, 1,686 children were killed and another 4,485 were injured by gun violence. Despite this preventable carnage, the House has yet to vote on even one gun violence prevention bill.
To save the lives of our kids, we only need the opportunity to vote on gun violence prevention legislation and the support from a tiny minority of the Republican Conference. For example, if only 20 Republicans, 10 in the House and 10 in the Senate voted for the Bipartisan Background Checks bill, we would have the votes to help prevent felons, domestic abusers, terrorists and people with serious mental health conditions from accessing guns.
The American people strongly support action on the gun violence crisis and the gun violence prevention laws that will keep their kids alive. A recent Fox News poll shows that 87 percent support universal background checks; 80 percent support red flag laws and 61 percent support banning assault weapons.
We reiterate our insistence that the House schedule votes on gun violence prevention legislation without further delay and also offer to quickly advance gun violence prevention legislation should other planned legislation be canceled again.
Thompson represents California’s Fourth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Lake, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties.
This week, Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-04), Senators Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla, and Rep. Doug LaMalfa (CA-01) announced the introduction of the Agricultural Emergency Relief Act to create a permanent structure at the Department of Agriculture to provide relief for farmers who lost crops due to natural disasters.
While Congress routinely provides relief for farmers impacted by natural disasters, the lack of a permanent program has resulted in multiple administrative changes, which can cause unnecessary delays in implementation and confusion for farmers.
“California has been ground zero for the impacts of climate change, and farmers and growers in our state and across our country are seeing the impact of climate-related disasters on their crops,” said Thompson. “I authored legislation to create the Emergency Relief Program to provide our agriculture community with financial relief to cover disaster-related crop losses, but as climate change continues to worsen, it’s clear that this program needs to be made permanent. Proud to have introduced legislation with Senators Feinstein and Padilla and Representative LaMalfa to make the Emergency Relief Program permanent and streamline the process for all farmers and growers to receive the relief that deserve.”
“Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of natural disasters and farmers across the country are bearing the brunt of these events,” Senator Feinstein said. “Unfortunately, there is not a permanent relief program for farmers who lose crops during a disaster, creating unnecessary delays and confusion whenever Congress approves relief. Our bill fixes that. It would create a permanent structure for the program and improve the process for all farmers, including those that grow specialty crops.”
“Our farming communities have felt the devastating impacts of climate change firsthand as drought, floods, fires, and smoke have threatened their livelihoods and the economic viability of agriculture in California and across the nation,” said Senator Padilla. “Our growers need and deserve relief quickly — there must be a long-term solution to ensure they can get back on their feet in the face of natural disasters. By permanently authorizing the Emergency Relief Program, this bill would bolster the safety net for the people that produce our food and improve farmers’ resiliency against the climate crisis.”
“American farmers and ranchers, especially those in California, must sometimes face devastation from natural disasters. When a food producer suffers crop losses, they are forced to deal with a complicated and lengthy process to get financial relief. There are farmers in California who are still waiting on aid for losses from several growing seasons ago,” said Congressman LaMalfa. “Creating a permanent disaster program — especially for specialty crop producers — is essential to ensure family farms stay in operation and our nation’s food security is preserved.”
The Agricultural Emergency Relief Act would:
• Create a permanent structure of the USDA’s Emergency Relief Program. The program was originally established through language in the fiscal year 2022 emergency supplemental appropriations bill and received additional appropriations in the fiscal year 2023 omnibus, but has not been formally authorized. • Include as eligible disasters droughts, wildfires, floods, hurricanes, derechos, excessive heat, excessive moisture, winter storms and freeze events, including polar vortexes. • Require farmers who apply for relief payments to purchase crop insurance for two years after receiving a payment. • Allow payment calculations to be based on indemnities reported to USDA or on losses in revenue to better accommodate specialty crop growers. • Allow Congress to continue to appropriate supplemental disaster funds in response to the level of damage incurred in a specific year or event.
Thompson represents California’s Fourth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Lake, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties.
In anticipation of another possible wet season with record rain and snowfall, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed an executive order that will expedite critical work like levee repairs and debris removal to help protect and prepare communities.
This year’s historic winter storms damaged levees and left debris in river channels that exacerbate the risk of flooding next winter — damaged levees provide less protection from high water flows, and debris and vegetation within river channels reduce capacity to move high water flows.
By acting now, the executive order allows affected communities to accelerate work to restore levee function and river channel capacity degraded by last winter’s storms and floods.
More specifically, the executive order:
• Streamlines public agencies’ emergency levee repair and debris removal work to address this past winter’s storms and prepare for next winter; • Applies to emergency levee repair and debris clearing impacted by this past winter’s storms, including: the San Joaquin River and tributaries, the Tulare Lake Basin and tributaries, the Salinas River and tributaries, the Pajaro River and tributaries, and other coastal streams between the Pajaro River and the Ventura River; • Suspends certain laws, regulations, and criteria in existing orders – conditioned on agencies complying with specified environmental and resource protection requirements – for emergency levee repair and debris removal projects. Suspensions include: • Lake and streambed alteration agreement laws and regulations implemented by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife; • Limiting provisions in State Water Board water quality certifications that would otherwise limit circumstances under which a public agency could rely on emergency regional general permits issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; • Waste discharge requirements laws and regulations implemented by the Water Boards for projects that do not require an Army Corps of Engineers emergency permit; • The California Environmental Quality Act. • Includes a number of common-sense conditions to protect the environment and natural resources, drawn from the existing regulatory expertise at the Department of Fish and Wildlife, Department of Water Resources, and the Water Boards.
This action builds on the series of measures Gov. Newsom has taken to protect communities from flooding while replenishing California’s groundwater and storage.
• Proclaimed a state of emergency in January mobilizing state government ahead of the winter storms, proclaimed a state of emergency in 53 counties to support response and recovery efforts, and activated the National Guard to support disaster response and relief; • At the governor’s request, President Biden issued a Presidential Emergency Declaration and a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration to bolster state and local recovery efforts; • Executive orders to expedite emergency flood preparation and response activities in the Tulare Lake Basin and San Joaquin River Basin, such as floodwater diversion, debris removal, and levee repairs; • Visited the Tulare Lake Basin to see flooding impacts firsthand, meet with community leaders, and emphasize the state’s commitment to supporting the counties impacted by flooding. • Announced $17.2 million to fortify the Corcoran Levee, protecting critical infrastructure, correctional and medical facilities, and more; • Committed over $500 million in the 2023-24 state budget to support flood response and projects to protect communities from future floods; • Executive orders in February and March to capture rain and floodwater for groundwater recharge, reservoir storage, and more. • Leveraging the more than $8.6 billion committed by Gov. Newsom and the Legislature in the last two budget cycles to build water resilience, the state is continuing to take aggressive action to prepare for the impacts of climate-driven extremes in weather on the state’s water supplies.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — The California Department of Fish and Wildlife Wildlife Officer Academy graduated 43 cadets today in Paradise, Butte County.
The academy is California Peace Officer Standards and Training, or POST, certified and offers training consistent with every law enforcement agency in California.
In 2008, CDFW partnered with Butte College to provide peace officer academy training for prospective wildlife officers. That partnership provided CDFW with a state-of-the-art POST-certified academy facility with nearly 50 years of police training history.
“One of the best days of the year for us is adding a graduating class of wildlife officers to CDFW’s Law Enforcement Division,” said David Bess, CDFW deputy director and chief of law enforcement. “It is a pleasure to see 43 eager graduates ready to support our mission to protect California’s natural resources and provide public safety through effective and responsive law enforcement.”
The newly sworn peace officers will soon begin a Field Training Program where they will apply their academy training under the immediate supervision of seasoned field training officer, or FTOs.
Field training with experienced FTOs is also mandated by POST to be sure new wildlife officers can apply the skills they learned during the academy to real life circumstances.
FTO is the final stage of formal training. Upon successful completion, these officers will begin patrolling California to protect the natural resources of this great state.
The wildlife officers will be deployed across the Law Enforcement Division’s programs: regular patrol, marine enforcement, investigation of petroleum spills and response, and cannabis enforcement, to name a few.
The Law Enforcement Division is hiring. For more information about becoming a wildlife officer, please visit www.wildlife.ca.gov/enforcement.
In a historic first, one in every four new cars sold last quarter in California were zero-emission vehicles, or ZEVs.
Earlier this year, the state surpassed its goal of selling 1.5 million ZEVs —a full two years ahead of schedule.
These latest sales figures come as a group of major automakers announced a partnership to build public ZEV charging networks throughout the country, showcasing where the industry has been going and California’s success in encouraging a thriving and competitive ZEV marketplace with the state’s world-leading requirement of 100% ZEV new car sales by 2035.
“California is showing the world what’s possible — fostering innovation and creating space for an industry to flourish,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom. “The proof is in the numbers: one in four new cars sold in our state are zero-emission — and thanks to our unparalleled incentives that make it cheaper than ever, we’re not leaving anyone behind.”
CALIFORNIA’S ZEV RECORD
• 25.4% of all new cars sold in California last quarter were ZEVs, according to the California Energy Commission, or CEC. • 125,939 ZEV sales in Q2 2023. • 1,623,211 total ZEV sales to date. • 34% of new ZEVs sold in the U.S. are sold in California, according to the Veloz EV Market Report. • Thousands of dollars in grants and rebates available for low-income Californians (learn more at www.ClimateAction.ca.gov). • The historic $52 billion California Climate Commitment includes over $10 billion for zero-emission cars, trucks, buses and infrastructure.
What's up for August? See Saturn at dusk and dawn, the Perseid meteors return and a “super blue moon.”
In August, we've lost Venus and Mars from the evening sky, but we'll have great views of Saturn all night. Saturn reaches opposition this month, meaning it's directly opposite the Sun as seen from Earth.
Planets at opposition rise just after sunset and are visible until dawn, and it's when they appear at their biggest and brightest for the year. Look for the giant planet low in the eastern sky around 9 p.m. by mid-month, appearing a bit higher each evening as August continues.
On the morning of Aug. 3, Saturn appears just a couple of finger widths apart from the nearly full Moon. Find them in the west before sunrise.
The Moon then makes a nice pairing with the Pleiades star cluster on the morning of the 9th, with Jupiter hanging nearby. And then the Moon has a super-close meetup with the reddish star Antares — brightest star in the constellation Scorpius — on the evening of Aug. 24.
August brings one of the best known annual meteor showers, the Perseids. And this year the stage is set for a good show, as the peak night — Aug. 12 and into Aug. 13 — is near the new moon.
The meteors are bits of dust — most no larger than sand grains — that originate from comet Swift-Tuttle. Earth sweeps through the comet's debris trail every year about this same time, resulting in the annual shower.
The radiant — the point in the sky where the meteors appear to originate — is toward the northeast, appearing in-between the upside down “W” of constellation Cassiopeia and bright star Capella.
Observing the Perseids is easy — just find yourself a safe, dark spot to lie down with your feet pointing roughly toward the northeast, and look straight up. The best time to view them is between midnight and dawn, as the radiant rises higher in the sky. Meteor activity likely will be at its greatest in the hour preceding dawn.
Now, the crescent moon also rises in the couple of hours before dawn, but it's only about 7% illuminated, and so it shouldn't pose a significant problem for viewing the meteors. You might also see a few meteors in the early morning hours during the week before and after the peak.
August begins and ends with a full moon, making for a special occurrence that only happens every couple of years. You see, a second full moon in a single calendar month is commonly called a “blue moon.” They happen every 2 to 3 years because the Moon's monthly cycle is just a bit shorter than the average length of a month. So eventually a full moon will happen at the beginning of a month, with enough days left for a complete lunar cycle. When that happens, we get a blue moon.
But there's more! The Aug. 30 blue moon is also a supermoon. The moon's orbit isn't a perfect circle, so sometimes it's a little farther away from Earth and sometimes closer. At its closest point, called perigee, it's 14% closer than at its farthest.
About three to four times a year, the full moon phase happens to coincide with the Moon reaching perigee, and we call that event a supermoon. While it technically appears a little bit bigger (and a tad brighter) than the average full moon, the difference is not super noticeable to the eye.
The combination of these two special full moons, making for a “super blue moon,” occurs about every 10 years, on average — though the time between any two occurrences can vary from two months to two decades or more.
So enjoy this month's two full moons. And while the second one won't appear supersized, or any bluer than usual, now you know what makes it special.
Stay up to date with all of NASA's missions to explore the solar system and beyond at nasa.gov.
Preston Dyches works for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Based on my experience researching urban planning and street design for the past three decades, I know that U.S. cities are primarily vehicle-centered rather than human-centered. Rules established in the 1920s govern how people use vehicles in public streets, and other governmental controls tell manufacturers how big those vehicles can be.
The U.S. has not moved as quickly as other countries to prioritize the safety of people outside of cars, especially as cars have grown larger and heavier. As a consequence, Americans are paying the price in lives lost, skyrocketing public health costs and reduced mobility.
Larger, heavier and deadlier
Data clearly shows that since 2008, cars and trucks sold in the U.S. have been continually getting bigger. The Department of Transportation’s corporate average fuel economy standards have constrained overall gasoline consumption but have also led to an increase in vehicle size.
That’s because these standards have two sets of rules: one for cars and a looser set for light trucks. As a result, automakers have built more sport utility vehicles and light trucks, as well as cars designed to meet light truck standards, like the Subaru Outback. For almost a decade, they have increasingly moved away from producing small cars and sedans.
Modern auto showrooms are dominated by sport utility vehicles, minivans and pickup trucks. According to 2022 data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, three-quarters of new vehicles produced in the U.S. are light trucks.
Those large vehicles create severe safety hazards on neighborhood city streets for children or adults who might be walking or cycling. Because these vehicles are taller, they are more likely to strike people at higher points and produce head or neck injuries rather than leg injuries. Their larger frames worsen visibility for drivers, especially when a vehicle is turning.
Until now, the U.S. has not enacted regulations that require car manufacturers to consider the safety of anyone outside of cars. Now, however, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is proposing to add information to its crash test ratings measuring how well cars protect pedestrians in crashes. For example, bumpers and hoods could be redesigned to bend more easily and absorb more energy if a vehicle strikes a person.
But as currently proposed, pedestrian safety would not be factored into the overall five-star safety rating. A vehicle could receive a failing grade for protecting pedestrians yet still earn a five-star safety rating overall.
People deserve to safely travel on public streets and in parking lots. In my view, the quickest and most effective way to tackle car bloat is to transform social expectations for the shape and size of vehicles. Several European cities show how this kind of shift can happen.
A time for local action
Amsterdam and Copenhagen are widely viewed as models for using public space in ways that prioritize people – but they weren’t always that way. Starting in the 1970s, grassroots movements in bothcities pressed officials to reduce the dominance of cars and make streets safer for the public. These movements initially were slow to catch on but gained support over time.
Today, similar initiatives are moving forward in cities across France and Germany. Even traditionally car-centric European cities, such as Brussels and Ghent, are increasingly adopting human-focused policies by designating where cars, especially large cars, can and cannot travel.
As a visiting professor in the Netherlands, a Fulbright scholar to Italy and a lecturer across Germany and Poland, I have seen the benefits of these initiatives close at hand. I’ve also learned that it will require public action to create support for such changes in the U.S.
The goal is to modify the design of neighborhood streets and parking areas in ways that prioritize pedestrians, bicycles and new forms of personal transport like microcars. Federal survey data shows that nearly half of trips that Americans drive are shorter than four miles (6.5 kilometers). Ideally, people can be discouraged from using large passenger vehicles for most of this type of travel.
What communities can do
Streets and roads are local public spaces. Therefore, local officials and citizens have important roles to play in mitigating escalating car size in their community.
Some policymakers are proposing to rein in large vehicles through tax policies, such as weight-based registration fees. But measures like this won’t avert the emerging safety crisis in the near term. Rather, I believe this kind of broad cultural shift requires collective action, starting at the local level with street design reform.
In my view, communities seeking to discourage the predominance of oversize vehicles and encourage use of smaller, lighter and slower vehicles could consider taking such steps as:
Using posts or bollards, which can be removable, to limit vehicle access to commercial areas and neighborhoods where pedestrians, bikes and smaller cars get priority.
Limiting or ending vehicle access to streets near schools and economically vibrant commercial districts, either permanently or at high-use times of day.
How would such steps make people safer? Ask communities around Boston, which have cut several accident-prone four-lane roads down to two lanes each, reducing traffic speeds and crashes and creating more green space. Or those in the Atlanta suburb of Peachtree City, which has used parking lots and street space to augment a network of more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) of paved paths for walkers, bikers and registered golf carts.
Repurposing space in streets and parking areas requires city governments and residents to emphasize the public right of way and view street space as a place to devise solutions. There is ample evidence that doing so will make U.S. communities safer.
Picture two homes on the same street: one constructed in the 1950s and the other in the 1990s. There are no trees or other shade. The air conditioning units are identical, recently replaced, and operating perfectly. Identical thermostats are set at 82 degrees Fahrenheit (27.8 Celsius).
When it’s 110 F (43.3 C) outside, the 1950s house will likely feel at least 10 F (5.6 C) warmer inside, even with the same air temperature.
Why?
The answer has to do with radiant heat. Radiant heat is what keeps you toasty warm at a campfire on a cold winter night. The fire doesn’t warm the air much; rather, like the Sun, most of the fire’s heat moves through invisible waves directly from the campfire to your body.
In the radiant heat of the Arizona sun, the surface temperature of the uninsulated post-and-beam ceilings in my house, one of 41,000 built in Tucson during the post-World War II era, can reach over 100 F (37.8 C). The single-glazed steel windows register 122 F (50 C), and the uninsulated concrete block walls aren’t much cooler.
Inside my house on triple-digit days, it can feel like I’m standing near a campfire, even with the air conditioner roaring to maintain 75 F (23.9 C). And when the system breaks – as it did during the long-running 2023 heat wave, when Phoenix hit 110 F (43.3 C) every day for weeks – temperatures rise dangerously fast. Without the AC, the hot surfaces plus the swirl of air from the ceiling fan makes the house feel like an air fryer.
Air temperature: An incomplete indicator of comfort
While people are used to thinking about how clothing, air movement, temperature and humidity affect comfort, two lesser-known measures help explain how they experience comfort indoors:
Mean radiant temperature. This is the average temperature of all the surfaces that surround us: ceiling, windows, walls, floor. For radiant heat to move between an object and the human body, it needs an uninterrupted line of sight, so ceilings and unobstructed windows have an outsized influence on the radiant temperature experienced in a specific place in a house.
Operative temperature. This can be approximated by averaging the mean radiant temperature and the average air temperature in a room. Other calculations of operative temperature take into account effects of air movement, humidity and additional variables. Roughly half of how you experience comfort is determined by the radiant environment.
Unfortunately, as the building scientist Robert Bean (no relation) says, “an entire industry of manufacturers, suppliers, builders and tradespeople incorrectly equate thermal comfort with air temperatures.” The result is that most people are completely oblivious to what actually makes a space feel comfortable — or uncomfortably hot.
On a hot, sunny day, good insulation and double-pane windows slow heat transfer enough for air conditioning to keep the mean radiant temperature inside the building within a few degrees of the air temperature.
However, in an under-insulated building, such as my house, or in some older public housing projects in Phoenix, the high mean radiant temperature can push the operative temperature over 90 F (32.2 C) – even with the thermostat set to 75 F (23.9 C). When the surface temperature exceeds the temperature of our skin, heat will begin to radiate from the hot surface into the body, making heat stroke more likely.
While the exact threshold where overheating becomes dangerous is debated, most people would agree that 90 F (32.2 C) is far too warm for comfort.
Hot surfaces are why smaller buildings, such as mobile homes, tiny homes, shipping containers and garages turned into apartments, often feel uncomfortable regardless of the thermostat setting. Smaller structures expose occupants to three, four or even six surfaces with the exterior exposed to the sun and hot outside air. More warm surfaces, more discomfort.
Cooler surfaces, more comfort
If you live in an under-insulated building and don’t mind using more electricity, you can set the thermostat lower. But if the mean radiant temperature is high, a 2 F (1.1 C) drop in air temperature will feel like only 1 F (0.6 C) — and those hot surfaces will still make you feel uncomfortable.
Adding insulation to your roof and replacing single-pane windows with double-pane units with low-emissivity (low-E) glass can help reduce the mean radiant temperature and your energy bills. They’re expensive improvements, but new federal tax credits and forthcoming rebates, to be administered by individual states, can help.
Trees, awnings and exterior shades can also reduce mean radiant temperatures by blocking direct sunlight. However, glass is a lousy insulator, so in very hot climates, single-pane windows completely protected from the sun can still become uncomfortably warm.
Adding a curtain inside — and keeping it closed — can help decrease mean radiant temperature because the curtain will be closer to the air temperature than the glass.
What about renters in old buildings?
Renters in older, under-insulated buildings are often less able to afford large energy bills, and landlords may be unable or unwilling to make expensive improvements. Making matters worse, older air conditioning systems use two to three times as much energy as newer units to deliver the same amount of cooling.
Since creating a comfortable operative temperature requires setting the thermostat lower, an HVAC system in an under-insulated building must work longer and harder, using more energy and further raising the cost. And the costs of discomfort are not only financial: Hot buildings also have adverse impacts on health and productivity.
In an older, under-insulated building similar to my house — or, in what might be the worst-case scenario, a sun-fried southwest unit of the top floor of an uninsulated concrete high-rise — a seemingly safe air temperature of 82 F could easily mask dangerous operative temperatures of 96 F (35.6 C) or higher.
The key to better design
As a professor of architecture and building science, I believe today’s byzantine building codes and rental rules could be greatly improved for comfort by regulating mean radiant temperature rather than air temperature. Vast sections of code could be jettisoned by requiring that interior surfaces, which are easy to measure with an inexpensive infrared thermometer, be kept within a comfort range above 60 F (15.6 C) and below 85 F (29.4 C).
For more comfortable buildings, architects and engineers can apply simple, established principles, such as natural ventilation, shading and the right insulation and windows for the climate. Keeping heat out in the first place means we don’t have to spend so much on energy for cooling. Research shows that these measures can also make us safer by keeping buildings cooler for longer in summer power outages.
The happy result: homes and other buildings that are not only comfortable, but also safer and more affordable to operate.