Boston among schools that need more back-to-school cooling
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Classrooms need more cooling during back-to-school season compared with past decades, a new analysis finds.
The big picture: Maintaining a comfortable and healthy environment in schools is key to kids' educational success, but that's getting harder amid a warming climate.
- Many schools in rapidly-warming locations also start school in mid-to-late August, when heat waves can strike.
State of play: 10 Boston Public Schools don't have air conditioning, making early June or September heat especially dangerous for students and staff.
- Schools like Dorchester's Mather Elementary School, the James Otis Elementary School in East Boston and Roslindale's Mozart Elementary School were still on the list for AC installation at the end of last summer.
Teachers unions have worked with districts to move classes when classrooms get too hot, but there are too few cool spaces to relocate.
Many schools across the country are already making adjustments — some in the Austin area, for example, have shifted recess earlier and are limiting kids' outside time, Axios' Nicole Cobler reports.
Zoom in: A Climate Central report finds that cooling demand between late July and early September increased in 95% of nearly 250 U.S. locations between 1970 and 2023.
- Between 1970 and 2023, Reno, Nevada (+320%); Eureka, California (+300%); and San Francisco (+240%) saw the biggest percentage increases in back-to-school cooling degree days, or the amount average daily temperatures need to be cooled to reach 65°F.
- Boston increased 27% since 1970.
Between the lines: Back-to-school cooling demand was around 34% higher over the last decade largely due to human-caused climate change, Climate Central estimates.
What's next: Like other buildings, schools must adapt to a changing climate — and that can mean costly upgrades.
- "Buildings can be retrofitted with better windows and insulation to reduce energy waste, and existing fossil-fuel burning systems can be replaced with safer, more energy-efficient options," per Climate Central.
- BPS says it's looking into installing portable window units in the schools that still lack HVAC, if the buildings can stand the electrical load.