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Jeremy Wyatt

Feeling the heat ? How to cope in a changing climate - and help nature recover, too

Adapting to climate change is becoming increasingly important.

Recent weather patterns show we are already experiencing climate change here in the UK, let alone in other countries. So, as well as redoubling efforts to prevent climate change, we need to adjust how we live to reduce its effects on our homes, gardens, farms and nature.


Great Green Bedwyn has been helping people discover how to heat their homes more cheaply and efficiently (and are offering infrared home surveys this autumn and winter), but this article is about living with the effects of climate change, including keeping cool in summer, reducing flooding and helping nature. Fortunately, some changes that help us stay comfortable in winter - such as thicker loft insulation – also help us in summer.


Keeping cool in the summer

Many houses now overheat in summer – medically, a room temperature of 26C is too hot for children and older people. To keep cool;

  • start by checking your loft insulation: a minimum of 200mm (8”) should keep you cool in summer and warm in winter.

  • Adding rooftop solar PV panels can help cool your roof and house, as well as generating useful income to offset electricity bills.

  • On hot, sunny days, close windows, doors, curtains and reflective blinds on south-facing rooms by 10am.

  • You can also fit solar control film, a pergola, shutters, awnings or a “brise soleil” to shade south-facing windows

  • Specify solar control glass on new south-facing windows: it costs 10% more but looks the same as ordinary glass and really works.

  • If you are considering air conditioning, install a quiet, efficient split air conditioner instead of a noisy plug-in unit. Not only can split AC units cool large rooms in summer, they can also heat them in winter and use only a quarter the electricity of a plug-in air conditioner or fan heater, as they are actually heat pumps.


Tree planting helps reduce climate change

Tree planting helps reduce climate change and is core to many carbon offset schemes. However, it takes at least 20 years for a tree planted today to reduce enough emissions – assuming it is watered and protected from animals until it is self-sufficient. But tree planting also cools streets and houses and promotes nature recovery.


According to a BBC map, Great Bedwyn is at relatively low risk of overheating, but Pewsey has several summer hot spots. So, plant a tree to help nature, shade your house and provide shelter to sit under during increasingly hot summers. Animals, birds and insects also suffer from warmer, wetter summers, so we need to protect native species by planting trees, digging a garden pond or even filling a small outdoor container with water.


Adapting to climate change in the garden

To reduce summer watering, gardeners are already choosing drought-tolerant plants, using mulch, building a rain garden or rain planters and installing water butts to harvest rainwater. We can also help our few local countryside ponds stay viable by cutting back overgrown vegetation and saplings. There are grants for landowners to build more ponds to support nature recovery – and for tree and hedge planting.


Reducing flooding

 

Flash flooding due to surface water runoff during storms is another symptom of climate change. Our local farmers are already planting cover crops in the winter to reduce loss of valuable soil from fields and reducing ploughing, which disturbs the soil habitat. Actions householders can take include disconnecting downpipes from the sewer in older houses and redirecting the water into a rain garden or water butt. Porous materials like gravel for landscaping and driveways reduce runoff. Consider a green roof for new buildings or extension, but the weight makes it difficult to install these on existing buildings.


So, by slightly changing our behaviour and how we build, farm and garden, we can help reduce the effects of climate change and live more comfortably. Many of these actions will also help wildlife and reduce the severity of future climate change.


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