The call for collective cooling: Urban Heat Project in Windsor, Ont.

Over the course of six weeks this summer, CBC News deployed 50 sensors in the homes of people either wholly or partly without air conditioning in five different cities, including Windsor. The sensors, installed directly in participants' homes, took temperature and humidity readings every 10 minutes, providing a rich set of data to show the conditions people were living in, often without any relief. Those who agreed to host the sensors were chosen based on their willingness to participate and share their experiences with CBC News.

Summertime in Windsor is often characterized with sticky humidity and soaring temperatures, a feature that comes with being surrounded by bodies of water and being Canada's southernmost city. For some, it's a point of pride. For others, it's the source of their suffering. 

• No escape from the heat

With thick air that makes breathing feel like you're in a steam room and pulsing temperatures often worsened by the humidity, air conditioning is a staple necessity for many Windsorites to maintain a consistent night's sleep and to prevent exacerbating health problems. Still for others, it's an option out of reach, or not an option at all. And more people than expected are stuck in this very situation, with temperatures in their homes and apartments creeping even higher than what's recorded outside.

For seniors and those with health conditions, studies have shown that being in conditions at 26 C or higher for extended periods of time can have a negative impact on overall health. For all people, it is dangerous to be in spaces above 31 C for prolonged periods. 

In Windsor, more than 50 per cent of households examined were consistently above 26 C indoors, with one household that never went below this threshold temperature. 

One of the Windsor participant's apartment readings is shown above, in comparison to the outdoor temperature and the added heat index reading. It is one example of a household that was rarely below 26 C. 

Renters more susceptible to creeping temperatures

The majority of participants in the Windsor group were living in high-rise apartments, often in older buildings, where air conditioning either was a cost barrier or, in some cases, disallowed by the landlords. 

Gregory Walton, 50, is getting ready for date night with his fiancee, who lives in Michigan. An already hot day, he has planned to come home to take a cold shower before he drives across the Ambassador Bridge after work. 

"I've dried off, I'm getting dressed and I'm already starting to wet my shirt — I'm sweating profusely," he said in a self-made video. 

This is typical in Walton's unit, especially on a humid day when the air is still and viscous. Despite it being 11 p.m. at the time of filming, having all of the windows being open and three fans running, he can't escape the heat.

Gregory Walton in his Windsor apartment during a hot night

1 year ago

Duration 1:41

Windsor resident Gregory Walton submitted this video during a particularly hot evening in his apartment, one he says is typical. The video was taken at 11 p.m., with temperature readings nearing 30 degrees and 72% humidity.

"It's absolutely sweltering in here."

During the course of six weeks, Walton's home never once fell below 26 C.

The above graph highlights where the temperature surpassed 26 C inside of Walton's apartment.

Walton's biggest challenge, he shared, was getting a good night's sleep that was uninterrupted. 

"The heat makes me more snappy, more aggressive, especially when you're trying to get your rest and you're constantly having to change your T-shirt, or drink some cold water, or splash your face," he said.

University of Windsor kinesiology professor Anthony Bain has studied prolonged heat exposure on the body and how it responds under heat stress.

"Something that is often neglected is the impact on sleep," said Bain. "Insufficient sleep or sleep deprivation further compounds the risk for a cardiovascular event. So it's not just the heat per se, it's the after effects of the heat. With lack of sleep, you're exacerbating the [already] added stressors on your body."

Even those with some air conditioning in Windsor felt the consequences this summer. Elnaz Akhavan and Zeinab Niknab are both 34 and international students from Iran, who moved into apartment buildings about a block away from one another in downtown Windsor. Akhavan's building was built in the 1950s and Niknab's built in the 1930s, and neither came equipped with air conditioning. 

For Niknab and her husband, one sleeve-style unit has been installed in their living room, despite anxieties of not knowing how this will impact their hydro bill. Akhavan has a second-hand window unit which she uses, but was not certain it was working properly. 

Both participants had temperatures go above 32 C at least once during the course of the monitoring period, and consistently had warmer temperatures than what was recorded outside, measured by the nearest Environment Canada weather station. 

According to Bain, 26 C is generally OK in environments that are not humid, but in the case of Niknab and Akhavan, the heat index accounted for warmer temperatures that were above that threshold for the majority of the monitoring period. 

Heat in Windsor home reaches 32 C at night

1 year ago

Duration 1:32

Elnaz Akhavan, who lives in a bachelor apartment in downtown Windsor without air conditioning, shows how hot it gets in her apartment, even after the sun goes down. She says the extreme heat makes it difficult for her to sleep and study at home.

Note: Akhavan's apartment had one week of missing data due to a misplaced battery, which was later restored.

According to Samantha Green, the president-elect of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, these conditions are not only concerning for physical health, but also mental health. She wasn't surprised by the stories covered over the course of our monitoring, but says change should be on everyone's minds. 

"Exposure to extreme heat also exacerbates any underlying chronic conditions that someone might have," she said. 

"[For] people who already have underlying depression and anxiety, those conditions can get worse, and can also lead to a direct increase in suicidality, and the worsening of serious mental illness like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder."

The ongoing discussion on temperature legislation

Green is one of many voices in the discussion who believes cooling is a human right, something that needs to be addressed by all levels of government

"This really illustrates the many ways that we need to intervene to improve community resilience in the face of increasing extreme heat," she said. "It's not at the individual level, it is a systems level problem, which is really illustrated here."

There are currently no regulations in place that determine a required maximum temperature inside someone's residence. In most cases, according to Ontario's Residential Tenancies Act, places of residence must have a minimum temperature of 20 degrees, but according to the same act, air conditioning is not a vital service and does not need to be provided by a landlord. 

In the case of Windsor's Jessica Mailloux-Lesperance, she was forced to remove her wall unit (for safety reasons) by her property management company.

The company offered assistance to those who may not be able to purchase a new unit, but after applying herself, Mailloux-Lesperance never heard back.

For some, installation of a new air conditioning unit would not only mean investing in the purchase of one, but additionally paying a monthly fee of $100 a month on top of rent to offset electrical bills, as was the case for Walton. 

In the case of Mailloux-Lesperance, upon sharing her story, she received several offers from people looking to donate an AC unit, and now has a sleeve unit in her living room. 

"There [has been] advocacy to introducing maximum temperature bylaws in municipalities across Ontario and they've been successful in Hamilton," said Green, referring to a new bylaw that would require landlords in the city to provide air conditioning.

It's something that could be applied to Windsor. Ward 2 city councillor Fabio Costante has committed to bringing the suggestion to council in response to the data findings.

"I am going to ask administration to report back on such a bylaw," he said. "It's subject to further exploration to see what supports are available especially from the provincial government when it comes to this piece of seeing an accommodation [for] housing, whether that's getting AC units into apartment dwellings [or another form of support]."

Creative solutions in the meantime

Only a handful of participants in the project were homeowners, including Brenda Reidy and Keith Rousseau, who had the ability to implement creative solutions to rising indoor heat. That included sleeping outdoors on their porch since April.

Reidy and Rousseau have acknowledged the privilege owning their home allows them. For those in high rise apartments, like Walton, Niknab and Akhavan, temperatures were notably higher. 

The couple has accepted a lifestyle without the need for air conditioning, and some experts have commended the decision over concerns that required use of air conditioning for all people would put strain on the grid and make increasing outdoor temperatures worse by releasing more hot air.

According to Green, what should come first is the human right to be in a regulated environment. 

"I think first and foremost we have to protect people and people need access to cooling," said Green.

"Access to cooling is really a fundamental right that people should have and especially as the world continues to warm. We just need to protect people and we shouldn't be making people feel guilty for being in a cool space."