Living in hot homes is now prevalent across Karachi. Houses and apartments with walls or roofs directly exposed to sunlight feel like ovens. A key indicator of the 2015 heatwave, which resulted in over a thousand deaths, was that many residents found themselves unable to withstand heat exhaustion. Their homes remained hot for days.
Installing ACs for cooling only adds to the burden on the electrical grid since the unit must work harder to cool. Our housing stock needs to be updated for energy-efficient construction, keeping in mind the growing need for thermal comfort. Ideas like adding a green shade or painting sun-exposed surfaces with white paint help a lot in reducing the heat. With the climate-crisis bearing on us, it will be wise to investigate and treat it as an urgent matter.
Ahmer Ansari
Karachi