Assessing and Reducing Exposure to Heat Waves in Cuyahoga County, Ohio
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Assessing and Reducing Exposure to Heat Waves in Cuyahoga County, Ohio by Nicholas Bly Rajkovich A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Urban and Regional Planning) in the University of Michigan 2014 Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Larissa S. Larsen, Chair Associate Professor Scott D. Campbell Associate Professor Richard K. Norton Associate Professor Marie S. O’Neill © 2014 Nicholas Bly Rajkovich All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my mentor and doctoral committee chair, Larissa Larsen, for her guidance throughout my five years at the University of Michigan. I would also like to thank Scott Campbell, Richard Norton, and Marie O’Neill for their encouragement and insights throughout the entire dissertation process. Support for this research was provided by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant Number DGE 0718128. I also received support from the Energy Institute and the Graham Sustainability Institute, both at the University of Michigan. I would especially like to thank Mike Shriberg, Manja Holland, and Don Scavia at the Graham Institute for their feedback on my research and helping me reach a wider audience for my work by supporting the Michigan Journal of Sustainability. Francis Mills volunteered countless hours to help design and test the weather bicycle used in Chapter 2. Craig Christensen and Scott Horowitz at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory assisted me with reconfiguring BEopt/EnergyPlus to analyze temperatures in homes for Chapter 3. I am indebted to the thirty-two anonymous professionals who volunteered their time to participate in interviews for Chapter 4. In addition, staff of the Ohio Development Services Agency (Katrina Metzler and Nick Milano) and the Cuyahoga County Department of Information Technology (Dan Meaney) kindly provided data and information on their programs. I would like to thank some of the faculty who supported me through graduate school. Alison Kwok of the University of Oregon served as an advisor from afar. María Arquero de Alarcón allowed me to participate in several studios that introduced me to a new generation of urban designers in Cleveland. Jonathan Levine’s door was always open to provide candid feedback on my work. Julie Steiff worked with me to help me become a better writer. And, Megan Masson-Minock helped to tie my work back to professional practice. I never would have completed the PhD program without the support of my classmates. Neha Sami and Paul Coseo showed me the ropes during my first two years in the program. Eric Seymour provided invaluable statistical and moral support. Sarah Mills offered fun diversions ii from work. Since the start of our program together, Wonhyung Lee was always there to offer her kind words and advice. Finally, several student and staff members from the R21 research project also helped to shape this dissertation. They include Jalonne White-Newsome, Katie Conlon, Evan Mallen, Adesuwa Ogbomo, Trish Koman, Valerie Tran, and Carina Gronlund. My family made this dissertation possible, supporting me through the ups and downs of the last five years. My parents, Nick and Ronelle, graciously let me use their house as a combination hotel/restaurant/storage unit during my field work in Cleveland. My grandmother, Erma Bly, encouraged me to keep going and get the degree, even though my brain must be “full.” My grandfather, Nick, gently reminded me that I wasn’t getting any younger and should finish up school. My godmother, Carol Chamberlain, was always interested in learning more about my research and sharing it with her friends at Laurel Lake. And my brother, Dan, encouraged me to have a little fun during time off from fieldwork and reintroduced me to “hot spots” in Cuyahoga County that had nothing to do with the urban heat island effect. Last, but certainly not least, Stacey Kartub encouraged me to keep writing, to keep applying for jobs, and to get out of the apartment on occasion to get exercise. Without her help, I never would have completed this project. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ ii LIST OF TABLES ...........................................................................................................................v LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF APPENDICES ............................................................................................................. viii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1: Introduction and Literature Review ...............................................................................1 Chapter 2: Assessing Microclimate Variation Using Fine-Scale Mobile Measurements ..............21 Chapter 3: Modeling the Effect of Wintertime Weatherization Treatments on Heat-Related Exposure and Energy Use ............................................................................................53 Chapter 4: A System of Professions Approach to Reducing Heat Exposure ................................83 Chapter 5: Conclusions and Directions for Future Work ............................................................118 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: Equipment Installed on Mobile Measurement System .................................................30 Table 2.2: Bivariate Correlations among Physical Characteristics and Ground Surface Temperature .......................................................................................................................35 Table 2.3: OLS Regression Analysis for Ground Surface Temperatures on the Canal Towpath .37 Table 2.4: Bivariate Correlations among Physical Characteristics and Measured Air Temperature .......................................................................................................................38 Table 2.5: OLS Regression Analysis for Measured Air Temperature on the Canal Towpath ......40 Table 2.6: Comparison of Radii Used for Air Temperature OLS Regression Analysis ................41 Table 3.1: Distribution of Foundation Types, Wall Types, and Siding Types ..............................61 Table 3.2: Building Thermal Envelope Requirements for Single-Family Houses ........................62 Table 3.3: Assumptions for Pre-Weatherized Houses Used in Energy Modeling .........................63 Table 3.4: Comfort Impacts of Wintertime Weatherization Measures ..........................................65 Table 3.5: Annual Energy Impacts of Wintertime Weatherization Measures ...............................68 Table 3.6: Wintertime Weatherization Measures’ Impacts on Air-Conditioning ..........................69 Table 3.7: Impacts of Warm Climate Weatherization Measures ...................................................71 Table 3.8: Impacts of Wall and Foundation Type on Maximum Temperatures ............................72 Table 4.1: From Academic Knowledge to Preventative Programs ................................................88 Table 4.2: Interviewee Characteristics by Sector ..........................................................................91 Table 4.3: Highest Degree Earned by Sector .................................................................................93 Table 4.4: Major Events by Sector ..............................................................................................106 Table A-1: Summary of Bicycle Transects in Cuyahoga County, Ohio ......................................130 Table B-1: Wood Frame Home, Full Basement—Annual Natural Gas Usage (therms/year) .....132 Table B-2: Wood Frame Home, Full Basement—Annual Electricity Usage (kWh/year) ..........133 Table B-3: Wood Frame Home, Full Basement—Number of Hours with Air Temperature above 28.9°C Indoors (hours/year) ............................................................................................134 v Table B-4: Wood Frame Home, Full Basement—Number of Hours with Air Temperature above 28.9°C Indoors (hours/year) ............................................................................................135 Table B-5: Wood Frame Home, Full Basement—Number of Hours with Air Temperature below 21.1°C Indoors (hours/year) ...........................................................................................136 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: Image of the bicycle-based mobile measurement system ...........................................29 Figure 2.2: Image of the front of the bicycle-based mobile measurement system ........................31 Figure 2.3: Map of transect routes .................................................................................................33 Figure 2.4: Graph showing frequency of air temperature data measurement by four fixed stations in Cuyahoga County (KCGF, CND01, KBKL, KCLE) and the bicycle transect on June 27, 2012..............................................................................................................................43 Figure 2.5: Map and graph showing air temperature data from four fixed stations in Cuyahoga County (KCGF, CND01, KBKL, KCLE) and bicycle transect on June 27, 2012 .............45 Figure 3.1: Comparison of summer indoor operative temperatures for a wood framed home with a full basement pre- and post-weatherization (Wx)