Latest news with #AditiBunker
Gulf Today
11-03-2025
- Health
- Gulf Today
Indian slums get 'cool roofs' to combat extreme heat
The effort, which involves 400 households in Ahmedabad, is part of a global scientific trial to study how indoor heat impacts people's health and economic outcomes in developing countries - and how "cool roofs" might help. "Traditionally, home is where people have come to find shelter and respite against external elements," said Aditi Bunker, an epidemiologist at the University of Heidelberg in Germany who is leading the project, supported by the UK-based Wellcome Trust. "Now, we're in this position where people are living in precarious housing conditions, where the thing that was supposed to be protecting them is actually increasing their exposure to heat." As climate change has made India's summers more extreme, Ahmedabad has suffered temperatures in excess of 46 C (115 F) in recent years. In the Vanzara Vas slum in the Narol area of the city, which has more than 2,000 dwellings, most of them airless, one-room homes, residents that are part of the project, such as Nehal Vijaybhai Bhil, say they have already noticed a difference. "My refrigerator doesn't heat up any more and the house feels cooler. I sleep so much better and my electricity bill is down," said Bhil, whose roof was painted in January. Across the world, heatwaves that, prior to the industrial revolution, had a one-in-10 chance of occurring in any given year are nearly three times as likely, according to a 2022 study in the journal Environmental Research Letters. By painting roofs with a white coating that contains highly reflective pigments such as titanium dioxide, Bunker and her team are sending more of the sun's radiation back to the atmosphere and preventing it from being absorbed. "In a lot of these low socioeconomic homes, there's nothing to stop the heat transfer coming down - there's no insulation barrier from the roof," Bunker said. Before joining Bunker's experiment, Arti Chunara said she would cover her roof with plastic sheets and spread grass over them. Some days, she and her family sat outside for most of the day, going into the house only for two to three hours when the heat was bearable. The trial in Ahmedabad will run for one year, and scientists will collect health and indoor environment data from residents living under a cool roof - and from those who do not. Other study sites are in Burkina Faso, Mexico and the island of Niue in the South Pacific, spanning a variety of building materials and climates. Early results from the Burkina Faso trial, Bunker said, show that cool roofs reduced indoor temperature by between 1.2 C in tin- and mud-roofed homes, and 1.7 C in tin-roofed homes over two years, which subsequently lowered residents' heart rates.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
How a coat of paint is tackling extreme heat in an Indian slum
STORY: For the residents of this informal settlement in India's Gujarat, tackling extreme heat could be as simple as a lick of paint. White paint to be exact, containing highly reflective pigments such as titanium dioxide. Over the past two months, hundreds of roofs have been given a new coat in a bid to keep people cool as the hottest time of the year approaches. :: THIS EARTH With climate change making India's summers more extreme, residents here - in Ahmedabad - have suffered temperatures over 115 degrees Fahrenheit in recent years. The painting initiative is part of a global scientific trial to study how indoor heat impacts people's health and economic outcomes in developing countries - and how the "cool roofs" might help. 'They are very highly reflective and they also emit and radiate the heat away..." Epidemiologist Aditi Bunker is leading the project. "Half of the community are assigned a cool roof, and half are not, and then we want to track a whole range of outcomes including health, and indoor environment outcomes, and we want to know what the effect of reducing the indoor temperature is on these outcomes.' Most of the homes in Ahmedabad's crowded Vanzara Vas slum are airless, one-room dwellings. Resident Suman Pravin Vanzara said that before talking part in the study, the heat indoors was unbearable. "Now that the color has been applied, the house stays cooler. Earlier we could not even sit on the floor, now we can. If the fan is not turned on at night, it's still fine." The Ahmedabad trial will run for one year. Other study sites are in Burkina Faso, Mexico and the island of Niue in the South Pacific. Early results from Burkina Faso show that the cool roofs did reduce indoor temperatures and that that subsequently lowered residents' heart rates.
Khaleej Times
10-03-2025
- Health
- Khaleej Times
Indian slums get 'cool roofs' to combat extreme heat
Hundreds of roofs in the informal settlements of India's western Gujarat state have been painted in a reflective, white coating over the last two months to try to keep their occupants cooler as the hottest time of year approaches. The effort, which involves 400 households in Ahmedabad, is part of a global scientific trial to study how indoor heat impacts people's health and economic outcomes in developing countries — and how "cool roofs" might help. "Traditionally, home is where people have come to find shelter and respite against external elements," said Aditi Bunker, an epidemiologist at the University of Heidelberg in Germany who is leading the project, supported by the UK-based Wellcome Trust. "Now, we're in this position where people are living in precarious housing conditions, where the thing that was supposed to be protecting them is actually increasing their exposure to heat." As climate change has made India's summers more extreme, Ahmedabad has suffered temperatures in excess of 46 degrees Celsius in recent years. In the Vanzara Vas slum in the Narol area of the city, which has more than 2,000 dwellings, most of them airless, one-room homes, residents that are part of the project, such as Nehal Vijaybhai Bhil, say they have already noticed a difference. "My refrigerator doesn't heat up any more and the house feels cooler. I sleep so much better and my electricity bill is down," said Bhil, whose roof was painted in January. Across the world, heatwaves that, prior to the industrial revolution, had a one-in-10 chance of occurring in any given year are nearly three times as likely, according to a 2022 study in the journal Environmental Research Letters. By painting roofs with a white coating that contains highly reflective pigments such as titanium dioxide, Bunker and her team are sending more of the sun's radiation back to the atmosphere and preventing it from being absorbed. "In a lot of these low socioeconomic homes, there's nothing to stop the heat transfer coming down — there's no insulation barrier from the roof," Bunker said. Before joining Bunker's experiment, Arti Chunara said she would cover her roof with plastic sheets and spread grass over them. Some days, she and her family sat outside for most of the day, going into the house only for two to three hours when the heat was bearable. The trial in Ahmedabad will run for one year, and scientists will collect health and indoor environment data from residents living under a cool roof — and from those who do not. Other study sites are in Burkina Faso, Mexico and the island of Niue in the South Pacific, spanning a variety of building materials and climates. Early results from the Burkina Faso trial, Bunker said, show that cool roofs reduced indoor temperature by between 1.2 degrees Celsius in tin- and mud-roofed homes, and 1.7 degrees Celsius in tin-roofed homes over two years, which subsequently lowered residents' heart rates.
South China Morning Post
10-03-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
Indian slums get cool roofs to beat the summer heat
In the informal settlements of India 's western Gujarat state, hundreds of roofs have been painted in a reflective, white coating over the last two months to try to keep their occupants cooler as the hottest time of year approaches. Advertisement The effort, which involves 400 households in Ahmedabad, is part of a global scientific trial to study how indoor heat affects people's health and economic outcomes in developing countries – and how 'cool roofs' might help. 'Traditionally, home is where people have come to find shelter and respite against external elements,' said Aditi Bunker, an epidemiologist at the University of Heidelberg in Switzerland who is leading the project, supported by the UK-based Wellcome Trust. 'Now, we're in this position where people are living in precarious housing conditions, where the thing that was supposed to be protecting them is actually increasing their exposure to heat.' Nehal Vijaybhai Bhil, whose one-room house's rooftop has been coated with liquid-applied membrane, cooks in the kitchen at a slum in Ahmedabad, India, on March 7. Photo: Reuters As climate change has made India's summers more extreme, Ahmedabad has suffered temperatures in excess of 46 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit) in recent years. Advertisement In the Vanzara Vas slum in the Narol area of the city, which has more than 2,000 dwellings, most of them airless, one-room homes, residents who are part of the project, such as Nehal Vijaybhai Bhil, already notice a difference.
Voice of America
10-03-2025
- Health
- Voice of America
Indian slums get 'cool roofs' to combat extreme heat
Hundreds of roofs in the informal settlements of India's western Gujarat state have been painted in a reflective, white coating over the last two months to try to keep their occupants cooler as the hottest time of year approaches. The effort, which involves 400 households in Ahmedabad, is part of a global scientific trial to study how indoor heat impacts people's health and economic outcomes in developing countries - and how "cool roofs" might help. "Traditionally, home is where people have come to find shelter and respite against external elements," said Aditi Bunker, an epidemiologist at the University of Heidelberg in Switzerland who is leading the project, supported by the UK-based Wellcome Trust. "Now, we're in this position where people are living in precarious housing conditions, where the thing that was supposed to be protecting them is actually increasing their exposure to heat." As climate change has made India's summers more extreme, Ahmedabad has suffered temperatures in excess of 46 C (115 F) in recent years. In the Vanzara Vas slum in the Narol area of the city, which has more than 2,000 dwellings, most of them airless, one-room homes, residents that are part of the project, such as Nehal Vijaybhai Bhil, say they have already noticed a difference. "My refrigerator doesn't heat up anymore and the house feels cooler. I sleep so much better and my electricity bill is down," said Bhil, whose roof was painted in January. Across the world, heatwaves that, prior to the industrial revolution, had a 1-in-10 chance of occurring in any given year are nearly three times as likely, according to a 2022 study in the journal Environmental Research Letters. By painting roofs with a white coating that contains highly reflective pigments such as titanium dioxide, Bunker and her team are sending more of the sun's radiation back to the atmosphere and preventing it from being absorbed. "In a lot of these low socioeconomic homes, there's nothing to stop the heat transfer coming down - there's no insulation barrier from the roof," Bunker said. Before joining Bunker's experiment, Arti Chunara said she would cover her roof with plastic sheets and spread grass over them. Some days, she and her family sat outside for most of the day, going into the house only for two to three hours when the heat was bearable. The trial in Ahmedabad will run for one year, and scientists will collect health and indoor environment data from residents living under a cool roof - and from those who do not. Other study sites are in Burkina Faso, Mexico and the island of Niue in the South Pacific, spanning a variety of building materials and climates. Early results from the Burkina Faso trial, Bunker said, show that cool roofs reduced indoor temperature by between 1.2 C in tin- and mud-roofed homes, and 1.7 C in tin-roofed homes over two years, which subsequently lowered residents' heart rates.
