AUSTIN, Texas — We all know it's important to stay cool in the summer heat and that importance continues as kids head back to school.
Research from Climate Central shows that cooling demand in schools across the country has increased by 34% over the past decade. This metric is calculated by comparing "cooling degree days." Those days are calculated by subtracting a location's daily average temperature and the ideal indoor temperature, which, in this case, is 65 degrees.
For example, in Austin, our daily average high for Aug. 20 is 98 degrees. Subtract 65 from that, and you get 33 cooling degree days. And in Austin, annual cooling degree days have increased by roughly 25% since 1970.
You might be asking yourself: why is this important? Well, recent research has shown that heat can impact a student's learning ability. And according to the American Economic Journal, a one degree hotter school year can lead to a 1% reduction in learning, based on test scores.
Compounding the problem, Climate Central reports that many schools across the U.S. lack adequate infrastructure to cool buildings. In fact, a 2020 report by the Government Accountability Office found that around 41% of public school districts need to replace or update the HVAC systems in at least half of their schools.
Additionally, a survey by the National Center for Education Statistics found earlier this year that the average U.S. public school was built nearly 50 years ago, meaning they were not built to function in our current climate.
But Climate Central reports that there are some things that districts can do to keep schools cooler, including retrofitting them with better windows and insulation and using more energy-efficient options.