Cal-THRIVES

A California Toolkit for Heat Resilience in Underserved Environments

Extreme Heat Heat is increasingly brutal in California’s Central Valley, where low incomes, poor air quality, old homes, and high utility bills disadvantage many residents. The good news is that we can act now on preventative strategies to mitigate heat health impacts. The multi-disciplinary Cal-THRIVES project has developed a cooling toolkit for local and state stakeholders below with the following objectives:

Increase awareness of heat-related vulnerability
Identify areas that are vulnerable to extreme heat events
Remedy the built environment, such as building retrofits & increases to tree canopy
Enhance community and home cooling programs
Improve social capital and connectivity at the neighborhood level

Our research and heat-resilience recommendations incorporate both community inputs and science:

Community Engagement
Cooling center characterization and improvements
Neighborhood-scale building modeling
Outdoor measure modeling
Overview slides [pdf file]

Cooling Toolkit

Community Cooling Guides

One-page and pocket community guides detailing tips for staying cool in the heat are available for download in English and Spanish.

"Tips to Stay Cool in the Heat" Community Guide

Download in English (.pdf)
Download in Spanish (.pdf)

Community Cooling Pocket Guide

Download in English (.pdf)
Download in Spanish (.pdf)

Fact Sheets

The toolkit offers a collection of fact sheets about passive and active cooling measures, ideal for use with more specialized audiences like DIY-enthusiasts, NGOs and program administrators.

Cooling Topic Fact Sheets

Air Conditioning (.pdf)
Cool Walls (.pdf)
Cooling with Trees (.pdf)
Window Films (Forthcoming)

Modeling Results

Passive measure simulation chart — *Click image to enlarge view*

Modeling summaries for building and outdoor measures are available for extreme heat resilience program developers, engineers, and researchers.

Modeling Summary Matrices

Indoor / Building Measures Matrix Spreadsheet (.xlsx)
Outdoor Measures Matrix Spreadsheet (.xlsx)

Software Tools

For extreme heat resilience program developers, engineers, and researchers, software tools are available to assist with neighborhood-scale building modeling.

CityBES

CityBES is an open tool for neighborhood- to urban-scale building modeling, which can model energy savings for one building or a group of buildings. Both passive and active indoor measures are modeled.

Learn more about CityBES and watch tutorial videos.
Access the CityBES tool online

Heat Vulnerability Index (HVI)

A Heat Vulnerability Index (HVI) modeling tool for Fresco is available online.

Access the HVI

Policy and Program Recommendations

For state, regional, and local policymakers, the toolkit offers policy and program recommendations.

UCCS Extreme Heat Webinar (.pdf)

CA Strategic Growth Council This toolkit was developed as part of the Cal-THRIVES project funded by the California Strategic Growth Council.

Related publications

Susan Mazur-Stommen. "Fresno State of Mind: Results from Heat Resilience Research in a Disadvantaged Community." Behavior, Energy, and Climate Change Conference (2020) [pdf file]

Yujie Xu, Tianzhen Hong, Wanni Zhang, Zhaoyun Zeng, Max Wei. "Heat Vulnerability Index Development and Mapping." Symposium on Simulation for Architecture and Urban Design (2021) [pdf file]

Kaiyu Sun, Wanni Zhang, Zhaoyun Zeng, Ronnen M. Levinson, Max Wei, Tianzhen Hong. "Passive cooling designs to improve heat resilience of homes in underserved and vulnerable communities." Energy and Buildings Volume 252 (2021) [pdf file]

Zhaoyun Zeng, Wanni Zhang, Kaiyu Sun, Max Wei, Tianzhen Hong. "Investigation of pre-cooling as a recommended measure to improve residential buildings’ thermal resilience during heat waves." Accepted for publication to Building and Environment [pdf file]