There are homes in Colorado that are not built to withstand today’s climate. It’s making it very difficult for some families to live in them when it’s very cold or very hot out.
There are resources available in Denver and across the state to make a home more climate resilient, while still working to keep those changes affordable.
One of the areas, climate experts hope these resources can help, is along west Colfax in Denver.
“It’s vulnerable to extreme heat and poor air quality,” Mac Prather, with the City of Denver’s Climate Action Office, said.
It’s a neighborhood surrounded by pavement, asphalt, cement and not enough trees.
“Many households report reaching 80 to 95 degrees inside the living space,” Luke Ilderton, with Energy Outreach Colorado, said.
Then these families face the opposite problem when we hit a cold snap and some homes become unbearably cold. That can then lead to another problem — high heating bills.
Prather and Ilderton said some of the homes in Denver, particularly the ones built before the 80s, aren’t as energy efficient. The windows don’t insulate the homes as well and the houses don’t always have AC. Both experts said, that doesn’t work anymore with today’s climate.