FCI member and public health scientist Dr. Plinio Morita was recently featured in a CTV News story highlighting how climate risks are increasingly showing up inside our homes, and what researchers are doing about it.
Alongside PhD student Irfhana Z and the Ubiquitous Health Technology Lab at the University of Waterloo, Dr. Morita is developing a indoor heat warning system. Using smart thermostats and machine learning, the team is mapping regions most at risk across North America and creating dashboards to alert people before residents face life-threatening temperatures.
Their findings? When homes exceed 26°C for prolonged periods, especially without cooling infrastructure, the health effects can be severe, especially for older adults. Many public health systems still rely on outdoor temperature thresholds, missing the critical indoor picture.
By bringing together smart technology, public health insight and data-driven design, this project is helping communities stay safe as extreme heat events become more common. It also calls attention to urgent policy gaps, and opportunities for smarter resilience planning.
Read and watch the full story in CTV News: https://lnkd.in/gZeQWH_h