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Climate Resilient Austin

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Climate Resilient Austin

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  1. Climate Resilient Austin reduces impacts to the community and requires less recovery time from shocks and stressors”. Austin’s Climate Resilience Action Plan for City Assets and Operations. “Resilient cities are prepared for extreme weather events; resilience

  2. As part of our effort to raise awareness of the need to improve our home resilience and to educate homeowners in the U.S on solutions to climate risks, we gather information on resilient actions, strategies, and challenges from key cities in the U.S. In this blog, we focus on the City of Austin, Texas, and its climate resilience. Austin has been one of the fastest-growing large cities in the U.S since 2010. It is located in Central Texas on the Colorado River, at the intersection of four major ecological regions. Its unique topography contributes to its humid subtropical climate with characteristics of the desert, the tropics, and a wetter climate.

  3. Climate Risks Austin’sClimate ResilienceAction PlanforCityAssets andOperations furtheremphasizes thefollowingkey climatehazardsas themostcriticalfor short- andlong-term planningefforts: Austin’s climate change risks projections are stated in a report issued by the office of sustainability. The main climate concerns mentioned in the report are extreme precipitation, extreme heat, and drought.

  4. Building Codes The City of Austin follows the 2015 International Building Code and local Building Technical Codes containing regulations for Building, Electric, Fire, Property Maintenance, Mechanical, Plumbing, Residential, and Solar Energy.

  5. The City’s Climate-Resilient Actions HereareseveralexamplesofAustin’sresilientinitiatives: Water Resource Protection from Extreme Drought In Cases of Emergency Wildfire Protection Flood Protection Handling Extreme Temperatures

  6. Promoted Residential Resilient Strategies The city promotes many strategies for homeowners to use for protection against extreme weather events: Through the Heat Island Mitigation Program, the city promotes strategies to reduce the heat island effect, reduce indoor temperatures, and energy costs: AustinEnergyallowsresidentstoparticipateinaCommunitySolar programtoaccesslocallygeneratedsolarenergy, withoutactually installingsolarpanelsontheproperty.

  7. Austin Energy allows residents to participate in a Community Solar program to access locally generated solar energy, without actually installing solar panels on the property. Incentives Education Apart from the city’s website, which hosts all of the information brought in this blog, there are additional forms of communication through which homeowners in Austin can get educated regarding exposure to the mentioned climate risks: Coudert was right to call it a laundry list. The incentives and rebates across several organizations within the city promote various climate adaptation strategies:

  8. Final Thoughts Austin faces multiple climate risks due to its location and topography, and perhaps one leads to another. Extreme heat is a risk on its own, but it also leads to drought conditions, threatening the city’s water resources. Drought conditions, in turn, tend to intensify incidents of floods triggered by extreme precipitation. Austin sets the right tone for climate resilience boldness by taking brave steps toward protecting residents from climate extremes. We support this approach for cities in the reality of mounting weather unpredictability. Cities’ climate actions should be as proactive and aggressive as Austin’s in the face of the current and approaching climate challenges. Austin tackles each climate risk from multiple angles, analyzing vulnerabilities and opportunities, studying other cities’ solutions, and researching available technologies. Leaders in the City of Austin realize that letting the public voluntarily adapt to climate change will take too long. Instead, the city positively uses its charter to set local regulations and provide numerous incentives to speed up the adoption of desired strategies.

  9. Residents and homeowners in Austin that want to improve climate resilience in their homes have significant support from the city. They can: 1. Explore and be aware of the climate risks in their community and their city and its challenges. Plan and be prepared to take action during a climate-related event. Tap into the city emergency apps, and know where the nearest city shelter is, which will hopefully become a resilience hub soon. Know what steps to take in the event of a severe flood. Leverage the many offered incentives by the city to make their home truly sustainable - resilient to local risks, safe, and eco-friendly. Select licensed and accredited professionals from the city records, that can build/fix to code and get the best return on investment. 2. 3. 4.

  10. Thank You!

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