Five things to know about air conditioning in Metro Vancouver

For five days in July 2021, a heat dome descended over Metro Vancouver leading to the deaths of at least 600 people, mostly seniors living in uncooled spaces.

This unusual and intense climate event led to a recommendation, not yet enacted, that vulnerable residents be able to claim a portable air conditioner as a medical device.

Metro Vancouver residents are now facing an unseasonal late-spring warm-up that has already smashed records.

Joseph Shea, a University of Northern British Columbia associate professor in environmental geomatics, says Western Canadian residents “need to adapt to a hotter future” with more extended, out-of-season heat waves.

One of the ways to manage intense heat is to have an air-conditioned space.