Increasing temperatures, rising energy costs and systemic social disparity combine to put 16 percent of Americans in energy poverty. Ashley Ward, director of Duke's Heat Policy Innovation Hub, defined energy poverty for CBS News as "the layering of burdens without a means, at the individual level, to combat those burdens."

Increasing summer temperatures in North Carolina and around the world are a slow-moving disaster that may go unheeded until they culminate in a heat crisis. "You can't look out your window and say it's an extreme heat day like you can with a hurricane, tornado or bad storm," Jordan Clark, senior policy associate at Duke's Heat Policy Innovation Hub, told the Wilmington StarNews. "It's very subtle and somewhat invisible, but incredibly impactful."

Duke University experts are partnering with colleagues at the University of Georgia (UGA) and numerous other collaborators to develop the Center for Innovation in Risk-analysis for Climate Adaptation and Decision-making (CIRCAD). Their video series showcases CIRCAD experts discussing their views on how the initiative can develop community- and industry-accessible research and champion climate resilience.

As high temperature records are set and broken again, cities are looking into establishing renters’ rights to cooling equipment. The major challenge rental cooling standards proponents need to overcome, is the public perception that air conditioning is a luxury, not a necessity, Ashley Ward, director of Duke University’s Heat Policy Innovation Hub, told Smart Cities Dive. “What we’re learning is we have to develop policies specific to the issue of heat,” Ward said.

Proposed legislation in the U.S. Senate seeking to speed federal permitting processes for energy projects and strengthen the electric grid is likely positive on balance, said Jackson Ewing, director of energy and climate policy at the Nicholas Institute.

Brian Murray, director of the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainability, research professor in the Nicholas School of the Environment, and research professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy, has been appointed to chair the committee leading the search for Duke University’s next Stanback Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment.

The National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS) on Wednesday released the first-ever National Heat Strategy to promote proactive coordination between federal agencies on heat planning, response and resilience. Duke University experts Ashley Ward and Jordan Clark provided comments for the media.

Practices for high school football, marching band and other activities started across the United States in August—one of the hottest times of the year. In this video, Jordan Clark, senior policy associate at Duke's Heat Policy Innovation Hub, offers tips to help students acclimate to the heat and keep them safe when the temperature gets too high.

“We’re quickly approaching the limits to what the human body can withstand.” – Jordan Clark, a senior policy associate at Duke ’s Heat Policy Innovation Hub, on a report in Nature Medicine that more than 47,000 Europeans died from heat-related causes during 2023, and that without heat adaptation measures taken over the last 20 years, the toll would have been much higher.

More than 70 representatives from government agencies, automakers, utilities, universities, nongovernmental organizations and more met in Atlanta and virtually in June to share project updates and challenges about electric mobility in the Southeast. The gathering was the first in-person meeting of the Southeast Electric Transportation Regional Initiative.