> Take a look at what happened earlier in the summer in Portland. Extreme heat events are becoming more common in places where homes often don’t have air condit

> Take a look at what happened earlier in the summer in Portland. Extreme heat events are becoming more common in places where homes often don’t have air conditioning. This is true, but even in Portland, which is regarded as having one of the lowest rates of air conditioning in the nation, three out of four homes have it. We experienced around 100 deaths statewide (getting an exact count eludes me, as recently as three days ago NPR put it at 83, though earlier reports put it over 100) due to the heat wave. As long as we can keep the power going, Portland can probably find practical ways to keep the death toll very low in future heat waves. I'm guessing we will get an opportunity to test that.