Commission green-lights sensor pilot to study indoor heat and humidity for potential maximum-temperature policy

The Ithaca City Sustainability & Climate Justice Commission reviewed a pilot study that will pair indoor temperature and humidity sensors with voluntary sleep-data collection to measure heat exposure in residences and inform consideration of a maximum-temperature ordinance.

Sustainability staff said the Environmental Systems Lab at Cornell and Wild Cornell are running the project and that each participating household would receive three temperature-humidity sensors. "We're looking at sleep data specifically," staff said of the Fitbit component; Wild Cornell will handle the health-paired data while Cornell's lab focuses on building performance. Staff emphasized recruitment priorities: participants should live within Ithaca City, not have central air conditioning, and have private Wi-Fi (the sensors do not work on public or campus networks).

Commission discussion focused on the study's role as a methodology pilot and its statistical limits. Staff said six residents were enrolled so far and that "at least 12" across building archetypes would be ideal to support initial modeling; several commissioners warned that a small, nonrandom pilot would not by itself be definitive evidence for a citywide ordinance, but could validate the sensors and feed results into the city's digital-twin model for predictive resilience planning.

Staff also said they are working with the Building Power Resources Center (BPRC) on a yearlong technical-assistance effort that will produce a policy landscape analysis over the next six months, and they encouraged commissioners and neighbors to recruit volunteers by emailing Becca. The commission did not adopt a policy at this meeting; staff said study results and the BPRC research will be used together to shape any ordinance recommendation.