Meet our sustainability interns, discover tips to save energy at home, and learn about local opportunities to repair and electrify. Reflect on the past heat season, get ready for fall with Leave Your Leaves, and explore ways to use AI more sustainably. Plus, see how we’re moving toward cleaner transportation in Orange County with our new EV Playbook and recent EV event!
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Below are the icons for each of the five focus areas of the Climate Action Plan. When you see these icons in the newsletter, you can click on them. They will take you to a page that explains a specific action or to the introduction of that focus area.
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Kim is a student at UNC Chapel Hill, double-majoring in Geography & Environment and Philosophy, on a pre-law track focused on environmental policy. She is particularly interested in the ethical questions behind who bears the burden of climate risks like extreme heat, and hopes to carry that lens into a future in environmental policy and law. This fall, Kim is working with Orange County on the Heat Action Plan, helping track and communicate heat-related illness data as part of the county's heat resilience efforts.
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Hi, I’m Ben! I’m currently a Senior at UNC-Chapel Hill double-majoring in Chemistry and Environmental Studies. I’m primarily interested in sustainability because I find it to be a great way to apply my love for science toward aiding progress in both human society and the natural world. In addition to my work with Orange County, I’m also a member of SolarEquity, a non-profit (run entirely by UNC students!) that helps local businesses and organizations receive solar energy systems at reduced cost. In the future, I hope to pursue a career in environmental science, environmental policy, or maybe even a combination of the two!
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Above Is This Issue's Tip to Reduce Food Waste
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Reducing the Environmental Footprint of AI
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Generative AI is a very useful tool, but it has a pretty serious impact on the environment. Growing demand requires large amounts of electricity and water to train models and respond to the billions of prompts submitted every day. While each person’s AI use may be small, we can make a few changes to our prompts to help reduce our impact (and improve our prompt-writing skills in the process)!
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Use the simplest language possible in your prompts because AI systems use more resources to process complex language.
- Example of a complicated prompt: “Elaborate on the efficacy of AI utilization in impacting work efficiency”
- Example of a simpler prompt: “Explain how AI use has affected people’s ability to work efficiently”
- Put multiple questions in one prompt to reduce the number of prompts you submit because putting multiple questions into one prompt is much more efficient.
- Example: “What are 5 ideas for something to do in Chapel Hill this weekend? Which of those would work best for a rainy day? Which one is likely to take the shortest amount of time?”
- Say exactly what kind of answer you want so the AI doesn’t produce long, unnecessary replies. Much of the excess energy used in AI comes from “rambling.” This is where the engine produces an excessively long response because it doesn't know what kind of answer you’re looking for.
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Example: “Why is the UNC-Duke rivalry so significant? Respond with only 3 bullet points, no more than 30 words each.”
- No need to be polite. You can skip the please and thank you in your prompts.
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Heat Season 2026 – Hotter Hot Days, More Nights Without Relief, and Feels like 110°F |
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If this summer has felt hotter than the ones before it, you aren't imagining it. In North Carolina, more than 6,000 people have already visited emergency rooms for heat-related illness this season.
We reviewed nearly 27 years of local weather data for Orange County and discovered that a typical hot day now feels about the same as it did 20 years ago. But, the most extreme days have become more severe, and they are happening more often.
What this means:
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- Hot days are more intense. The average heat index on days above 100°F rose from about 102°F in 2018 to nearly 105°F in 2026.
- A new record: 110°F or higher. In 2025 and 2026, the heat index reached 110°F or higher. This had not happened in the previous seven years (see chart at bottom).
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Longer heat waves. In 2025, Orange County had 9 consecutive days at or above 100°F, the longest stretch on record.
- Less relief at night. In each of the last three years, temperatures stayed above 70°F on 50 or more nights, up from as few as 30 nights a few years earlier.
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What Orange County Is Doing:
The County wrote and co-adopted a Heat Action Plan, launched the "Beat the Heat" campaign and observed Heat Awareness Week with proclamations from the County and Towns of Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough. Our "Beat the Heat" campaign and Heat Action Plan are used as statewide templates for other communities. The Heat Action Plan is robust, and we’ve been busy: planting trees, giving away PPE like cooling towels, and distributing the Water. Rest. Shade flyer to community partners.
What You Can Do:
Sign up for OC Alerts at orangecountync.gov/OCAlerts. Follow Orange County, NC (@OCNCgov) on Facebook for heat safety updates. Share the Water, Rest, Shade flyer with outdoor workers, employers, and community members.
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Transforming Orange County’s Electric Vehicle Future |
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Orange County is supporting the transition to electric transportation by sharing practical resources and creating opportunities for residents to learn about electric vehicles (EVs). Orange County’s EV Playbook—adapted from a guide created by Advanced Energy and the City of Raleigh’s Office of Sustainability—offers simple, practical guidance to help our community move toward more electric transportation.
The EV Playbook covers everyday charging questions for single‑family homes, apartments, workplaces, and public locations. It walks people through choosing a charging level, understanding utility considerations, deciding where a charging station should go, what permits may be needed, and how to work with an electrician to get a charger installed.
On October 3, Orange County Sustainability and Nolasco teamed up to celebrate National Drive Electric Month with a lively EV showcase in Hillsborough. The event featured 17 locally owned electric vehicles— including favorites like the Kia EV6 and Rivian R1T—along with special appearances from Capital Ford with their new 2026 Mustang Mach‑E and the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center. The showcase gave residents a hands‑on chance to explore a wide range of EVs, chat with local drivers, and get excited about the future of clean transportation.
Together, the Playbook and our community events give everyone in Orange County ways to build and support a cleaner, more sustainable transportation future.
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Solar Power Comes to Cedar Grove! |
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Orange County is bringing clean energy to rural Orange County with a new 59-kW rooftop solar installation at Cedar Grove Community Center. Supported by a $196,051 state energy grant, the project is expected to generate more than 85,000 kWh of clean electricity and save over $11,000 in annual energy costs, while supporting the County’s climate action and community resiliency goals.
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OWASA wants to hear from you about PFAS |
OWASA is developing guiding principles to reflect the community’s values and help guide them with decision making to mitigate the PFAS in our water. They want your feedback on their guiding principles.
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| Oct 21: Induction Cooking Webinar |
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| Oct 22: Electrify the Triangle Virtual Information Session |
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| Nov 13: Skywatch with CHAOS |
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300 W. Tryon St. | Hillsborough, NC 27278 US
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