Urban planners can offset this effect by designing streets so that they channel air easily instead of blocking natural flow patterns. By doing so, they weakened the strength of breezes that blow from the lake to the shore in warm weather and help to cool shoreline neighborhoods. Second, because green and cool roofs lowered rooftop temperatures in the city, they reduced the relative temperature difference between air over Chicago and air over adjoining Lake Michigan, which is typically 4-5 degrees Celsius cooler than air over the city during daytime in summer. This dramatic difference indicates that green and cool roofs are most efficient in highly urbanized areas. However, in downtown Chicago they lowered roof surface temperatures by 7-8 degrees Celsius. We found that green and cool roofing strategies reduced daytime peak urban roof temperatures across the Chicago metropolitan area by about 2-3 degrees Celsius. But we also observed important regional- and local-scale effects that affected how well these systems performed.įirst, the impacts of green and cool roofs on UHIs varied at different locations. Our research showed that green and cool roofs helped to reduce UHI effects in Chicago. Infrared image showing buildings radiating heat in downtown Chicago. Developing cities in Asia, such as Indore in India are also implementing cool roofs to mitigate UHIs. cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland, Oregon. These roofing strategies are widely used across Europe and have recently been adopted in multiple U.S. In a recent study conducted by the University of Notre Dame’s Environmental Change Initiative, we examined whether green roofs, which are covered with plants, and cool roofs, which are surfaced with reflective materials, could reduce UHI effects in Chicago. It affects various communities differently: poor and elderly residents and small children are most vulnerable, followed by people who live in highly industrialized areas. The heat island effect raises death rates, increases energy demand for cooling, and makes life uncomfortable even for healthy residents. Urban heat islands threaten urban sustainability and public health in cities. Beyond Zero Radio podcast interview with Dr.
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