Newsroom

Welcome to EPA's Urban Heat Island Newsroom. The Newsroom provides current news and links to news releases related to urban heat island impacts, mitigation strategies, and community initiatives. To help keep you up to date, you may also wish to sign up for EPA's Urban Heat Island Listserv. Older stories can be found in the Newsroom Archive.

October 2009

EPA’s New Green Parking Lot Allows Scientists to Study Permeable Surfaces That May Help the Environment (October 28, 2009) – The U.S. EPA is conducting a study that will test a variety of different permeable pavement materials in a parking lot to investigate ways to reduce pollution that can run off paved surfaces and improve how water filters back into the ground.
PA Outlines Plan to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Protect Economy, Environment (October 14, 2009) – Pennsylvania has developed a climate change plan that includes an urban forestry program to reduce buildings’ heating and cooling demands.
The Cool Roof grant program now gets federal tax credit (October 13, 2009) – Chicago’s Cool Roof grant program now also qualifies homeowners to a tax credit thanks to the Federal Stimulus Package.
MIT Team Invents Color-Changing Roof Tiles (October 9, 2009) – A team of MIT students says they’ve made a roof tile that turns white in hot weather and black in cold weather, capturing the best of both colors.
Green Roofs Curb Global Warming, Study Finds (October 5, 2009) – Researchers at Michigan State University found that replacing traditional roofing materials with green roofs in an urban area the size of Detroit, with a population of about one million, would capture more than 55,000 tons of carbon.
Green Roofs: Doing it Bigger, Better (October 3, 2009) – Green roofs have been around at least since the time of the Vikings but are just becoming widespread in the United States.
Breaking ground with a $1.6 billion plan to tame water (October 1, 2009) – Philadelphia has announced a plan to deal with stormwater through rain gardens, green roofs, thousands of additional trees, porous pavement, and more.

September 2009

Greenery plan branches out in Denver (September 28, 2009) – Trees have been planted at parks and neighborhoods identified by Denver Parks and Recreation forestry officials as being “gaps in the canopy” and “urban heat islands.”
Garden Help: Trees play vital role in health of a city (September 25, 2009) – City trees quietly provide us with many benefits that are very important in today’s urban environment.
Painting the City White, Literally (September 24, 2009) – New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Vice President Al Gore launched a campaign to paint buildings’ roofs with a white coating to reduce cooling costs and energy usage.
Study: Poor neighborhoods not insulated from heat (September 21, 2009) – Researchers at Arizona State University have found that poor neighborhoods are less insulated from the heat that radiates through Phoenix every summer.
Cool roof is like a nice white shirt on a summer day (September 20, 2009) – Energy Secretary Steven Chu is urging Americans to install white roofs to slash cooling costs and help reduce global warming.
Study: Wealth buys rescue from urban heat island (September 20, 2009) – A new study shows that Phoenix’s sweltering summer inflicts the most misery and illness in poor neighborhoods.
Landscape Architects Create New Sustainability Resource Guides (September 19, 2009) – The American Society of Landscape Architects has announced a new series of comprehensive online resource guides on sustainable design and planning.
South Bronx building gets green treatment with help from Habitat for Humanity (September 17, 2009) – Habitat for Humanity is breaking new ground unveiling its first-ever green roof in the South Bronx.
Recycled glass used to make eco-friendly pavement (September 14, 2009) – A Wisconsin-based company is manufacturing a type of cool pavement from recycled beer bottles and other glass.
Rooftop farm movement aims for the sky (September 14, 2009) – Enthusiasm for green roofs has led some to develop rooftop farms.
Denver receives $6 million grant to improve community energy efficiency (September 10, 2009) – The City of Denver will receive $6 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to improve community energy efficiency through its Greenprint Denver programs.
Urban or rural: Which is more energy-efficient? (September 1, 2009) – Urban and rural populations use energy differently.

August 2009

European researchers study urban heat islands on bikes, from the air and from space (August 31, 2009) – Research teams studied ‘urban heat islands’ using bicycle-mounted equipment in the Netherlands and ground-based and airborne technologies over Greece.
European researchers study urban heat islands on bikes, from the air and from space (August 31, 2009) – Research teams studied ‘urban heat islands’ using bicycle-mounted equipment in the Netherlands and ground-based and airborne technologies over Greece.
Gray Infrastructure Not Living Up to Green Label (August 31, 2009) – Review suggests that energy efficiency is a better target than energy technology.
Global Warming = Heat Waves, Crop Damage...and Toxic Corn Syrup? (August 26, 2009) – Three new studies all link increasing temperature to serious problems for the U.S.
‘Living’ roofs: Unusual crop protects homes from the elements (August 26, 2009) – Green roof plants have become a new cash crop in this agricultural community.
‘Living’ roofs: Unusual crop protects homes from the elements (August 26, 2009)– Green roof plants have become a new cash crop in this agricultural community.
Rehoboth applies for heat island grant (August 16, 2009) – Rehoboth Beach officials are seeking a federal grant to improve tree and shade cover.
High-tech roofs (August 14, 2009) – ‘Cool roof’ materials make sense in Las Vegas.
Do cities deflect rain storms? (August 10, 2009) – Recent research suggests that dense, urban building might enhance rain just outside cities.
Plantings, not shingles, gaining favor as cover for houses (August 9, 2009) – Although green roofs are most common on businesses, homeowners are starting to take notice.
Greensboro City Council Debates the Value of Trees (August 9, 2009) – The City Council is debating a requirement that new homes come with one tree each.
D.C. is Giving Green to go Green - on Your Roof (August 5, 2009) – The District is giving out more money to homeowners and businesses who install a green roof.
Habitat for Humanity, Home Depot Foundation Expand Sustainable Living Program (August 5, 2009) – This green building program will provide funding and resources to help participants build homes that meet either Energy Star or a nationally recognized green building standard.
Stop the Clock on Global Warming (August 3, 2009) – The Emerald Cities Project is a green initiative aimed at introducing cool pavement products to mitigate the urban heat island effect of the cities.
Turning roofs into gardens is a flourishing business (August 1, 2009) – The green roof industry in the U.S. grew by 35 percent in 2008, according to Green Roofs for Healthy Cities.

July 2009

London ‘needs two million trees’ (July 30, 2009) – An extra two million trees should be planted in London to combat rising temperatures, Mayor Boris Johnson’s environment plan has suggested.
White Roofs Catch on as Energy Cost Cutters (July 30, 2009) – A white roof can cost as little as 15 percent more than its dark counterpart, depending on the materials used, while slashing electricity bills.
USPS Unveils NYC’s Biggest Green Roof (July 27, 2009) – Aimed at saving energy and reducing pollution runoff, the U.S. Postal Service has unveiled its first and New York City’s largest green roof.
Look, Up in the Sky: Green Roofs (July 27, 2009) – Baltimore is emerging as one of the nation’s greener roofed cities, with approximately 150,000 square feet added last year.
Paint the Town White (July 17, 2009) – Replacing dark roofing and pavement with lighter, more reflective materials could reduce temperatures in cities and offset significant quantities of carbon dioxide emissions.
Reflective Roof Paint Repels the Heat (July 15, 2009) – Hyperseal paints can reduce the costs and energy needed for cooling by lowering the amount of heat a building absorbs from the sun.

White Roofs to Fight Global Warming (July 13, 2009) – U.S. energy secretary Chu backs a novel idea: to whitewash roofs and highways.
Green Governing (July 12, 2009) – A new San Diego City Hall could be a beacon for how ecology and economic development can interact.
Using Green Roof Technology to Mitigate D.C. Heat Island Effect (July 11, 2009) – One method to mitigate the heat island effect is to construct green roofs, or a vegetative layer on the roof of a building.
Sprout it from the Rooftops, Green’s on the Scene (July 7, 2009) – The traditional asphalt, slate and tar on rooftops is beginning to give way to green roofs - a trend spurring a proposed “green roof” state tax credit.

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