Heat Island Effect
Conference Call/Webcast Presentations, October 2005
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- Overview of NASA's Air Quality Modeling Project in Atlanta
- Beating the Heat from Urban Runoff
-
Austin Energy's Cool Roof Rebate
Program
Overview of NASA's Air Quality Modeling Project in Atlanta
Presentation by Dr. Dale Quattrochi - Senior Research Scientist with NASA
- See: ftp://ftp.nsstc.org/outgoing/estesmg/ to download the 42 MB powerpoint.
Dr. Dale Quattrochi, Senior Research Scientist with NASA, Maury Estes, Assistant Director, Earth System Science Program, and Dr. Bill Crosson, Global Hydrology and Climate Center, joined the call to discuss how using higher resolution land cover/land use data has impacted their meteorological and urban air quality modeling results in Atlanta. The objectives of their study include:
- characterizing urbanization extent and rate of change
- describing the urban heat island effect
- incorporating urbanization in meteorological and air quality
- modeling, and
- modeling the results
NASA's findings indicate that the high-resolution data
characterized land use in metropolitan Atlanta more
accurately than the traditional USGS land use data set,
improved the meteorological model's performance, and
facilitated the application of the Spatial Growth Model. On
the air quality side, the researchers found that ozone
results (running CMAQ) are not very sensitive to the choice
of landuse data. NASA's research in Atlanta began in 1996
with
Project
ATLANTA
(ATlanta Land-use ANalysis: Temperature and
Air-quality).
Beating the Heat from Urban Runoff
Presentation by Don Waye - US EPA Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds
- Beating the Heat from Urban Runoff (PDF, 1,141KB)
Don Waye,
US EPA Office of Wetlands,
Oceans and Watersheds, discussed the impacts that heated
stormwater runoff has on aquatic life and highlighted the
low-impact development practices that communities can take to
address heat pollution. Waye's presentation demonstrated that
as urbanization replaces and paves over forests and farmland,
less rainwater is absorbed by the ground, leaving more to
flows into streams and open water bodies during storms. Waye
found that stream temperatures could be 8 degrees F higher in
less than an hour after summer storms. Although heat
pollution is real and measurable, has impacts on the
ecosystem, and is addressed by the Clean Water Act, it is not
well regulated. Waye recommended research needs and
mitigation strategies including reducing imperviousness where
possible, restoring and maintaining vegetated riparian zones,
and restoring pools and riffles in degraded streams.
Austin Energy's Cool Roof Rebate Program
Presentation by Dr. Norman Muraya - Austin Energy
- Austin Energy’s Cool Roof Rebate Program (PDF, 565KB)
Dr. Norman Muraya of
Austin Energy
presented on the utility's cool roof incentive program.
Austin Energy promotes reflective roof products as a
cost-effective and low-risk way to reduce cooling loads and
peak demand. The utility also believes cool roofs can improve
the environment by lowering smog concentrations and can
promote economic development. Cool roofs work by reflecting
most of the sun's energy, reducing heat gain to the inside of
the building.
Muraya said that Austin Energy customers are eligible for the $.10/square foot rebate if the cool roof has a minimum reflectivity of 75%, and the project passes a cost-benefit analysis.
At the time of final inspection, the customer must
provide: 1) an invoice, 2) warranty statements, and 3) the
manufacturer’s product information.
Call Participants:
|
Hashem Akbari, LBNL Vic Ayres, City of Houston Drew Ballensky, Duro-last Ryan Bell, ICLEI Dave Bier, Futurity, Inc. Marion Clark, Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission David Cole, EPA Jennifer Cox, Regional Plan Association
Rob Crauderueff, Sustainable South Bronx
Brendan Daley, City of Chicago
Kathy Diehl, EPA R9
Kevin Foley, Sarnafil Inc.
Connie Gallippi, Sacramento Tree Foundation
Jay Golden, Arizona State University
Rosalie Green, EPA
Lucie Griggs, Cool Communities
Jose Gutierrez, City of Los Angeles
John Hadalski, Philadelphia Water Department
Dudley R Hartel, Southern Center for Urban Forestry
Research & Information
Gordon Heisler, USDA Forest Service
David Hitchcock, Houston Advanced Research Center
Vinnie Hunt, City of Tucson
Mark K Johnston, Futurity, Inc.
Stephen Keach, Perrin Quarles and Associates
Gordon Kenna, Cool Communities |
Jeffrey King, Metropolitan Washington Council of
Governments
Cheryl Kortemeier, Trees Atlanta
Cynthia Lee, Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District Edward Linky, EPA R2
Howard Marks, National Asphalt Pavement Association
Maury Estes, NASA
Michele Musselman, RI Department of Environmental
Management
Irene Ogata, City of Tucson
Justina Parsons-Bernstein, TreeUtah
Dale Quattrochi, NASA
Liz Robinson, Energy Coordinating Agency
Joyce Rosenthal, Columbia University
David Sailor, Portland State University
Peter Savio, New York State Energy Research and
Development Authority
Kathy Sykes, EPA
Harold Taft, Alabama Forestry Commission
Haider Taha, AltoStratus
Brigette Tollstrup, Sacramento Air Quality
Management District
Ashwani Vasishth, California State University
Linda Velazquez, Greenroofs.com
Eva Wong, EPA
James Yarbrough, EPA R6 |