Lecture - Is urban overheating the most severe sort of Climate Change?

 

Green roofs deliver critical protection from ‘severe urban heating’

In January, Victoria councillors unanimously voted to explore ways to help residents install green roofs and rooftop solar, reports Capital Daily, addressing barriers like zoning and floor-space-ratio bylaws.

The B.C. capital’s move comes 15 years after Toronto became the first city in North America to pass a bylaw requiring all new construction with a footprint exceeding 2,000 square metres to incorporate a green roof.

The decision comes just weeks after Somerville, Massachusetts, passed a law that will require all new buildings and major rebuilds with flat roofs to ensure that 80% of roof space is green.

What's behind Saudi Arabia's plan to air-condition Riyadh?

It is estimated that around 13,000 cities, which are home to over 1.7 billion people, are facing extremely challenging climatic conditions due to the increasing temperatures. Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, is known to be one of the hottest cities globally, with temperatures exceeding 50 degrees Celsius during the summer.

This extreme urban heat has affected over 450 cities worldwide, leading to higher energy consumption and negatively impacting people's health, resulting in heat-related illnesses and fatalities.

Dr. Mattheos Santamouris: Leading the Charge in Urban Cooling Innovations at UNSW Sydney

In a world grappling with rising urban temperatures and the urgent threat of climate change, innovative solutions to cool our cities are more important than ever. At the forefront of this crucial effort is Scientia Professor Mattheos Santamouris from UNSW Sydney, whose pioneering work, highlighted in Nature Cities, showcases groundbreaking techniques to combat urban overheating, with a special focus on the sweltering city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.


Over a rigorous three-year period marked by the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Professor Santamouris and his team undertook an ambitious project to address the extreme heat in Riyadh, where temperatures can soar to an incredible 45°C. Their comprehensive research explored the impact of ‘super cool’ building materials, the introduction of green spaces, and the application of energy-efficient retrofits, leading to a strategy that could reduce urban temperatures by as much as 5°C. This achievement marks a pivotal step in improving urban living standards, cutting down on energy usage, and enhancing the quality of life for residents.

Proceedings 6th International Conference on Countermeasures to Urban Heat Islands 4 - 7 December 2023 Melbourne, Australia

 

Link: Proceedings 6th International Conference

Green roofs can cool cities and save energy: modelling

New research shows rooftop greenery coverage can help cool down a major city while reducing energy demand.
Extensive greenery coverage on building rooftops could significantly reduce temperatures at the city scale and decrease energy costs, according to a new study.
The research, led by Indira Adilkhanova and Professor Geun Young Yun from Kyung Hee University and co-authored by UNSW Sydney Scientia Professor Mattheos (Mat) Santamouris, found that green roofs could cool South Korea’s capital city by around 1°C during summer and slash the energy demand associated with cooling by almost 8 per cent under maximum coverage.
The study, published in Nature Cities, is the first to analyse the transformative effect of green roofs on urban-scale energy consumption and climate conditions and could provide a template for modelling their potential in other cities worldwide.

Ματ. Σανταμούρης: Ο αγώνας για την απανθρακοποίηση δεν είναι τεχνολογικός αλλά οικονομικοκοινωνικός