UNSW academics rank among the most influential globally

UNSW Sydney had 43 researchers in the top 10,000 last year in the world’s most comprehensive standardised citation database.

The latest release from the Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford places 43 UNSW researchers in the top 10,000 scientists globally, based on citations received in 2019, the most from any Australian university. For career-long citations (from 1996), UNSW was second to the University of Melbourne.

This science-wide author database, which is publicly available and published in PLoS Biology, was developed by Professor John Ioannidis from Stanford University. It systematically ranks 160,000 of the most influential scientists, as measured by citation indicators which exclude self-citations and adjust for author position and number.

Synergies between urban heat island and heat waves in Seoul: The role of wind speed and land use characteristics

Jack Ngarambe , Jacques Nganyiyimana, Inhan Kim, Mat Santamouris, Geun Young Yun

The effects of heat waves (HW) are more pronounced in urban areas than in rural areas due to the additive effect of the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon. However, the synergies between UHI and HW are still an open scientific question and have only been quantified for a few metropolitan cities. In the current study, we explore the synergies between UHI and HW in Seoul city. We consider summertime data from two non-consecutive years (i.e., 2012 and 2016) and ten automatic weather stations. Our results show that UHI is more intense during HW periods than non-heat wave (NHW) periods (i.e., normal summer background conditions), with a maximum UHI difference of 3.30˚C and 4.50˚C, between HW and NHW periods, in 2012 and 2016 respectively.

Impact on Ambient Temperature, Air Quality and Heat-Related Mortality and Morbidity

Urban vegetation provides undeniable benefits to urban climate, health, thermal comfort and environmental quality of cities. Despite the plethora of available scientific information, very little is known about the holistic and global impact of a potential increase of urban green infrastructure (GI) on urban climate, environmental quality and health. We have reviewed and analysed 55 fully evaluated scenarios and case studies investigating the impact of additional GI on urban temperature, air pollution and health for 39 cities. Statistically significant correlations between the percentage increase of the urban GI and the peak daily and night ambient temperatures are obtained.

Keynote Lecture IERSEC Conference

Invited Lecture in Chinese University

Invited Lecture in the National Energy Efficiency Conference of Australia

Some Interesting Comparative Data about Highly Cited Researchers per Country

Below data for the ratio of Scopus Highly Cited Scientist (SHCS)/million inhabitants for several countries:

Switzerland.........295

Denmark.............257

Sweden...............247

UK......................225

Australia..............217

USA....................207

Finland................188

Israel...................185

Norway................175

New Zeland.........164

Singapore...........135

Urban Overheating and Mitigation Research In Australia

Komali Yenneti, Lan Ding, Deo Prasad, Giulia Ulpiani , Riccardo Paolini, Shamila Haddad, Mattheos Santamouris : Urban overheating and cooling potential in Australia: An evidence-based review.  Climate 2020, 8, 126; doi:10.3390/cli8110126

 

Cities in Australia are experiencing unprecedented levels of urban overheating, which has caused a significant impact on the country’s socioeconomic environment. This article provides a comprehensive review on urban overheating, its impact on health, energy, economy, and the heat mitigation potential of a series of strategies in Australia. Existing studies show that the average urban heat island (UHI) intensity ranges from 1.0 ◦C to 13.0 ◦C.

Results of Stanford University Ranking 2019

The ranking list of the most cited 100000 scientists for all disciplines and per discipline as published by Stanford University two days a go. Happy to be no 679 in the global ranking list for all sciences.

  https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/btchxktzyw/2

An Innovative Method to Evaluate the Magnitude of the Urban Heat Island is developed and published in the paper below

V. Sangiorgio, F. Fiorito, M. Santamouris: Development of a holistic urban heat island evaluation methodology, Scientific Reports Nature, 2020 (2020) 10:17913

 

Urban Heat island (UHi) phenomenon concerns the development of higher ambient temperatures in urban districts compared to the surrounding rural areas. Several studies investigated the influence of individual parameters in the UHi phenomenon, on the other hand, an exhaustive study that quantifies the influence of each parameter in the resulting UHi is missing in the related literature. This paper proposes a new index aimed at quantifying the hazard of the absolute maximum UHi intensity in urban districts during the Summer season by taking all the parameters influencing the phenomenon into account.

The magnitude of Urban Heat Island is increasing Significantly during Heat Waves. Check the latest developments from Sydney, Australia

 H. Seed Khan, Mattheos Santamouris,, Riccardo Paolini , Peter Caccetta , Pavlos Kassomenos :  Analyzing the local and climatic conditions affecting the Urban Overheating Magnitude during the Heatwaves (HWs) in a coastal city, a case study of the greater Sydney region. Science of the Total Environment, Volume 755,Part 1, 10 February 2021, 142515

 

Abstract

Urban overheating coincides with Heatwaves (HWs) and the thermal stress might get amplified in cities. To predict the interactions between urban overheating and HWs, the surface energy balance response to HWs is crucial. HW is a regional phenomenon and the climatic conditions may influence the local conditions to alter the energy budget contrast between a city and its adjacent peripheral areas. The interactions between the urban overheating and HWs are explored in a coastal city (Sydney Australia), also in the proximity of dry landmass, while considering the site characteristics, distance from the coast, and the population density. A positive response between urban overheating and HWs is reported.

Is it possible to Minimize the Energy Consumption of Buildings in the Tropics under Climate Change Conditions , 2050?

Shamila Haddad , Adrian Barker , Junjing Yang , Devi Ilamathy Mohan Kumar , Samira Garshasbi , Riccardo Paolini , Mattheos Santamouris : On the Potential of Building Adaptation Measures to Counterbalance the Impact of Climatic Change in the Tropics, Energy and Buildings. Volume 229, 15 December 2020, 110494

 

Climate change is one of the most significant environmental issues facing communities, while poor construction and absence of effective air-conditioning (AC) predominantly cause indoor overheating. Although AC may help meeting indoor comfort, it increases the vulnerability of low-income residents, triggers large energy consumption, and generates anthropogenic heat, which worsens heat stress outdoor. The capacity of buildings to maintain comfortable thermal conditions without mechanical cooling is the key factor protecting occupants against the rising temperature. Residents of Darwin, Australia, will be largely affected by increasing temperature where the annual peak ambient temperature may increase by 7.4 °C in 2060, while the number of hours above 30 °C will rise by 70%. Based on regional climate modelling for the Australian area and using a building energy simulation platform, we computed that by 2060 the indoor air temperature in a typical residential building may exceed 30 °C for over 4000 h under free-floating condition, with a peak daytime and night-time temperatures of 39 °C and 36.5 °C, respectively.

On the combination of quantum dots with near-infrared reflective base coats to maximize their urban overheating mitigation potential

Samira Garshasbi , Shujuan Huang , Jan Valenta , Mat Santamouris : On the combination of quantum
dots with near-infrared reflective base coats to maximize their urban overheating mitigation potential,
Solar Energy ,Volume 211, 15 November 2020, Pages 111-116

Application of highly absorptive construction materials is proved to be one of leading causes of urban overheating in big cities. To avoid the excessive heat by the conventional construction materials, several advanced heat-rejecting coating technologies were developed during the last decades. The main idea behind heat-rejecting coatings is to have colder coatings with the same appearance and colour of conventional coatings. One of the existing technologies for heat-rejecting coatings are advanced coatings with high solar reflection in the infrared range or so-called cool coatings. Recently, re-emission of the visible-range light by nano-scale semiconductors, known as Quantum Dots (QDs), were introduced as another effective heat-rejecting technology. In this paper, we showed that QDs also demonstrate a very high solar transmission in the near-infrared range, and therefore, a highly near-infrared reflective base layer can significantly improve their cooling potential.

On the energy modulation of daytime radiative coolers: A review on infrared emissivity dynamic switch against overcooling

Giulia Ulpiani , Gianluca Ranzi, Kwok Wei Shah , Jie Feng, Mattheos Santamouris

Solar Energy Volume 209, October 2020, Pages 278-301

Abstract

Passive daytime radiative cooling represents one of the boldest answers to tackle the future cooling needs of the built environment and to mitigate urban heat island effects.

Developing a technology heat mitigation plan for one of the world's hottest cities

We are proud to prepare the Heat Mitigation Plan of the capital city of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. The Royal city of Riyadh will be the first city in the world to  have such an advanced heat mitigation plan based on fully innovative experimental and theoretical techniques as well as on the use of very advanced heat rejection technologies, as developed by our research team and other international colleagues.

Link Article : Heat Mitigation Plan

 

Upscaling of Film Based Elastocaloric Cooling

Giulia Ulpiani, Florian Bruederlin Raphael Weidemann, Gianluca Ranzi, Mat Santamouris, Manfred Kohl

Applied Thermal Engineering, Volume 180, 5 November

  

A new concept of upscaling a shape memory alloy (SMA) film based elastocaloric cooling device is presented by arranging SMA films in parallel to increase the specific cooling capacity at low actuation force, while maintaining the large surface-to-volume ratio needed for rapid heat transfer. Selected materials are cold-rolled TiNiFe films that exhibit maximum adiabatic temperature changes of 27.3 and −18.1 K upon loading and unloading, respectively.

Recent Development and Research Priorities on Cool and Super Cool Materials to Mitigate Urban Heat Island

M. Santamouris and Geun Young Yun

Renewable Energy

161 (2020) 792e807
 

The urban heat island is increasing the temperature of cities up to 10 _C and has a very important impact on energy, environmental quality and health. Materials used in the building and urban fabric affect the urban thermal balance and contribute highly to urban overheating. The article presents the progress achieved on the design, development and implementation of mitigation materials presenting a low and very low surface temperature. The recent technological progress and developments concerning natural, light colour, IR reflective, PCM doped, thermochromic, fluorescent, photonic and plasmonic materials is presented.

On the Energy Potential of Daytime Radiative Cooling for Urban Heat Island Mitigation

Laura Carlosena , Alvaro ´ Ruiz-Pardo , Jie Feng , OlatzIrulegi, Rufino J. Hernandez-Minguill , Mattheos Santamouris: , Solar Energy, Volume 208, 15 September 2020, Pages 430-444

The objective of this paper is to present the potential of daytime radiative cooling materials as a strategy to mitigate the Urban Heat Island effect. To evaluate the cooling potential of daytime radiative cooling materials, 15 theoretical materials and seven existing materials were simulated: two radiative cooling materials, a coolmaterial, two white paints, a thermochromic paint and a construction material. The novelty of this study is that it shows that the optimal spectral characteristics of radiative cooling materials depending on the climate conditions and the type of application.

Experimental evidence of the multiple microclimatic impacts ofbushfires in affected urban areas: the case of Sydney during the2019/2020 Australian season

Giulia Ulpiani,
Gianluca Ranzi and Mat Santamouris

This paper presents the results of a monitoring campaign conducted in the inner west of the city ofSydney during the 2019/2020 bushfire season. The combined effects of extreme pollution, heat wavesand droughts are analyzed in terms of microclimatic perturbation.

Study sheds light on bushfires' microclimate impact

A study examining the urban microclimatic impact of the 2019-20 Australian bushfires has uncovered how they affect local meteorological and air quality.

Its findings could help understand the potential consequences of an increased rate and extension of bushfires, and especially regarding improving risk preparedness and coping strategies.

On the association of ambient temperature and elderly mortality in a Mediterranean island - Crete

Elisavet Tsekeri, Dionysia Kolokotsa, Mat Santamouris

Extreme weather conditions affect human health. This study analyses the association of high and low temperature with cardiovascular and respiratory diseases on people over 65 years old for the years 2007 to 2015, in the region of Chania, Greece.

On the Efficiency of Using Transpiration Cooling to Mitigate Urban Heat

Kai Gao, Mattheos Santamouris and Jie Feng

Trees are considered to be effective for the mitigation of urban overheating, and the cooling capacity of trees mainly comes from two mechanisms: transpiration and shading. This study explores the transpiration cooling of large trees in urban environments where the sea breeze dominates the climate.

Calculate the Performances of Adaptive Windows in Various Climates

with Alessandro Cannavale and Francesco Fiorito

If you want to know how to calculate the performances of adaptive windows in various climates, check out this article:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2020.05.080.
Free download from the following link until 20 July 2020:
https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1b9N7_,5YmkEdp

Urban Mitigation and Building Adaptation to Minimize the Future Cooling Energy Needs.

In several areas of the world, the population concentrates along the coastal regions, benefitting from the sea breeze, with warmer inland areas. However, increasing population is driving urban sprawl in traditionally low-density areas, enhancing the synergies between global and local climate change.