Combating climate change in an urban environment- Global Greek Influence podcast

 

Urban overheating, mitigation technologies and the impact on health (Lecture)

The lecture aims to present and discuss recent research developments in the field of urban overheating, its impact on the city life. The impacts of implementation and performance of advanced heat mitigation studies on increased urban temperatures and population health have been investigated in the study.

Energy efficiency rules considered for Northern Territory buildings, years after other states

Even on a sweltering hot day in the tropics, consultant Anya Lorimer is ready to rug up for meetings in Darwin's heavily air-conditioned office buildings.

Researchers say the Top End capital is one of the world's highest consumers of cooling energy.

And it's not just because of the year-round warm weather, according to Mattheos Santamouris, from the University of New South Wales.

"The cooling energy needs are very, very high and this is because of the quality of buildings," he said.

For more than a decade, construction in the Northern Territory has not had to meet minimum energy efficiency standards adopted around the rest of the country.

The result is a city full of commercial buildings using large amounts of energy to battle hot conditions outside and inefficient design within.

Expanding the applicability of daytime radiative cooling: Technological developments and limitations

Daytime Radiative Cooling is the most promising zero energy natural cooling technology. It can decrease the temperature of a surface up to 15 C below the ambient one under the summer sun without any energy use. We have explored the possible future developments in a recent article, outcome of a fruitful collaboration between Uni Sydney and UNSW.

Sydney’s inland suburbs are 10°C warmer than the coast in heat waves

Large-scale weather patterns and urban overheating are interacting to make Sydney’s inland suburbs up to 10°C warmer than coastal areas during extreme heat events.

Urban overheating occurs when temperatures in certain parts of an urban environment are comparatively higher than those in surrounding urban areas. The phenomenon occurs as a result of a combination of factors, including heat fluxes linked to human activity and air pollution. What’s more, artificial materials used to build roads, roofs and other urban architecture absorb solar radiation and release it slowly, further heating the air, in a way that trees and other vegetation don’t.