Five Ways We’re Already Killing Ourselves with Climate Change
Posted by gcca on May 7, 2014
Yesterday, the Obama Administration released the Third National Climate Assessment. This is the most comprehensive look at how human activity is changing our climate – and it’s not good news. Grist lays out 5 ways climate change is already harming us, and urban heat comes into play in two of the five points. Urban heat Read More…
Hot Town – Summer in the (Twin) Cities
Posted by karen-smith-murphy on May 6, 2014
Climate change and the urban heat island effect are heating things up in cities around the world. That’s not surprising in places like Los Angeles and Atlanta, but they’re finding it too hot to handle in northern cities as well. Researchers are collecting data on urban temperatures in Minneapolis / St. Paul, Minnesota (Twin Cities), Read More…
GCCA Releases Cool Surfaces Retrospective 2013
Posted by karen-smith-murphy on March 5, 2014
Periodically, the Global Cool Cities Alliance will highlight trending topics covering a wide range of urban heat island-related issues in a feature we call Cool Retrospective. For our inaugural issue, we review cool developments in 2013. 2013 saw a number of cities make huge strides to mitigate the impacts of excess urban heat by adopting Read More…
Using the Roof Savings Calculator
Posted by gcca on February 25, 2014
The Roof Savings Calculator (RSC) is a joint initiative of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and White Box Technologies that models the energy use impact of various residential and commercial roof structure choices via a simple online interface. Building owners, contractors, and manufacturers use the RSC to support roof decision-making, and as Read More…
Responding to ‘Ballast Cooler Than You Think’
Posted by gcca on February 20, 2014
The recent article by Annie McCarren called ‘Ballast Cooler Than You Think’ published in Environmental Design and Construction provides an overview of the “cool” properties of thermally massive ballasted roofs. We largely agree that ballasted roofs can be a good roofing option under the right circumstances. There are, however, a few inaccuracies in the article Read More…