7 Actions for Cities to Seriously Address Climate Change
Posted by gkats on November 24, 2014
Cities are where more than half the world lives, and where all future population growth will occur. By many estimates, cities are already responsible for more than half of climate change. While Congress remains dysfunctional, cities are rapidly becoming the most interesting and innovative developers and adopters of programs to cut CO2 emissions. They increasingly Read More…
GCCA at APWA
Posted by adickie on November 19, 2014
On November 6th, I gave a talk at the annual gathering of the Northern California Chapter of the American Public Works Association. The talk was titled, “Keeping you Communities Cool: Tools for Reducing Urban Heat”. It started with an introduction to the growing problem of urban heat and the scientific fundamentals behind cool materials. Because Read More…
Lead IPCC Author Warns of Extreme Heat Waves
Posted by karen-smith-murphy on November 14, 2014
National Public Radio’s Rachel Martin spoke recently with Michael Oppenheimer, the coordinating lead author of the synthesis report of the IPCC’s Fifth Climate Assessment. During the interview, Oppenheimer noted that the urban heat island effect will become more of a threat in the years to come, warning that heat waves will become more frequent and Read More…
Cool Roofs in the IgCC
Posted by adickie on
The final action hearings for the 2015 International Green Construction Code were held in Ft. Lauderdale, FL in early October. GCCA Executive Director, Kurt Shickman and I attended the hearings to defend GCCA’s cool roof proposals and to fight to keep some anti-cool roof proposals out of the code. For the first time since GCCA Read More…
Capturing the Peak Demand Reductions from Cool Roofs
Posted by gcca on November 11, 2014
A new paper from Dr. James Hoff highlights the significant, and previously unquantified, peak energy cost savings that cool roofs deliver. Up until now, energy analyses of cool roofs only looked at the impact on base power consumption but ignored the impact of capacity demand charges. Turns out, those demand charges can be a big Read More…