The Global Cool Cities Alliance (GCCA) has established an award to honor the legacy and impact of Dr. Arthur Rosenfeld’s advocacy for cooler buildings, cooler cities, and a cooler planet. Dr. Rosenfeld was a founder of GCCA and a tireless advocate for building materials that improve thermal comfort and make a positive impact on global climate change. The Urban Cooling Achievement Award will recognize leaders who demonstrate Art’s drive, passion, and intelligence to overcome the challenges of excess urban heat.

“Everywhere we work, we meet people inspired by Art who are trying to make their communities cooler, more prosperous, and healthier. I am excited to launch an award to honor their efforts and to highlight Art’s enduring legacy of inspiring positive global change” said Kurt Shickman, Executive Director of the Global Cool Cities Alliance.

“Art was a mentor to me and so many others. It is an honor to help in the establishment of this new award that will help develop the next generation of energy efficiency leaders” says Dian Grueneich, Senior Research Scholar at Stanford University’s Precourt Institute for Energy, Commissioner Emeritus, California Public Utilities Commission and GCCA Board member.

The launch of the award will be officially announced on March 15^th at celebration of Art’s life organized by the California Energy Commission. Art was a Commissioner for 10 years and oversaw the inclusion of reflective roofing and other building measures that save energy and reduce urban temperatures.

“The achievements resulting from Art’s tenacity, intellect, and creativity will benefit California and the world for generations.  The California Energy Commission is pleased that GCCA has established the Art Rosenfeld Award to recognize that spirit in others working on issues that Art cared deeply about,” said California Energy Commission Chair Robert B. Weisenmiller.

“People across the world, and certainly every American, enjoy cleaner air and a healthier economy as a result of Art’s tireless and contagious efforts on energy efficiency. I am pleased to be a part of the committee to select the winner of the Rosenfeld Urban Cooling Achievement Award, which extends his remarkable legacy,” said Commissioner Andrew McAllister, who is the Energy Commission’s lead on energy efficiency.

Those wishing to donate to support the Dr. Arthur H. Rosenfeld Urban Cooling Achievement Award may do so here!

We have known for a long time that smarter roof choices significantly improve cities and the people who live and work in them. This new report from Washington DC’s municipal government and Capital E quantifies the benefits cool, green, and solar roofs make in efficiency, air quality, health, stormwater, urban heat reduction and shows that promoting such roof choices is an economic no-brainer. I hope more cities gain access to this type of local analysis in the future. The press release follows.

Today, Achieving Urban Resilience: Washington, D.C. a new report authored by Capital E, documents and quantifies the large-scale environmental, health and economic benefits that D.C. could gain from citywide adoption of smart surface technologies. The report documents how D.C. could save $5 billion with smart surface strategies, such as cool roofs, green roofs, solar PV and porous pavements while enhancing health and livability and cutting summer peak temperature. Partners in this work include the American Institute of Architects, the National League of Cities, DowntownDC BID, the U.S. Green Building Council, the National Housing Trust and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

“This report represents a major step in understanding and quantifying the benefits of adopting cost effective strategies to manage sun and rainfall at a city level,” said Greg Kats, lead author of the report. “Increasing summer heat and smog threaten city livability and summer tourists. This report provides a powerful framework to combat climate change while improving public health and saving money.”

Rainfall and the effects of sunlight are undermanaged by cities and city planners, in turn costing cities billions of dollars from avoidable health, energy and stormwater related costs while undermining livability and resilience and contributing to climate change. D.C.’s 61 square miles of surface includes 16 percent roofs and over 24 percent paved area. As a result, D.C., like most cities, suffers from higher summer temperatures and lower air quality than surrounding suburban and rural areas.

“What this report convincingly demonstrates is that there are cost effective technologies and strategies for managing sun and water that will deliver billions of dollars in financial benefits to the city and its residents,” said Dan Tangherlini, former Washington, D.C. city administrator and former administrator of the U.S. General Service Administration (GSA). “Delaying this transition would impose large financial and social costs particularly on places of lower economic opportunity, the elderly and children. We now have the roadmap – now we must follow it.”

Implementing these smart surface solutions city-wide would cost effectively achieve a range D.C. sustainability, livability and competitiveness objectives, including:

• Energy: Reduce electricity purchases from the grid by 8.5 percent relative to 2013 consumption levels
• Water: Reduce stormwater runoff to protect local water bodies while reducing potable water use
• Climate & Environment: By full implementation, reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by approximately 5.5 percent of 2013 emissions while enhancing resilience to climate change by reducing city temperatures
  Built Environment: Improve sustainability performance of new and existing buildings
• Nature: Expand tree canopy and other green landscape to enhance city-wide ecosystem
• Jobs & Economy: Create more than 2,400 well-paying green jobs in the District over 40 years
• Equity & Diversity: Improve livability, particularly in low-income areas that tend to have less green cover and efficient buildings
• Health & Wellness: Improve air quality and public health of District residents and visitors

Broad deployment of these smart surfaces solutions would cost-effectively reduce health and energy costs citywide while increasing employment, resilience and livability for its citizens, institutions and companies.

I wrote an article for Roofing Magazine’s September/October edition that examines some of the new research that is toppling the myth that cool roofs are not suitable in cool climates.  You can check it out over at their website.  I focus on two studies in the article, but these two are only the latest analyses that indicate that cool roofing should be a considered when putting on new roofs in cold climates and further support the effort to expand cool roof requirements in building codes at least to Climate Zone 4a and 4b. (the yellow zone on the map).

There Is Evidence Cool Roofs Provide Benefits to Buildings in Climate Zones 4 through 8

Earlier this year, Altostratus and CalEPA rolled out a UHI Index that quantifies the intensity of urban heat. For the first time, we can now measure and visualize the severity of the heat challenges facing cities. You can check out the details from CalEPA here. This really is a great new tool that we’d like to see spread across the country and beyond.

As you’d expect, most of the media coverage of the UHI Index has been positive. Several articles noted that the Index highlights the challenge of addressing UHI at a local level because heat transfers from one part of the city to areas downwind. This finding highlights the importance of a regional approach to urban heat.

A few articles (like this one) note that increasing reflectivity above some threshold can be bad for cities. This is a misreading of the Altostratus analysis. Rather than a threshold between good and bad, the analysis identifies that there are optimum amounts of reflectivity. Cities exceeding that optimum level will see diminishing, but still positive, returns.