Welcome to the new norm: excessive summer heat waves. The five hottest years on record globally have occurred since 2010; May 2018 was the hottest month on record and June 2018 was the third-hottest in 124 years. Scientists expect most U.S. cities will experience five to 10 times as many "excessively hot" -- defined as 90+ degrees F -- days within a few decades.
Rapidly rising temperatures are costing billions in higher energy and health care costs. To combat these trends, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and 21 other organizations have formed the Smart Surfaces Coalition, a group of experts helping cities rapidly adopt cost-effective solutions to thwart climate change. "Smart surfaces" reduce the amount of hot air and radiation reflected back into the surrounding environment and improve stormwater management. Options include:
- Cool roofs and pavements that reflect away (instead of absorbing) sunlight—cutting temperatures and smog.
- Reflective or green roofs.
- Trees that provide shade and reduce flood risk.
- Solar PV that converts sunshine into electricity and provides shade.
- Porous pavements, sidewalks and roads that reduce water runoff, flooding, and cut the cost of managing stormwater.
Smart surface technologies produce savings in the form of lower energy and water bills, lower health costs, reduced water treatment, and infrastructure costs. New jobs would also result from the manufacture, installation, and maintenance of smart surfaces, many of which are labor-intensive.
The coalition released a new 8-page white paper, "Stay Cool/Save Cash." Its recommendations and findings are based on a 300-page report, "Delivering Urban Resilience," which is built on four years of data collection and research on greening the cities of El Paso, Texas; Philadelphia; and Washington, D.C. Fifteen organizations collaborated on the report, which found that smart surface adoption would save El Paso $540 million; Philadelphia $3.6 billion; and Washington, D.C., $1.8 billion, not including financial benefits from avoiding lost tourism revenue.
USGBC, which manages the LEED green building rating system, incorporates many of these tactics into credits building owners can use to earn LEED certification. LEED is the most widely used green building rating system in the world. The Smart Surfaces Coalition is working with a dozen cities to develop tools and training for key officials around the country. Its goal is to partner with more than 250 cities to begin implementing smart surfaces as standard policy by 2023.
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