Parks, Urban Greenery Can Reduce Urban Heat Islands
Sourced from The Energy Mix
Parks and urban greenery can help reduce the impact of extreme heat waves that are now the leading cause of weather-related illness and death in Canada, write two researchers with the Smart Prosperity Institute.
“Consider black asphalt on a hot summer day,” write research associates Talha Awan and Christine Desrochers. “It absorbs heat from the sun and radiates it back to the surroundings,” becoming “the main cause of the urban heat island effect. Pavements and buildings trap heat and increase the temperature of the entire city,” making urban landscapes up to 12℃ warmer than surrounding rural regions on particularly hot days.
With the next five years on track to be the warmest ever recorded, “millions of Canadians are at risk,” Awan and Desrochers warn. “This represents an urgent health crisis which we must take action to prevent.”
Already, they add, extreme heat is an economic burden on an overstretched health care system, driving up the rates of heat stroke, heart disease, and respiratory diseases like asthma while making pre-existing conditions worse. “Heat islands also increase air conditioning use, which raises electricity costs and peak electricity demand. Surplus demand is often met with dirty, carbon-intensive power plants, such as coal or natural gas, thus contributing to air pollution and increased GHG emissions.”
From the Living Architecture Monitor
