Ways Your City Can Be Cooler Next Summer

With 2014 looking to possibly finish as the warmest year on record, weather-wise, thoughts inevitably turn to how to mitigate the heat come next year.

According to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), there are four ways that cities can be cooler next summer. Here are brief descriptions of each:

Plant Trees: The ACEEE’s report quotes a Chinese proverb as saying, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” More mature trees with broader leaves and longer branches can help to provide much-needed shade for office buildings, parks and homes. The plants also clean the air and give off oxygen. Many cities provide discounted or free trees – sometimes in the form of credits to utility bills -- to be planted on private land. Other municipalities sponsor grant competitions to plant trees in select neighborhoods.

Paint Roofs: Darker colored roofs have the effect of absorbing heat and drawing it into a building, where it can become trapped. By switching to a lighter colored or reflective roof, building owners can mitigate that problem by essentially storing less heat, leaving less of a problem to solve. These cooler roofs also reflect sunlight back into the atmosphere.

Replace Dark Pavement: As is the case with darker roofs, dark pavement also absorbs and traps heat, slowly releasing it (sometimes feeling like an oven on low) throughout the day. Lighter colored pavement, the ACEEE says, can be as much as 50°-70°F cooler. By replacing dark pavement with vegetation, cities can reduce the urban heat island effect while also gaining benefits such as the natural filtering of storm water.

Grow Roof Vegetation: This may seem like an expensive project, but the fact is that many local governments are willing to share some of these costs. As the ACEEE explains, “A green roof eliminates the negative heat effects of a dark roof, and adds the benefits of oxygen exchange, amenity space, and opportunity for urban agriculture.”

If your city does not offer these or other heat-mitigating programs, let your voice be heard. One important factor in generating urban heat island mitigation policies, says the ACEEE, is citizen demand.