Proceedings of the Workshop on Saving Energy and Reducing Atmospheric Pollution by Controlling Summer Heat Islands

Abstract

Urban climatologists and energy researchers have observed that developed urban areas create summer "heat islands".The intensity of the heat-:island is usually highest in the evening hours and lowest shortly after sunrise.A typical daily afternoon intensity is 2_5 0 C.In high-latitude cities with cooler weather, heat islands can be an asset in reducing heating loads, but in mid-and low-latitude cities, heat islands contribute to the urban dweller's summer discomfort and significantly increase air conditioning loads.For example, the Los Angeles basin uses 5 gigawatts of air conditioning, an amount which represents $10 billion in power plants and another $5-10 billion for heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HV AC) equipment.Ironically, there are indications that much of this need for cooling energy is because of the man-made heat island brought on by urbanization.Summer heat islands may increase air conditioning demands by as much as 50%.This additional load has a great detrimental impact on summer peaking electric utility companies.The reduction of summer heat islands can save cooling energy, and reduce peak demand, which in turn, like other conservation technologies, cali reduce CO 2 emissions from electric power plants.Two potentially cost-effective measures are planting trees and increasing the albedo of buildings, streets, and parking lots.