Thermal Pollution
Air Conditioning Units
A/C units work by pumping air through the system, and pushing hot air into the outdoors. While this cools people inside buildings, it heats the outside, contributing to dangerous heat islands.
Alternatives to A/C
Heat Pumps or Mini Splits are a fairly new alternative which generally use geothermal, water, or air sources (though new alternatives are being developed and used too). They use 50-75% energy than A/C units, and don't produce the intense heat discharge that A/C units do.
Click the High Efficiency Heat Pumps button to learn more about these devices and for a directory of installers in your area. Some even use waste energy from factories as energy sources.
Click the Cool Buildings button to learn about passive building designs, curtains, landscaping tricks, and other clever ways to reduce your energy bills, energy use, as well as less thermal pollution.
Measuring Heat Islands
What is a Heat Island?
The links below offer useful visuals and more to help explain heat islands to any age group.
Measuring Heat Islands
Bats vs Drones
According to measurements gathered by human scientists and bats, temperatures can be 41 degrees hotter in urban areas compared to local parks. Bats were found to be better for gathering 3 dimensional data as they fly better than drones and can navigate the terrain with more ease. - Weather.com
Heat Island Mitigation
Urban Planning
White and pale paints reflect heat instead of absorbing it.
While or pale roads reflect heat.
Natural building materials such as wood, clay, and sod retain heat in the winter but stay cool in the summer.
Parks, gardens, street canopies and greenways interspersed help cool ambient temperatures.
Cool roofs, garden roofs, and even solar roofs can have a cooling effect on a building.
Roadways contribute to heat islands, and metal cars on top, spewing out hot exhaust increase these temperatures even more. Transitioning to renewable energy vehicles, public transport, and active transport options like biking or walking can help reduce this excess heat.
Permeable Surfaces
Trees
Current subsidies that promote deforestation far surpass the amount of money being spend on protecting or planting new trees. Trees take a long time to grow from seeds or cuttings, and don't have a strong impact on local micro or macro climate until 2-20 years of age. This is why understanding the major drivers of deforestation and tackling them will have the greatest and most immediate impact.
Mass tree plantings often fail, but smaller scale and local tree plantings tend to be more successful. The button above covers the biggest pitfalls and tips to increase survival rates, as well as a directory of organizations and programs dedicated to helping people at any economic bracket access free or affordable trees.
Maps
North America
USA
Smart Location Calculator "Measuring the environmental benefits of workplace location efficiency" Understanding travel efficiency of different locations can help businesses and leaders plan more efficiently. By reducing land use for parking lots and roadways, while also boosting greenways and public transport options we can drastically reduce heat islands as well as emissions produced by transit.