EPA Has Database of US Heat Island Initiatives

Before I get going, I guess I have to tell you what a heat island is. A heat island is the phenomenon when urban temperatures are higher than the surrounding country and land cover. (A more in-depth discussion is available at http://www.epa.gov/heatislands/about/index.html.) The EPA has a database of state-by-state initiatives and projects to address this issue at http://yosemite.epa.gov/gw/statepolicyactions.nsf/webpages/HIRI_Actions.html.

The page has a clickable map of the US on it, but you can also review initiatives by state and locality (alphabetical, all states) or by initiative (building standard, ordinance, project, etc.)

I went back to the clickable map and chose Georgia, which had four items listed. Items are listed in a table which shows the location (city/region), initiative type, mitigation type (a cool roof, trees and vegetation, cool pavement, etc), title, description, and date or notice of activity (projects have a date of implementation when ordinances etc are noted as either active or inactive.)

The titles are hyperlinked, but all I the ones I looked at led to sites external to the EPA and varied a lot in what they offered. A link to the "Atlanta Parking Lot Shade Tree Ordinance" led to a 404 error, while a link to Cool Communities led to an extensive (though somewhat outdated -- their calendar lists upcoming events in 2005) site on heat island initiatives in metro Atlanta, along with some environmental information.

Of course the EPA site has additional heat island information too -- glossary, FAQ, publications, descriptions of some community solutions, and research. Explore the nav bar on the left side of the page.

Posted to Science-Environment