HEAT
POLLUTION
Heat Pollution - 13% of Global Warming & Paris Accord Issues
Dr. Alec Feinberg
Youtube Heat Pollution Video (15 Minutes)
Heat Pollution
(Youtube Video) is the
increase in global warming primarily from how Man's energy usage that turns
into heat or direct heating. A large source though comes from adding heat by
darkening the planet with black roads, black roofs, and unreflective large
cities. Dark unreflective surfaces convert the Sun’s energy to heat. It is
not difficult to understand that any manmade new heat added to the planet
will contribute to global
warming directly. Climatologists assess this as a
land-cover/land-use effect, but we use a simpler new term in this article -
heat pollution.
Therefore, heat pollution is not
a theory, it is an accepted problem
and
recent studies suggest it accounts for over 13% of manmade related global warming as
explained in this article. Heat
pollution occurs most of the time by our use of dark colors.
Black is the worst since it is the highest absorbing color of the Sun’s
energy and creates the greatest increase in solar heat. Alternately, white
is the best as it reflects sunlight. Any new
heat pollution contributes to
global warming and is not debated by climatologists.
Heat pollution also can include heat from home direct heating and
air-conditioning [14] etc.
The Earth’s natural land reflectivity is about 25%. Black roads and rooftops reduce this reflectivity which effectively pollutes the environment increasing warming every day. We might think of it as adding garbage to our land that adds up every day. It piles up and reduces the Earth’s reflectivity system which increases global warming. Heat pollution is also amplified since when heat is added about 60% is re-radiated back to Earth by the greenhouse effect. It is also amplified by Mother Nature’s feedback effect discussed below.
Dangers of Heat Pollution
Most of us know what a cool summer ocean breeze feels like. However, city heat from black roads, black rooftops, and black cars all produce a hot urban breeze heating the air which is heat pollution. Heat pollution threatens health in cities, increases the dangers of heatwaves, hurts reservoir water supplies by increasing evaporation rates, increases the probability of forest fires drying out local vegetation, and hurts economies worldwide. Lastly, as we point out, in recent studies, heat pollution is responsible for over 13% of manmade global warming.
Large Cities
Most
cities contain black roads and black rooftops along with dark sides of tall
buildings that increase the solar surface area and city heating. These
buildings trap solar heat, block wind, and amplify
heat pollution in numerous
complex ways.
Amplification is often assessed by the footprint [1, 2] which extends by
about a factor of 3.5 times larger than the cities area.
Because
cities are very hot, they are often called Urban Heat Islands (UHIs).
Many
climatologists underestimate how much cities contribute to global warming,
as footprint amplification [1, 2] is often not considered in estimates.
A recent study [3] found about 13% of gross global warming is due to
UHI heat pollution. Other authors have found similar
recent results [2, 4-5]. There have been numerous older
studies that have found higher levels.
UHIs also contribute to heat waves. Studies show that heat wave intensity, frequency and duration is much worse in large cities. It is even a bigger health problem in humid cities. A recent MIT study [12] in 2020 found that black asphalt road that heat up in the sun cause cities to average 2.5F hotter with 60% more heat waves which are 44% more intense. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) amplify any kind of heat pollution. GHGs are like blankets on your bed. They keep you warm but too many and you get hot. The main GHGs are CO2, water vapor, and methane. They absorb heat radiation and re-radiate in all directions. They return about 62% of the heat back to earth. This amplifies any hotspot like road heat by a factor of 1.62.
Climate change feedback is the response of Mother Nature to the warming created by man. A key feedback comes from water vapor. As we warm the air from heat pollution and extra GHGs, heat causes the warm air to expand. Then more water vapor can fit in without raining. This is bad because water vapor is the major GHG and causes feedback [7]. Feedback response by Mother Nature is also ice and snow melting which reduces the reflectivity of the Earth and causes more warming. Warming expands the air and then the air can hold more moisture. Since moisture is a major greenhouse gas, this type of feedback is very strong and creates more warming [7]. Although not fully understood, climatologists anticipate that feedback is a factor of 2 [6, 7].
Warming Percentages
Comparing Heat Pollution to Gasoline and Solar Energy
In a recent study [5], it is shown that:
“On average heat pollution from black roads and roofs equated to 2.5
GWh (Gigawatt hours) per acre per year. This equates to 74,000 gallons of
gasoline energy per year per acre of black roads or roofs or 7.5 times more
energy than a solar power plant produces per acre.”
Solar panels prevent
CO2 accumulation. However, white roofs would prevent heat pollution
accumulation from housing expansions. That is, we are being
counterproductive with simple poor color choices which can reduce the
effectiveness of fossil fuel reduction efforts like solar panels and
electric vehicle (EV) cars.
An Alternative to Heat Pollution is Earth Brightening
Common
simple methods to brighten and increase the reflectivity of the Earth
[8, 9]
are:
·
Cool Roofs (greater
than 30% reflectivity, such as a white roof compared to a black roof)
·
Cool Roads (greater
than 30% reflectivity, such as using a lighter colored concrete vs. a black asphalt
road)
·
Improve city design to reduce heat pollutionHeat Pollution Designs Illustrate the Need to Increase Awareness
Black electric cars demonstrate a strong example of our lack of understanding, and illustrate the need for heat pollution awareness. An electric car that is black increases global warming more than a white gas car exposed to the Sun in a parking lot each day as millions of such dark electric vehicles from auto designers that reduce CO2 emissions will also increase solar heat pollution, creating more problems for the environment than their intended purpose.
The Department of Transportation
(DOT) is the major
contributor to heat pollution in
their use making black asphalt roads. Many climatologist like my self have
tried to tell them to stop but have been they do not respond to studies and
my requests (for about 2 years now). Some city designers have tried to convert
to cool roofs but it is a low percentage and even less work has been done in
the area of cool roads. While heat
pollution is easier to understand than greenhouse gases, most designers
are unaware of the environmental damage created by the mass production of
cars, roads, and rooftops. We have large fines for littering the
environment, yet heat pollution,
which threatens our environment, is unregulated despite a global warming
crisis. We should assess fines for heat pollution.
Safeguards that Would be Important to Add to the Paris Accord
The Paris Climate Accord currently does not include any mention of
heat pollution restrictions. As
well there are two well-known alternative methods to reduce global warming
using
Earth brightening
[8-9]
((improving the reflectivity of the Earth), and
Sun dimming
[8-9]
(blocking
some sunlight in the upper atmosphere).
Issues of concern to climatologists regarding the Paris Climate Accord are:
· The agreement allows for the continual increase in heat pollution worldwide.
· We cannot be 100% sure CO2 reduction will work. We can anticipate a high probability that fossil fuel reduction will not be enough. There is a high level of concern that CO2 reduction will be too late due to Mother Nature’s feedback (forest fires, snow and ice melting, etc.) and the fact that CO2 stays in the atmosphere for 300 years. CO2 reduction may not even be enough to combat heat pollution.
·
It is very concerning that
heat pollution safeguards are not
included. The agreement depends solely on CO2 reduction to slow global
warming. This precaution is not enough as high-levels forest fires
increases, drought occurs, and record-high temperatures persist.
· There are no coordinated plans to reverse global warming, but only to reduce it.
President Biden’s plan, for example, could benefit from heat pollution restrictions. There are no provisions for alternate global warming solutions and his budget does not provide for any safeguards for CO2 solutions. His plan for funding roads and the new construction of highways is expected to contribute to large increases in heat pollution as DOT darker new roads continue adding heat to our environment.
We recommend at least 50% of US funding should
go towards reducing heat pollution,
Earth brightening
[8-9],
and
Sun dimming
[8-9].
These are extremely difficult to implement and we suggest immediate help
from an agency like NASA to coordinate and implement plans.
Furthermore,
CO2 reduction is a slow process where
Earth brightening and Sun dimming
provide immediate reversal results.
A Plan with Safeguards Would Include:
·
All roofs to be 25% reflective or greater.· Roofs in warm climates, 85% reflective
where solar heat absorption is not needed for heating homes.· All roads to be 35% reflective or greater
·
All building
sides to be 25% reflective or greater
·
All cars to be 85% reflective or greater·
Assessing fines for adding heat pollution
·
Improving
city designs to reduce heat
pollution
·
Plans to include
Earth brightening and
Sun diming
·
Redesign of the
Paris Accord to provide reliability safeguard assurances
What You Can Do
·
Use a white roof and house color, brighten your driveway, ensure you are >30% reflective· Contact your congressman on regulation against black roads and roof tops
· Direct your congressman and your social media to this website and our video
· Email the
simple Ban Black Cars message below to friends and your congressman to help understand heat pollutionTime to Ban Black Cars
Most of us have experienced how hot a black sidewalk
feels in the sun. As well black and dark-colored cars, along with black
pavements and black roofs, generate enormous solar heat. This warms the
local air. Similar to secondhand smoke, houses in areas near highways
experience warmer surface air ‘heat pollution’ temperatures, influencing air
condition usage. In drought-prone areas, this warmer air further helps dry
local forest areas making them more prone to fires and can increase water
reservoirs' evaporation rates. Darker color usage in cities intensifies heat
waves and adds to global warming issues; some cities encourage white roofs
and add some light-colored pavements in order to cool areas.
Don’t contribute to heat pollution problems. Buy a white car; they’re cooler and it’s a simple way to help. As well, Join me for a ban black cars etc. movement by writing a letter to your congressman that we need proper color regulation of cars, roads, and roofs. What better way to raise environmental awareness that colors matter.
References:
1. Zhou, D., Zhao, S., Zhang, L. et al. The footprint of urban heat island effect in China. Sci Rep 5, 11160 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep11160
2. Feinberg, A. (2020) Urban heat island amplification estimates on global warming using an albedo model. SN Appl. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-020-03889-3
3. Zhang, P., Ren, G., Qin, Y., Zhai, Y., Zhai, T., Tysa, S. K., Xue, X., Yang, G., & Sun, X. (2021). Urbanization Effects on Estimates of Global Trends in Mean and Extreme Air Temperature, Journal of Climate, 34(5), https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/clim/34/5/JCLI-D-20-0389.1.xml
Private Communication from author Guoyu Ren “We have a paper published in the Journal of Climate last year, showing about 13% urbanization effect in the global land surface air temperature trend estimated for the last 70 years. You could find it on my profile of GR. This is a complex issue, and we are going to make further investigation using more complete data.”
4. Tysa, S. K., Ren, G., Qin, Y., Zhang, P., Ren, Y., Jia, W., & Wen, K. (2019). Urbanization effect in regional temperature series based on a remote sensing classification scheme of stations. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres,124, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JD030948
8.
Feinberg, A., Earth Brightening as a Solution to Global Warming (Hot to Cool Roofs and Roads Compared to Car millage) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353463011_Introduction_to_Earth_Brightening_As_a_Solution_to_Global_Warming_-_Has_CO2_Become_a_Distraction_to_Real_Solutions_Whitening_Your_Roof_Equals_12_CarsYr_-_15_of_Earth_Whitening_Reverses_Global_Warming9. Solar Geoengineering, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_geoengineering
About Us:
T
his website is posted by Dr. Alec Feinberg, HeatPollution@gmail.com or dfrsoft@gmail.comAuthor:
Physics of Failure/Thermodynamic Degradation Science: 2nd Edition, (Wiley/DfRSoft)Design for Reliability (CRC Press)
Numerous Journal Articles on Reliability Physics, Thermodynamics & Climatology
Affiliations:
DfRSoft Research, Northeastern University, Physics Department
Alec Feinberg,
Short BiographyAlec Feinberg has a Ph.D. in physics from Northeastern University and has published several papers in climatology related to Urban Heat Islands effects and solar geoengineering to mitigate global warming. He has authored two books related to Physics of Failure/Thermodynamic Degradation Science, and Designing for Reliability. His main interests are in solar geoengineering climate solutions. He currently owns DfRSoft Research which finds solutions to physics of degradation problems. Using the new term, ‘heat pollution’ he hopes to raise awareness of this significant issue.
Summary of my paper's findings