If our Hot Topics article on Phoenix’s urban heat island effect got you hot and bothered, check out these websites to learn more about the phenomenon, what it costs cities and how they’re combating it.


The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has created a comprehensive yet easy-to-comprehend site on the urban heat island effect (epa.gov/heatisld/), including a primer on what the UHI is, why it’s financially and ecologically important, and strategies to curb it.

Explore how the urban heat island effect not only bakes cities but costs millions of dollars and amps up pollution at this site (heatisland.lbl.gov) from Lawrence Berkeley Labs, the nation’s heat island experts.

Gilbert, Phoenix and Tucson are stepping onto the UHI-reducing bandwagon. To learn about some Arizona projects to curb heat islands, visit yosemite.epa.gov/gw/heatisland.nsf/HIRIInitiativeTypesbyState?openview&Arizona

Phoenix’s 2010 Tree and Shade Master Plan’s goal is to canopy 25 percent of the city with trees by 2030, creating an urban oasis that cools down the heat island. You can download the full plan at phoenix.gov/PARKS/shade.html. (Don’t worry, it’s a colorful, user-friendly guide – not a desert-dry bureaucratic memo.)

Check out an interesting Power Point presentation that illustrates how the Tree and Shade Master Plan’s connected oasis will transform Phoenix and presents informational graphics revealing the temperatures of various materials and locations in Phoenix (phoenix.gov/urbanformproject/heatworkshop.pdf).

ASU scientist Darren Ruddell discovered that Phoenix’s urban heat island hit people living in poor areas hardest, particularly Latinos. Find out how heat discriminates at dcdc.asu.edu/AAAS07/ruddell.pdf

Emerald Cities is a Scottsdale-based eco-company that invented innovative cool pavement to reduce the heat island and help clean the air. They recently paved the world’s first solar-reflective green parking lot at the Robert L. Duffy Charter School in Phoenix, and their product may soon be sweeping the nation. Get the scoop here: emeraldcoolpavements.com