Official Launch of the National Center of Excellence
New renewable technology is being developed to help mitigate urban heat islands and lower energy consumption at the new National Center of Excellence on SMART Innovations for Urban Climate and Energy. The ASU center will focus on creating a new generation of sustainable materials and renewable technology (SMART) innovations, with funding support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“Constructing our cities with sustainable materials and renewable technologies helps keep them cool and provide cost-effective health, energy, air and water quality benefits,” said EPA’s Acting Assistant Administrator Bill Wehrum. “This National Center is a good example of EPA’s commitment to innovative, integrated environmental solutions.”
The new National Center of Excellence brings together leading researchers and government and industry representatives to find solutions that have a sound scientific, economic and operational basis that relieve urban heat island effects and lower energy use — a growing concern for many U.S. cities.
The “urban heat island effect” describes a condition of abnormally elevated temperatures that urban areas experience compared to more rural surroundings. During the summer, higher surface and air temperatures caused by human built structures can increase discomfort and risk human health. It also can raise air-conditioning use, risk power outages due to peak electricity demands, worsen air quality by promoting ground-level ozone formation, and impair water quality by heating storm water runoff, causing thermal shock for aquatic life.
“New, sustainable materials for urban development is a key component for the cities of the future,” said ASU President Michael M. Crow. “Developing these materials is an important part of assuring that our cities are not only thriving places of commerce and intellectual advancement, but that they also lead the way in demonstrating how we can be better stewards of the land and our resources by mitigating the environmental and health effects typically associated with sprawling urban areas. The new National Center for Excellence on SMART Innovations will play a significant role in this endeavor and in ASU’s efforts in advancing sustainability research worldwide.”
“Locating the National Center of Excellence in metropolitan Phoenix in the heart of the Southwest, the fastest-growing region in the U.S., provides an advanced ‘urban laboratory’ for researchers and industry to come together to respond to the demands and opportunities of our changing world,” added Jay Golden, director of the Center.
The opening of the center is being held in conjunction with the joint ASU-EPA Sustainable Materials for the Urban Environment Conference held April 24 on the ASU campus.
For more information on the National Center of Excellence at ASU visit: www.asusmart.org
Media contact:
Skip Derra, (480) 965-4823
Skip Derra, Skip.Derra@asu.edu
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Great website appearance and content!
One element you might consider for future inclusion is a section devoted to how ASU’s efforts support/contribute to the co-benfits of reducing energy requirements and air quality problems, improving stormwater management, and protecting human health and comfort.
These elements are mentioned and may be treated separately in sections of your wesite (e.g., Research), but a holistic page that looked at how they interact (possibly illustrated with one or more diagrams) would help build the case for communities that want to pursue heat island mitigation.
Overall, thank you for preparing an excellent contribution to outreach, education, research, and mitigation practices for heat islands and related urban sustainability issues.