Review and Critical Analysis of International UHI Studies

� When developing costing analyses they should include complete lifecycle costs including
the effects of factors such as: peak electric demand; roof design; roof design; roof
maintenance; thermal cyclical effects upon lifespan;
� Detailed investigation into the effect of soot, dirt, microbial growth and end use upon the
performance of cool materials (pavements and roofs) and their effectiveness in mitigating
the urban heat island;
� Limited research has been conducted to provide/quantify the UHI mitigation potential of
cool pavement technologies through larger scale practical implementation;
� Further research needs to be conducted to better understand and isolate, in theory and
empirically the cooling effect and UHI reduction potential of cool pavement
implementation;
� Significant research (a priority area) needs to be developed to understand the effectiveness
of cool pavements performance in complex urban settings accounting for shadowing,
building materials and sky view factor;
� It is important that future research is focused can quantify the relative benefits of improved
air quality, improved water quality, night time illumination, etc which may affect the
uptake and cost effectiveness of UHI mitigating solutions;
� Research needs to focus on understanding the UHI mitigation potential of cool pavements
in isolation to the other UHI mitigating technologies and strategies if their benefits are to
be full understood;
� Further research is required to understand the cost implications of key cost variables on
the final cost of implementation of cool pavements i.e. local climate, region, project size,
design life and intended use;
� Research is required to analyze legislation and incentives used to encourage the adoption
of urban trees and vegetation and green roofs in parts of the world where they are
generating significant interest e.g. Europe.
Negative Radiative Forcing to mitigate the UHI (high albedo surfaces):
� There has been no account for practical implementation issues associated with any mass
high albedo surface modification scheme. Such issues could take the form of: grade listed
buildings, commercial vs. residential roofing requirements, lack of availability of space,
building geometry rendering any pavement albedo change ineffective, etc therefore future
research needs to be focused on obtaining further high quality information on the specifics
of the urban cities across the globe;
� Further research methods are required to establish accurate urban areas and their make‐up
in order to be able to develop accurate UHI mitigation potential scenarios;
� Future research must account for long‐term effects of atmospheric CO2 on global warming;
Further research is required to produce more accurate models that account for variations in cloud
cover across different land types and for the effects on absorption from different types of
atmospheric pollutants across different regions of the world;
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