UHI Innovation Challenge
Like the rest of the world, Asia is getting warmer due to climate change. As urbanization and climate change progress, extreme heat in cities will become an even more widespread and urgent problem.
The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, which is caused mainly by the modification of land surfaces due to urbanisation, is exacerbating this trend. The removal of trees and other green spaces to make way for buildings and roads, the addition of heat-absorbing materials, and waste heat from energy use in buildings and transportation are adding to the already rising ambient temperature.
Experts predict mean annual temperatures in East Asia will increase by up to 3.8 °C by the century’s end. Some parts of the region may see much greater increases. In the best-case scenario, Myanmar and Thailand can expect 80-90 days per year with temperatures over 35 °C by 2050, an increase of roughly 20 days from today. This increase in temperature will be much worse in cities where the UHI could raise temperatures by a further 7 °C.
Urban heat results in reduced productivity, worse education and health outcomes, and greater energy requirements for cooling, leading to more carbon emissions. Heat waves in cities also correlate with increased crime, conflict, domestic violence, and poorer mental health. The UHI effect disproportionately impacts poor or otherwise marginalized communities and is a particular problem for the region’s developing countries.
This is the second year that SSTL is partnering with the World Bank to source for innovative solutions . From 2020-2021, SSTL first partnered the World Bank Group’s Southeast Asia Disaster Risk Insurance Facility (SEADRIF) on an Innovation Challenge for space tech companies to develop a solution that will augment real time flood extents derived from satellite imagery with flood depth information from other existing datasets and/or real time data sources. PLease visit the below website for further information in participating.
Website: UHI challange website