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Climate Colab

Feb 18, 2015
12:20

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Congratulations on making it to the Semi-Finals for the Urban Heat Island Effect contest. Please take into consideration the comments left by the judges and do please incorporate that feedback into your final proposal. We look forward to seeing your ideas finalized in the next iteration!

Jennifer Lawrence

Feb 18, 2015
10:19

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Dear DrGeoff: The CoLab had a typo in their previous message to you. The proposal revision period closes on March 1st, NOT the 31st. Below are your proposal's comments from the judging team. Thank you for participating! Judge 1: The proposal is focusing on mapping, which is not at all an easy task, given the scale proposed. However, perhaps it should be taken to the next level, since the proposal is mature already (obvious from award winning history). Providing examples of how monitoring will lead to identifying problems, and then how the team proposes it will be mitigated. What UHI mitigation measures would take place, using which inputs from thermal imaging? And perhaps a discussion of how this project will address seasonal differences of UHI in summer and winter. Collaborations with team 'Cool Cash' could make this proposal much more comprehensive. Judge 2: This proposal is well thought-out and strong. These kinds of fine-resolution mapping efforts are much-needed for characterization of localized UHI effects; even though this project would not directly mitigate UHI, it can help to identify areas and environments in which mitigation solutions might be particularly effective or ineffective. The use of geospatial mapping could help to engage people from various backgrounds in visualizing and sharing possibilities for adaptation and mitigation. This effort clearly builds upon prior successful work. More details could be provided about how this work would fit with/build upon other Cambridge-area efforts such as ULTRA-EX and how you envision the mapping data could be applied.

Evan Kuras

Feb 27, 2015
11:10

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DrGeoff: You have a great proposal here! I am the creator of the "Cool Cash" proposal and I think our two ideas go quite well together, as do the judges. In my comments, they wrote, "For the motivations and identifying areas of priority and direct impact, work with group 'MyHeat' may generate suitable targeting drivers, and perhaps thinking about how Cambridge is actually a heating-dominated climate should be taken into account." Here is my proposal: https://www.climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/1301101/planId/1313911 In essence, I proposed an incentives-based program for households to more efficiently cool their homes so as to provide targeted cooling and reduce waste-heat generation. Your city-wide HEAT maps could help the Cool Cash Program effectively target households and neighborhoods that are producing the most waste-heat while also measuring reductions in waste-heat production through HEAT Scores. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on either collaborating or combining our proposals together. If you would like to continue this conversation, send me a message, or email me at ekuras@asu.edu. Thanks! Evan Kuras (TempTalker)

Geoff Hay

Feb 28, 2015
10:07

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Proposal
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Hi Evan, Thank you for reaching out to me. Evan, I have carefully read over your proposal and it is clear that you have valuable detailed local experience and/or knowledge with the Cambridge area. Furthermore, I find you proposal well written and very interesting – including the reference linking air-conditioning with waste heat contributions to the UHI. However, the challenges I perceive for you are (i) still to get businesses to provide the upfront BHB (“beat the heat bet”) costs, and (ii) from your reviewers perspective, to turn your focus towards how Cambridge is a heating-dominated climate. Having said this, your BHB idea falls within the broad category we refer to as ‘ Waste HEAT Reduction Competitions’ - which we have planned for homes and communities (and eventually between cities) based on an initial MyHEAT monitoring program that allows a baseline MyHEAT value-added package to be generated [composed of HEAT Maps (at house, community and city levels), as well as HEAT Scores, HEAT Spots and estimated energy savings] – and then compared over time - within and between communities pre- and post-energy efficiency retrofits, and or other community directed waste heat reduction programs i.e., tree planting, white & green/living roofs, permeable concrete roads/paths, increased green space allocation, etc – which could be based on some of the MyHEAT-Island and MyHEAT-Sink maps that I still need to describe... Evan, I appreciate your offer to collaborate, and/or combine proposals. Currently, MyHEAT have a number of proven peer-reviewed and operational technologies developed over a number of years of R&D – which we have recently begun to commercialize as part of a well-defined business model. Therefore, based on what you have proposed, I see your offer more as an opportunity to collaborate, rather than to combine proposals. In simple terms, MyHEAT really has 3 main goals: (i) to show where waste heat is leaving dwellings, communities and cities, (ii) to quantify the financial and environmental costs of such waste heat, and (iii) to provide solutions to reduce, and or mitigate related waste heat. I see your proposal as complimenting this third goal, where your project would essentially be a consumer of MyHEAT value-added products. Most likely our HEAT Scores – which I believe would correspond to what you refer to as ‘… high heat indexes…’ in your section titled: “ What are the other key benefits?” Comments welcome. Gf. Dr. Geoffrey J. Hay (PhD) Associate Professor Geography Department of Geography, University of Calgary Tel: +1 (403) 220-4768, Fax: +1 (403) 282-6561 E-mail: gjhay@ucalgary.ca Lab: www.ucalgary.ca/f3gisci Founder and CTO of MyHEAT: www.myheat.co Empowering Urban Energy EfficiencyTM

Laur Hesse Fisher

Mar 4, 2015
09:03

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Dear proposal authors: The Finalist selection phase has been extended so Judges could finalize their comments. The Fellow team will be in touch with more details as they arise. Thank you for your patience and understanding. ~~ Laur Climate CoLab Project Manager

Climate Colab

Mar 6, 2015
12:59

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Hi Dr. Geoff: Your proposal is obviously novel and creative (and award-winning!). We felt that while this proposal was innovative, it had more to do with energy consumption and efficiency than actual UHI. Thank you so much for submitting a proposal and good luck with your next contest. Sincerely, Jen