Singapore — Temperatures reached 86 degrees and were rising. Humidity measured at was 75%. Sunlight shone on the skyscrapers.
14 volunteers, 6 A climate researcher and a mobile biometeorological cart named ‘Smarty’ prepared to set off for a ‘heat walk’ in the downtown area of a Southeast Asian city-state. Volunteers wore devices to measure heart rate and skin temperature. Head Researcher Winston Chow watched a bead of sweat form on his forehead.
Chow and his team are part of Cooling Singapore, a multi-agency project launched in 2017 with funding from the Singapore government. The project’s current goal is to build a computer model of Singapore, a ‘digital city climate twin’. This will allow policy makers to analyze the effectiveness of different heat mitigation measures before spending money on solutions that may not work. This is research that the Singapore government hopes can be replicated around the world.
“People have always wondered what the key factors in climate really affect discomfort: low wind speed? high temperature? high radiation from the sun?” Singapore Management University Chow, Associate Professor of Science, Technology and Society at , said:
“We understand that. It can go a long way towards smarter urban design at the planning level, or how individuals deal with heat,” he said.
Singapore’s wealth provides resources to invest in such high-tech solutions. However, researchers say the geographic location of the Southeast Asian states also makes them a good model for other countries, especially tropical countries. . As in other tropical regions, the high humidity, averaging 84%, has an even greater impact.
The study is especially important at a time when many countries are being hit by record temperatures. A heat wave broke out in the UK, China, Japan and much of Europe, killing, claiming lives and displacing tens of thousands of people.
Scientists warn that the combination of high heat and humidity, known as extreme wet-bulb temperatures, could be one of the deadliest consequences of global warming. Sustained exposure to certain thresholds of high heat and humidity makes it difficult for people to cool themselves because they are unable to sweat effectively. Young children and the elderly are especially at risk.
“We are very concerned about climate change,” said Zhang Weijie, director of energy and climate policy at the Ministry of Sustainability and Environment. “It’s an existential challenge for us.”
“Making Singapore livable and allowing us to continue the work we are doing is very important to us,” he added.
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Critics say Singapore can do more to slow the potentially devastating effects of climate change. Almost all of its energy supply comes from fossil fuelsand it’s home to It is one of the world’s largest oil refining and petrochemical complexes. Singapore’s first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, promoted the nearly ubiquitous use of air conditioning in what he once called the most important invention of the 20th century.
But keeping air conditioners running all the time in city-states has become prohibitively expensive.about 25% of low-income households According to a 2019 government study, those who live in one- or two-bedroom public housing have air conditioning. In 2019, the senior minister said that air conditioners A “substantial” share of carbon emissions From buildings and homes, it is the second highest source after the industrial sector.
Gerhard Schmidt, former principal investigator at Cooling Singapore, said the idea for the project came about in 2011 when he asked a group of seniors if it was always this hot in Singapore. They told him that it had never been this bad, and that morning dew could once be found on the grass.
Schmidt and his research team began investigating what happened. Urbanization has revealed that Singapore has become much warmer than before. In recent decades, the Singapore government has transformed the city-state by building skyscrapers where Singapore’s natural forests once stood, and stacking concrete, steel and glass.
This contributed directly to what climate researchers call the “urban heat island” effect. In this phenomenon, the temperature difference between downtown Singapore and the forests of the northwestern part of the island can exceed 45 degrees.
In 2017, Cooling Singapore researchers recommended 86 ways city-states can change their plans. For example, reorienting buildings to create wind flow or using district cooling systems. Depends on air conditioner.
They also said that using reflective paint would be a good way to mitigate the heat. The effect is potentially difficult.”
Prior to Cooling Singapore, the Singapore government had not fully identified the biggest factors affecting heat, according to Environment Ministry’s Zhang. We can now quantify how adding greenery or reducing the number of cars in a particular area affects temperature, and fine-tune measures based on the needs of each district. .
Thermal studies to date have typically relied on data from weather stations, which did not fully reflect what people like Rachel Peck, 23, felt on the ground.
With sweat on his face, climate researcher Peck spent about an hour driving a mobile cart around the Singapore Management University campus in downtown Singapore. Some areas, especially those without shade, were much hotter than others.
At Bencoolen Street, where skyscrapers block the morning sun, the average radiant temperature is — The index, which measures not only temperature, but also radiation from a person’s surroundings, was 82 degrees. On Queen Street, about a third of a mile away, with more exposure to the sky, it was 127.4 degrees.
“The prevailing hypothesis now is that shade availability is an important determinant of heat adaptation in places like Singapore,” Chow said. To address this, Singapore has committed to: Plant 1 million trees by 2030 Over 388,000 trees have been planted so far.
But Chou said it’s not just the number that counts, it’s also the type of tree that ideally has the “largest shade canopy.” “If you have a small tree like a palm tree, you can’t cut it down,” he said.
One of the volunteers, Shamil Krupp, said he stopped the long walks he enjoyed in his hometown in Negombo, Sri Lanka. Currently, he only works out in air-conditioned gyms.
“I love it here,” said 28-year-old Krupp. “My only complaint is the weather.”
Cooling Singapore Research Fellow Yuriya Juban said one goal scientists currently have is to create a ‘peace of mind’ island, a place where people can feel the cool breeze or air conditioning after walking. to find a way to make it into the city outside on a hot day.
Research shows that even small changes in city design and vegetation can create this feeling of well-being. A better understanding of when and how people are exposed to heat could even help governments develop plans to encourage more people to use public transport, she said. added.
To get people to change their habits, she said, “we need to think about how we can make the experience more comfortable and enjoyable.” “Because otherwise they won’t do it.”