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Heat island effects in urban life cycle assessment: Novel insights to include the effects of the urban heat island and UHI‐mitigation measures in LCA for effective policy making

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  • Tiziana Susca
  • Francesco Pomponi

Abstract

Urbanization often entails a surge in urban temperature compared to the rural surroundings: the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. Such a temperature increase triggers the formation of pollutants worsening the urban air quality. Jointly, bad air quality and UHI affect ecosystems and human health. To alleviate the impacts on the population and the environment, it is crucial to design effective UHI‐mitigation measures. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an assessment tool able to capture the complexity of urban settlements and quantify their impact. Yet, as currently implemented, LCA neglects the interactions between the built environment and the local climate, omitting the resulting impacts. This study reviews the existing literature, showing the lack of studies that organically include interactions between the built environment and local climate in LCA. This forms the basis to identify the unsuitability of the current LCA framework for comprehensively capturing the impact of urban settlements. To overcome this limitation, this research offers a pathway to expand the LCA methodology, indicating the necessity to (a) couple the LCA methodology with climate models or physical relations that quantify the interactions between the local climate and the built environment; (b) include novel impact categories in LCA to address such interactions; and (c) use existing or ad hoc developed characterization factors to assess the impacts related to the UHI effect. The LCA community can build on the frame of reference offered by this research to overcome the current limitations of LCA and enable its use for a comprehensive assessment of the impacts of UHI and its mitigation measures.

Suggested Citation

  • Tiziana Susca & Francesco Pomponi, 2020. "Heat island effects in urban life cycle assessment: Novel insights to include the effects of the urban heat island and UHI‐mitigation measures in LCA for effective policy making," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 24(2), pages 410-423, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:24:y:2020:i:2:p:410-423
    DOI: 10.1111/jiec.12980
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Susan Spierre Clark & Mikhail V. Chester, 2017. "A Hybrid Approach for Assessing the Multi-Scale Impacts of Urban Resource Use: Transportation in Phoenix, Arizona," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 21(1), pages 136-150, February.
    2. Tiziana Susca, 2012. "Multiscale Approach to Life Cycle Assessment," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 16(6), pages 951-962, December.
    3. Eduard Cubi & Nicholas F. Zibin & Sarah J. Thompson & Joule Bergerson, 2016. "Sustainability of Rooftop Technologies in Cold Climates: Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of White Roofs, Green Roofs, and Photovoltaic Panels," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 20(2), pages 249-262, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Wenli Dong & Lihan Lin, 2023. "Evaluating the Whole-Process Management of Future Communities Based on Integrated Fuzzy Decision Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-23, November.
    2. Shayna K. Fever & Jonathan D. W. Kahl & Amy E. Kalkbrenner & Rosa M. Cerón Bretón & Julia G. Cerón Bretón, 2022. "A New Combined Air Quality and Heat Index in Relation to Mortality in Monterrey, Mexico," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-15, March.
    3. Mikhail V. Chester, 2020. "Industrial ecology in support of climate change adaptation," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 24(2), pages 271-275, April.
    4. Francesco Pomponi & Bernardino D’Amico, 2020. "Low Energy Architecture and Low Carbon Cities: Exploring Links, Scales, and Environmental Impacts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-6, November.

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