第1982期:Cooling hot cities

We're all familiar with the idea of climate change and how our planet is warming. Extremes in temperature have become more commonplace, making parts of the world difficult to live in. But one place where excessive heat is making life very uncomfortable is our cities. Luckily, innovation might be keeping a lid on it. 

我们都熟悉气候变化的概念以及地球如何变暖。 极端温度已经变得越来越普遍，使得世界上的一些地方变得难以居住。但是，过度炎热使生活变得非常不舒服的一个地方就是我们的城市。 幸运的是，创新可能会限制这种情况。 

As thermometers record temperatures, sometimes above 50 degrees Celsius, solutions are being sought to cool the air in our cities. In India, for example, heatwaves and rapid urbanisation have led to a big rise in the use of air-conditioning units, adding to CO2 emissions. So, architects, looking for a sustainable cooling solution, are reviving an ancient 'lattice' design, used in old buildings like the Taj Mahal, to construct comfortable, low-carbon buildings. Yatin Pandya told the BBC: "Traditional architectural forms have proven their performance in combatting environmental conditions." 

随着温度计记录的温度有时超过 50 摄氏度，人们正在寻求解决方案来冷却我们城市的空气。 例如，在印度，热浪和快速城市化导致空调使用量大幅增加，增加了二氧化碳排放量。 因此，寻求可持续冷却解决方案的建筑师正在复兴泰姬陵等老建筑中使用的古老“格子”设计，以建造舒适的低碳建筑。 亚廷·潘迪亚 (Yatin Pandya) 告诉英国广播公司：“传统的建筑形式已经证明了其在应对环境条件方面的性能。” 

In America, about 80% of the population lives in cities, and it's these cities that suffer from an urban heat island effect, caused by factors such as trapped waste heat, concrete structures and pavements absorbing the sun and tall buildings blocking the wind. Residents and developers have tried to heatproof these places by planting large trees that offer shade and putting plants and gardens on top of roofs that use vegetation to help trap heat. And in Los Angeles, there's an experiment to cover streets with light-coloured material that reflects rather than absorbs the sun and so they remain cooler than typical black roads. 

在美国，大约80%的人口居住在城市，正是这些城市遭受了城市热岛效应，其原因包括废热滞留、混凝土结构和路面吸收阳光、高层建筑挡风等因素。 居民和开发商试图通过种植大树来遮荫，并在屋顶上种植植物和花园，利用植被来帮助吸收热量，从而为这些地方隔热。 在洛杉矶，正在进行一项实验，用浅色材料覆盖街道，这种材料可以反射而不是吸收阳光，因此它们比典型的黑色道路保持凉爽。 

But it's satellites in space that are really giving us the best picture of our over-heated cities. Glynn Hulley, who is leading an image-capturing project, called the Land Surface Temperature Monitoring mission, told the BBC: "The data can be used to identify hotspots, vulnerable regions, and assess the cooling impacts of heat mitigation approaches." It's already found how green spaces, white roads and water features, have helped prevent our cities from boiling over. But with excessive heat still posing a threat to our lives, more solutions are still needed. 

但真正为我们提供过热城市的最佳图像的是太空中的卫星。 格林·赫尔利（Glynn Hulley）领导了一个名为“地表温度监测任务”的图像捕捉项目，他告诉英国广播公司：“这些数据可用于识别热点、脆弱区域，并评估缓解热量方法的冷却影响。” 人们已经发现绿色空间、白色道路和水景如何帮助防止我们的城市沸腾。 但由于高温仍然对我们的生活构成威胁，仍然需要更多的解决方案。 

词汇表

extreme 极端
excessive heat 过热，极度高温
innovation 创新
keep a lid on (something) 防止（情况）失控
thermometer 温度计
heatwave 热浪，酷热期
urbanisation 城市化
air-conditioning unit 空调
sustainable 可持续的，长期有效的
low-carbon 低碳的
combat 抵御，对抗
urban heat island effect 城市热岛效应
trapped waste heat 散发不出去的废热
heatproof 使…隔热
shade 阴凉处
vegetation 植物，植被
reflect 反射
over-heated 过热的，气温过高的
hotspot 高温地区，热点
cooling 降温，冷却
mitigation 缓解
green spaces 绿地，绿色空间
water features 人工水景
boiling over （变得）过热