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Jennifer Lawrence

Dec 17, 2014
01:24

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Quinton: Thank you for this well-thought out and creative idea. This is exactly the kind of detail we are looking for! My one comment would be that in the next week, we will have the heat maps from the Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment on our Resources page. It will be helpful if you could look through these maps and add a bit of detail on which neighborhoods you feel will benefit the most so that we can start to prioritize potential targeting each year, as laid out in your timeline. Thanks for submitting an idea. - Jen

Quinton Zondervan

Dec 19, 2014
01:28

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Thanks Jen, can you post the link to the heat maps? Best, Q

Jennifer Lawrence

Dec 22, 2014
10:20

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They are uploaded now!

Quinton Zondervan

Dec 22, 2014
11:03

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Thanks; can you post the link?

Hanaa Rohman

Jan 13, 2015
10:59

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Here it is on the reference page, last link at the bottom: https://www.climatecolab.org/resources/-/wiki/Main/Urban+Heat+Island+Effect

Quinton Zondervan

Jan 13, 2015
01:41

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Thanks hanaa :-) I did find it a while ago but kind of you to post it here. Best, Q

Climate Colab

Feb 18, 2015
12:03

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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
11:43

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Dear Quinton: 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 needs area quantification for impact assessment. Is the project going to have a significant impact? If so, what is the percentage of area that it affects, so that it is worth the door-to-door approach to convince citizens to be entirely engaged. Judge 2: This idea makes a lot of sense - eliminate paved areas where possible, and encourage landowners to do so. I'm curious about some of the details - are there options for folks who don't want to commit to a fully depaved driveway? For example, a driveway reinforced with concrete block (that allows grass to grow, but can still be shoveled/doesn't turn into mud in heavy rain)? Can similar effect be gained by covering over the driveway? What are the disposal costs associated with pavement? Are there alternatives for how the depaved pavement is disposed of, rather than by dumpster (and presumably landfill)?

Jennifer Lawrence

Feb 27, 2015
12:02

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Reminder: Review period ends on Sunday. Please take a look at the judging feedback and update your proposal. Thanks!

Quinton Zondervan

Feb 27, 2015
02:48

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Response to Judge 1: According to this article over 50,000 square feet of pavement was depaved in Portland, OR through volunteer efforts alone: http://www.groundworksomerville.org/depave-in-the-boston-globe/ According to Cambridge city website's summary of the 2010 census http://www.cambridgema.gov/CDD/factsandmaps/demographicfaq.aspx there are 47,291 housing units in Cambridge as of 2010, with 44.4% in buildings with less than 6 units. If half of those units have 100 square feet of paved driveway per unit, that is 47,291 x .444 x .5 x 100 = ~1 million sq. ft. of pavement. Even if we could only depave 5% of that estimated total it would represent 50,000 sq. ft. of pavement that could be removed. I don't know if 50% having a driveway is a reasonable assumption, or if 100 sq. feet is a reasonable amount, so these are just estimates to get an idea of the scope. Response to Judge 2: Yes, there are many alternative permeable surfaces that can be created besides grass. Disposal costs are around $600 for the dumpster rental. Depaved asphalt is recycled and is not allowed in landfills: http://www.recyclingworksma.com/how-to/materials-guidance/construction-materials/

Laur Hesse Fisher

Mar 4, 2015
09:29

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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
12:51

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Even though I've heard of this before, I like this proposal because our communities need to depave; However, more work needs to be done to make a convincing argument. Where will the old asphalt go? What are the implications of permeable asphalt and Boston Winters? Will freeze-thaw cycles, snow plows and shovels sabotage the potential plants that will grow in these depaved areas? From my understanding of rainwater harvesting, a 55 gallon barrel is a drop in the bucket and almost not worth the while. Has rainwater barrel programs seen much success across the nation? I think a much better idea would be to depave driveways and then bury a much larger underground cistern, depending on the intended use of the water. I think what will be important for this proposal to work is to find the right end user who will provide the proper maintenance for both the new impermeable driveway and cisterns and will utilize the water coming from the cistern.

Michael Hayes

Mar 13, 2015
05:09

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Hi Folks, The comment of "I think a much better idea would be to depave driveways and then bury a much larger underground cistern, depending on the intended use of the water." has a good deal of wisdom in it. The driveway cisterns can be used for organic flow batteries: http://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2014/01/organic-mega-flow-battery-promises-breakthrough-for-renewable-energy and possibly even chemosynthetic sewage->algal biomass->biofuel/biochar production: Alabama Gets First-In-World Carbon-Negative Algae Biofuel http://cleantechnica.com/2014/08/20/alabama-gets-first-world-carbon-negative-algae-biofuel/ The energy production and storage potential of a large number of sub-driveway urban cisterns may justify the creation of a local B Corp. which can eventually support many other urban mitigation and adaptation needs. As a final thought, the driveway cement can be cut up on-site as pavers and reused for landscape improvements on the site or elsewhere. Building a Bobcat paver-cutter attachment, using available masonry cutting tools, would be rather straight forward. https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=stihl+masonry+chainsaw&tbm=vid The above referenced chainsaw bar can be ganged together to cut standard widths of cement and the diamond chains can be driven by the Bobcat's on-board hydraulics. In brief, the energy implications of a distributed energy conversion/storage system using a large number of driveway cisterns does seem significant. The issue of hardening the system against winter wear and tear can be addressed through a specialized B. Corp which is equipped with modified tools designed to install the cisterns, maintain and harvest the energy/sewage system and rapidly repair surface winter damage. And, the engineering and availability of an energy/cistern system is not an issue. http://www.ads-pipe.com/pdf/en/A7.01-HDPE_Underground_Cisterns.pdf Best regards, Michael

Michael Hayes

Mar 13, 2015
05:38

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I found the masonry cutter link was broken. Here is another: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DguNavRgRtE M

Michael Hayes

Apr 24, 2015
07:34

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Wow!!! Rain Barrels actually impressed these judges. Remarkable. I guess the rest of the contributors should not have taken that 'Heat Island' thing so seriously.