Tang Sustainable Development Project at Berkeley Lab

Origin: The Tang Prize is awarded on a biennial basis, each with a cash reward of NT$40 million. Projects proposed by the laureates also receive a grant of up to NT$10 million

Project Summary: Extreme heat waves were responsible for nearly 8000 excess deaths in the U.S. from 1999 to 2009 and are expected to grow 5 to 10 times more frequent by the end of the 21^st century as the climate warms. The “Tang Sustainable Development Project at Berkeley Lab” comprises two activities. In activity one, “Cool Asphalt Shingles,” the Berkeley Lab Heat Island Group (HIG) will collaborate with industry to develop inexpensive, high-performance cool asphalt roofing shingle products which could potentially reduce by over 7% the annual residential cooling energy use in the two warmest climate zones in the US. In activity two, “Surviving Heat Storms,” the HIG will collaborate with the broader urban heat island (UHI) countermeasures community to identify and assess UHI countermeasures (e.g., high-reflectance surfaces, wet surfaces, shading) that help individuals and cities adapt to extreme heat waves.

About the LBNL Heat Island Group—

Over the past three decades, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) Heat Island Group and other researchers around the world have explored and demonstrated a variety of UHI countermeasures, such as reflective roofs, garden roofs, and shade trees, to cool buildings, cities and the planet.