What's Next: 🏙️ Cooling cities

Plus: Cassettes are back | Thursday, July 21, 2022

Open in app View in browser   Presented By NYSE   Axios What's Next By Jennifer A. Kingson, Joann Muller and Alex Fitzpatrick · Jul 21, 2022 Boy, it's a hot one — but as Jennifer reports today, there are ways to cool things down. Today's Smart Brevity count: 1,127 words ... 4 minutes.     1 big thing: "Smart surfaces" could cool cities Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios   Cities could dramatically reduce peak summer temperatures by replacing hot, dark surfaces — like streets, rooftops, playgrounds and parking lots — with cooler alternatives, according to the Smart Surfaces Coalition, a new advocacy group, Jennifer A. Kingson reports. Why it matters: Even as Europe swelters and the U.S. braces for dangerous heat, cities have been slow to embrace mitigation measures — which can be as simple as painting asphalt with inexpensive chemical coatings that block the absorption of solar radiation. Cities have been working "piecemeal" on initiatives like "cool roof" policies and "cool pavement" programs — but they'll only get meaningful results from an inclusive plan that involves all heat-trapping surfaces, says Greg Kats, founder and CEO of the Smart Surfaces Coalition. A full suite of interventions could reduce peak temperatures up to 5 degrees — but make it feel up to 15 degrees cooler, he said. Driving the news: A Smart Surfaces Coalition report on Baltimore found that citywide adoption of smart surfaces over 20 years would create 3,600 jobs, boost tourism and reduce peak summer temperatures by 4.3 degrees in the hottest areas (and 2.5°F on average citywide). A comprehensive strategy — now in its early stages — will (ideally) blitz the Charm City with reflective roofs and highways, solar panels, trees, porous pavements, bioswales to channel rainwater and even "urban meadows," or areas of median where mown grass is replaced with unmanicured native grasses. State of play: The Smart Surfaces Coalition is working to coax cities to devise systemic plans to banish dark, impervious surfaces and replace them with green, porous and reflective ones. Its regulatory mapping initiative is building a database of obstacles, like zoning laws, building codes and regulations that discourage or inhibit use of solar panels, green roofs, tree cover and so on in 18,000 cities and towns. The group helped form the Cool Roadways Partnership of about 30 U.S. cities — a dozen of which (like L.A. and Phoenix) are resurfacing roads in pilot programs of up to 200 blocks. "They're actually measuring a couple degrees ... ambient temperature reduction in adjacent residential areas — so it's starting to happen," said Kats, a noted environmentalist and clean energy investor. Of note: Smart surfaces are an environmental justice issue. The "urban heat island" effect disproportionately harms low-income neighborhoods, where there's less tree cover — and where cool surfaces are particularly important (yet scarce). What they're saying: Even though Europe is way ahead of the U.S. in efforts like solar panels, public transportation and reflective surfaces, it still doesn't have a single city that "treats all of its surfaces as one single integrated strategy, as one system for cooling and managing water," Kats said. "Until you do that, it's a bit hodgepodge." The bottom line: It'll take a lot of political will and concerted effort to execute bolder and more coordinated smart surfaces plans, but momentum is building. Share this story.     2. USPS orders more electric trucks Photo courtesy of USPS   The U.S. Postal Service yesterday significantly boosted its commitment to replace its aging delivery fleet with more electric vehicles, Joann Muller reports. Why it matters: The agency faced a massive backlash after announcing in March that it would spend nearly $3 billion on an initial order for 50,000 new mail trucks from Oshkosh Defense — 90% of which would be gasoline-powered. Sixteen states, four environmental groups and the United Auto Workers union sued to block the plan. The Biden administration and many lawmakers also asked the agency to reconsider. Driving the news: The new plan reflects "refinements" based on improvements in the agency's financial outlook and availability of technology, the USPS said in a statement. The agency now says that at least half of the 50,000 vehicles it plans to purchase from Oshkosh Defense will be battery electric vehicles (BEVs). In addition, the Postal Service said it will purchase another 34,500 vehicles from other manufacturers, "including as many BEVs as are commercially available." Of the total 84,500 vehicles to be purchased, more than 40% will be electric. Share this story.     3. What's next for NASA's Voyager probes? Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios   The future of NASA's aging Voyager spacecraft is starting to come into sharper focus, Axios' Miriam Kramer reports. Why it matters: Voyagers 1 and 2 are the only functional human-made spacecraft currently in interstellar space. Launched in 1977, the Voyagers are not only scientific tools but also emissaries of humanity, carrying images, music and even a map for finding Earth. "No spacecraft is going to get back to where Voyager 1 and 2 are for decades," Voyager project manager Suzanne Dodd tells Axios. Driving the news: Next month, Voyager team members will meet to talk about the future of their mission before making recommendations to NASA on how to keep getting the best science from the aging probes. The big picture: The spacecraft are on different trajectories, allowing scientists to learn more about interstellar space from two perspectives. Read the rest.     A message from NYSE A market-driven approach to board diversity     Board diversity is critical for today's business leaders, but there are varied approaches getting there. Elizabeth King, president of ICE ESG and chief regulatory officer at ICE, outlines the NYSE's market-driven approach to board diversity and more. Get the insights.     4. Longread: "Pickleball will save America" Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios   Sarah Larson over at the New Yorker is out this week with a fascinating deep dive into the world of pickleball, an easy-to-learn, hard-to-master tennis alternative taking the country by storm. The takeaways: Pickleball is older than you might think — it was "invented in 1965, on Bainbridge Island, Washington, by three dads." It exploded in popularity during the pandemic, but efforts to professionalize the game are tearing the community apart as rival leagues form and new, more competitive players clash with comparatively laid-back traditionalists. Still, some see pickleball as a way to get Americans talking to one another in an era of remarkably high polarization. The money quote: "Pickleball will save America ... a lot of people think we're going to have a civil war if this election is close. We've got to get people out there playing pickleball with people who will vote the other way, so they don't want to kill each other. It sounds ridiculous and dramatic, but I kind of mean it. Pickleball can save us, and we need to be saved." — Steve Kuhn, founder of Major League Pickleball.     5. One fun thing: Cassettes are back Photo: Bernard Weil/Toronto Star via Getty Images   Time to dust off your Walkman — cassette tapes might be coming back in style, Axios' Nathan Bomey reports. Driving the news: Cassette sales nearly doubled from 173,000 in 2020 to 343,000 in 2021, according to entertainment data tracker Luminate. Sales have totaled 215,000 so far in 2022, signaling further growth. Artists who've recently sold new music as cassettes include Billie Eilish, The Weeknd and Ozzy Osbourne. The big picture: Nostalgia has already fueled a surge in sales for vinyl records, making them more popular than CDs — so why not cassettes too? Yes, but: Audiophiles will tell you that vinyl provides the best sound quality, a fact helping fuel their comeback. CDs rank second, with cassettes a distant third. Reality check: Let's just say Spotify isn't exactly shaking in its boots. Share this story.     A message from NYSE CHROs take a broader approach to wellness     Sandra Lamartine, SVP and chief human resources officer at The AZEK Company (NYSE: AZEK), says COVID-19 brought employee needs into sharper focus: "We look at wellness from an organizational level in order to broaden offerings and support and promote inclusion." Learn more.   A hearty thanks to What's Next copy editor Amy Stern. Was this email forwarded to you? 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