Global Cool Cities Alliance Formally Launches with the Hiring of its First Executive Director, Kurt Shickman

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, May 26, 2011 (Press-News.org) Global Cool Cities Alliance (GCCA) has formally launched to accelerate a worldwide transition to highly reflective, cooler, and healthier cities. Its mission is to advance policies and programs that increase the solar reflectance of our buildings and pavements to promote cool buildings and cool cities, and, most importantly, to mitigate the effects of climate change through global cooling.

Commenting on GCCA, Steven Chu, U.S. Secretary of Energy stated that, "the launch of Global Cool Cities Alliance is an important step. The U.S. Department of Energy is proud to be providing seed funding to launch GCCA. The opportunity to cool cities through the use of reflective and light colored materials grows out of three decades of research, development and demonstrations (RD&D) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Rapid deployment of cool materials represents one of the largest and most cost effective opportunities we have to counter global warming, improve health and strengthen security. The launch of GCCA is an exciting milestone; the organization will apply these three decades of RD&D across the globe and catalyze hundreds of billions of dollars in electricity savings, improved comfort and public health from the wealthiest to the poorest cities in the world."

GCCA is pleased to announce that Kurt Shickman will be joining the alliance in June 2011 as the first Executive Director of this newly formed non-profit organization. He is currently the Director of Research for Energy and Climate at the United Nations Foundation and its domestic energy policy initiative, the Energy Future Coalition. The GCCA Board includes leading technical experts, advocates, and climate change thought-leaders including Hashem Akbari of Concordia University, Catherine Hunt of Dow Chemical Company, Gregory Kats of Good Energies, Ronnen Levinson of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Art Rosenfeld of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Steve Wiel of the Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program, and John Wilson of the Energy Foundation.

"We are pleased to have Kurt coming on board. We have admired his work at the Energy Future Coalition for years and know that he will bring talent, vision, and discipline to Global Cool Cities Alliance," said John Wilson, Buildings Program Director at the Energy Foundation and Board Chair of Global Cool Cities Alliance.

Global Cool Cities Alliance grows directly from the vast body of research on the cooling potential and environmental benefits of roofs and pavements conducted by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Heat Island Group, Concordia University, and other leading research organizations. A 2009 paper, published in the Journal of Climatic Change, found that permanently installing cool roofs and cool pavements worldwide would have the equivalent effect on global temperatures as avoiding 44 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions, or about a year's worth of man-made greenhouse gas emissions. Cool surfaces also reduce urban temperatures, improving urban air quality and the comfort of both indoor and outdoor spaces. Most cool roofs more than pay for themselves with electricity savings. Because they are relatively easy to install and are available at low or no cost, cool surfaces must be one of our first choices to mitigate the effects of climate change.

"Cool roofs - particularly white roofs - have an important role to play in the fight to mitigate and adapt to climate change. They are a simple, affordable, safe, 'no brainer' way to cool down buildings and cities and improve our quality of life. I am excited by the early progress of Global Cool Cities Alliance and am looking forward to working with Kurt to achieve our mission of a rapid, worldwide transition to cool cities," says Dr. Art Rosenfeld, Distinguished Scientist Emeritus at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a Director of Global Cool Cities Alliance.

Global Cool Cities Alliance is pursuing its mission through partnerships with other networks dedicated to city-level action as well with leading real estate, science, and building efficiency groups, and through direct work with cities and companies globally.

The Global Cool Cities Alliance (GCCA) is developing five programs to help reach its goals.
1) 100 Cool Cities - Recruit and obtain commitments from 100 major cities - "100 Cool Cities" - across the globe by 2015, with widespread installation of cool surfaces by 2020.
2) Corporate leadership - Support the voluntary adoption of cool surfaces by commercial and industrial building owners, with 20 major global corporations actively committed to cool roofs and pavement installation by 2013.
3) Building code and pavement specifications - Promote the inclusion, by 2015, of cool surfaces - mainly white roofs - in the building codes and pavement specifications of key U.S. states and major foreign countries.
4) Financial mechanisms - Develop financial mechanisms, by 2015, that broadly support the installation of cool surfaces in the U.S. and other key countries.
5) Dissemination of research and development - Ensure that information about cool surface research, development, and demonstrations is broadly disseminated.

Already, GCCA has secured five founding members of its 100 Cool Cities network--Athens, Chicago, New York City, San Jose, Singapore, and Taipei.

Global Cool Cities Alliance has recently received its first major grant from the Department of Energy's Office of Building Technology. Additional support has been provided by the Energy Foundation. The organization will open offices in Washington, D.C. in the coming weeks.

Contact Amy Dickie, Acting Associate Director, Global Cool Cities Alliance - amy@globalcoolcities.org, +1-415-421-4213 x21.

Website: http://www.globalcoolcities.org