South Bend garbage trucks collecting more than just trash this summer
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
A team made up of researchers at Notre Dame and city officials is hoping that South Bend’s trash offers a treasure trove of temperature data.
Throughout the months of August and September, trash trucks in South Bend aren't just collecting your garbage, they are also using specialty sensors to gather data on urban heat islands throughout the city.
"Concrete, pavement, asphalt, typically in urban environments absorb a lot of heat and then radiate that back out into the environment," explained Jason Carley, Assistant Professor of Industrial Design at the University of Notre Dame. "So we want to understand specific locations, to understand how much of that heat is being absorbed and then radiated back."
Ming Hu is an advisor on the project and is also an Associate Dean at Notre Dame’s School of Architecture. She says urban heat islands are becoming more common and intense, which is worrying in multiple ways.
"Heat related health issues are a big thing, especially for more vulnerable populations, like elderly population and the younger children," Hu explained. "And the second
is the higher increase energy utility bill people need to pay in the summertime.
Siavash Ghorbany is a PhD student at Notre Dame, and is in charge of using the temperature data to create a predictive model that will map local heat islands.
If the team's efforts are successful, the next steps are to expand the operation statewide and use the information to create an extreme heat early warning system.
"If we can know where the heat waves are going to heat and which are the areas and which are the regions that's going to get most affected by that, we can kind of have some sort of response ready for that and act faster and reduce the casualties out of the heat waves," Ghorbany said.
Barbara Dale and Patrick McGuire helped spearhead South Bend’s involvement in the project. Dale tells ABC57News that the funding came for this undertaking came from money already in South Bend's budget.
They plan to use thermal imaging data along with the info from the trash trucks to strategically plant trees to lessen the impact of extreme heat.
This data will also allow the city to pinpoint the best spots to put cooling centers and additional resources when temperatures rise.
"Having more accurate, finer data will help us better respond to urban heat events," McGuire said.
Even the cooler, "fall-like" temperatures will provide researchers with some insight. Jason Carley said that during cooler weather, they might actually see a bigger temperature change in some heat absorbing surfaces than during extreme heat. The team will keep collecting data for the next few weeks, and ABC57News will keep you updated once they release that information.