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Evaporative misters for urban cooling and comfort: effectiveness and motivations for use

  • Special Issue: Biometeorological Insights from the Students & New Professionals of the ISB
  • Published:
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Abstract

Thermal comfort is an important determinant of quality of life and economic vitality in cities. Strategies to improve thermal comfort may become a more critical part of urban sustainability efforts with projections of continued urban growth and climate change. A case study was performed in the hot, dry summertime climate of Tempe, Arizona to quantify the influence of evaporative misters on the thermal environment in outdoor restaurants and to understand business managers’ motivations to use misters. Microclimate measurements (air temperature (Ta), wind speed, relative humidity, globe temperature) were taken at five restaurants midday within four exposures: misted sun, misted shade, sun only, and shade only. We assessed Ta, mean radiant temperature (MRT), universal thermal climate index (UTCI), and physiological equivalent temperature (PET) between these four conditions within each location. Misters improved thermal comfort across all days, sites, and exposure conditions. MRT was on average 7.6 °C lower in misted locations, which significantly lowered average PET (– 6.5 °C) and UTCI (– 4.4 °C) (p < 0.05). Thermal comfort was most improved using mist in combination with shade. Under such conditions, PET and UTCI were reduced by 15.5 °C and 9.7 °C (p < 0.05), respectively. Business managers identified customer comfort and increased seating capacity as the principal factors for mister use. Esthetics of misters further encouraged use, while cost and environmental concerns were perceived to be less important. While this case study demonstrates value in outdoor misting in a hot, dry climate, additional work is needed to more fully evaluate tradeoffs between cost, water use, and comfort with continuing urban growth.

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Data availability

Raw data is available on the ERAMS platform through Colorado State University (https://erams.com/UWIN/data/microclimate-impacts-of-evaporative-misters/) .

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Acknowledgments

This work was conducted as part of the Urban Water Innovation Network, supported by NSF Cooperative Agreement 1444758. The authors appreciate administrative support and guidance from Alan Berkowitz, Aude Lochet, Matei Georgescu, Mazdak Arabi, and Sarah Millonig, as well as the time, generosity, and access shared with us by managers of the establishments where data were collected in Tempe, Arizona. We would also like to thank Haven Guyer for her help and two anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments in strengthening the current paper.

Funding

This work was funded by NSF Sustainability Research Network (SRN) Cooperative Agreement 1444758 as part of the Urban Water Innovation Network.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, 800 Cady Mall #108, Tempe, AZ, 85281, USA

    Jennifer K. Vanos & Harrison Ambrose

  2. School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Jennifer K. Vanos, Mary K. Wright & David M. Hondula

  3. Pensylvannia State University, State College, PA, USA

    Alana Kaiser

  4. School of Arts, Media and Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Ariane Middel

  5. School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering, Arizona State University Tempe, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Ariane Middel

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  1. Jennifer K. Vanos
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  4. Ariane Middel
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Contributions

Conceptualization: DH, AM, AK, MW, and JV. Methodology: DH, AM, AK, and AW. Analysis: JV, DH, AM, MW, AK, and HA. Investigation: AK and MW. Writing—original draft: JV, DH, MW, AK, and HA. Writing—review and editing: JV, DH, AM, MW, HA, and AK.

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Correspondence to Jennifer K. Vanos.

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Vanos, J.K., Wright, M.K., Kaiser, A. et al. Evaporative misters for urban cooling and comfort: effectiveness and motivations for use. Int J Biometeorol 66, 357–369 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-020-02056-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-020-02056-y

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