Assistant Professor Mehdi Heris is co-author of a study published in the Journal of Ecosystem Services, January 29, 2021, on the first Urban Ecosystem accounting for the U.S. The study provides the results of two models for more than 700 cities in the U.S. that quantified the amount of energy savings as the impact of urban trees as well as the value of intercepted rainfall. The research shows that American cities saved $538.6 million as the result of the cooling impacts of trees in 2016. The value of avoided runoff as the ecosystem service of urban trees was $424.7 million in 2016.
For the full article, “Piloting urban ecosystem accounting for the United States,” click here.