(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The city of Chicago -- especially its downtown -- is a hotbed of activity. Literally.
The underground Loop -- the basements and the sub-basements - is often 50 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than temperatures under Grant Park.
That's one thing Northwestern University Assistant Professor Alessandro Rotta Loria determined when he placed 150 temperature sensors around downtown Chicago, above and below ground.
And he says those increasingly hotter temperatures generated by basements have caused the ground to move. In fact, there's been some tilting and cracking in Loop structures over the years. Nothing catastrophic, he says.
"To some extent, the worst has already happened. So, significant temperature variations have already happened in the past. And now the ground is warming up, but at a slower rate."
Professor Rotta Loria calls this underground climate change a "silent hazard." But he says we can do something about it.
He recommends harnessing the heat from the basements to warm the parts of buildings where people actually live and work and to produce hot water.
“For all the problems, there are solutions. And through the knowledge we have today and the tools we have today, we can take action and do something significant and good."
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