United States. In Los Angeles, where summer temperatures regularly exceed 38 degrees Celsius, workers are lining the streets with special gray treatments to combat global warming.
The City of Angels, home to four million people, is the first major city to test the technology. Normal black asphalt absorbs between 80 and 95 percent of sunlight, while gray "cool pavement" reflects it, dramatically lowering ground temperature and reducing heat on urban streets.
During a demonstration of the technique, Jeff Luzar—sales director of the developer company, GuardTop, demonstrated how the application of the paint could lower the street temperature by about 12 degrees Fahrenheit after just one layer.
"We hope to inspire other cities to experiment with different ways to reduce the heat island effect," said Greg Spotts, deputy director of the Office of City Services. "And we expect manufacturers to introduce some new products." "There could potentially be a huge market for fresh pavement products, and in fact, it's part of a much larger economic trend where solutions to climate change could be the next big investments for the future," Spotts added.
The city will also monitor how Angelenos react to next-generation asphalt, and how quickly dense Los Angeles traffic litters gray cladding.
Source: https://phys.org
