High-Tech Paint Keeps Parking Lots 40 Degrees Cooler

Anyone who's taken a midsummer stroll through Manhattan might appreciate this. Light-colored, heat-reflecting asphalt and paint makes a parking lot cooler by 40 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Celsius) on a hot day.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

The idea of painting city sidewalks, walls and  roofs white isn't new, but we happened to run into a nice demonstration of it recently. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Northern California has painted one of its parking lots with several commercially available heat-reflecting coatings, to show what a difference they can make and to test how they'll fare over time: 

In general, heat-reflecting surfaces keep cities more comfortable, reduce residents' electricity use for air conditioning and reduce the amount of heat that cities reflect back into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. They can even improve air quality. "Across an entire city, small changes in air temperature could be a huge benefit as it can slow the formation of smog," Haley Gilbert, a research assistant at the Berkeley Lab who studies heat in cities,  said in a statement.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

White-painted roofs usually get the most attention, but paler pavements could make a big difference, too, researchers say. Pavement accounts for 35 to 50 percent of the surfaces in city, according to the Berkeley Lab. Since city dwellers spend much more time on sidewalks than they do on roofs, paler pavement would be an improvement they could immediately appreciate. 

Follow TechNewsDaily on Twitter @TechNewsDaily, or on Facebook.

• 12 Ways to Make Burglars Avoid Your House
• Sink or Swim: 6 Ways to Adapt to Climate Change
• 10 Greatest Super Bowl Tech Ads of All Time