Cool Pavement

In city areas that lack tree canopy cover, the sidewalks, streets, parking lots, and buildings absorb solar energy much more quickly. The lack of tree cover also significantly decrease the potential for evaporative cooling, thus leading to higher air temperatures. When waste heat from city buildings and vehicles, is added to heat trapped between tall buildings, increased urban temperatures are the result.

Lawrence Berkley Laboratory’s Urban Heat Island Group found that by changing the heat absorption level of pavement by 0.25, this would reduce overall temperatures by 1°F (0.6°C). Cooler pavements also have longer lifetimes because they are not as stressed by the excessive heat.