This pavement is cool!

If we're going to pave paradise, let's put up a green parking lot

Pavements from streets and parking lots make up a large percentage of surface area in our growing communities. And it's easy to feel the heat that is absorbed in those dark pavements. As pavement surface heats up, local air is also heated and aggravates urban heat islands—urban areas that become warmer than their surrounding areas.


To address this issue, the Heat Island Group of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has been experimenting with "cool pavement" technologies. Similar to the way lighter-colored roofs have a cooling effect by reflecting the sun's energy, cool pavements also have the same ability.

Since cool pavements benefit the community, the Heat Island Group is focusing its technical assistance and outreach efforts on local governments. Getting the word out and persuading communities to use these materials will be a challenge, but as more research and data is collected from the trials, researchers are hopeful that "cool pavement" will catch on.

Read more about the cool pavement technologies at the ENN.com and the Berkeley Lab.