Cooling Urban Heat Islands

In Pacoima, one of the hottest neighborhoods in Los Angeles, there are 10 square blocks where the pavement reflects sunlight instead of absorbing it. That asphalt—on streets, playgrounds, basketball courts, and parking lots—is covered with StreetBond. It’s part of a new urban heat island mitigation research project involving community groups and GAF, the roofing company that makes StreetBond. The water-based acrylic coating for asphalt contains a unique solar reflective additive that keeps pavement covered with the substance about 10 to 12 degrees cooler than uncoated surfaces, says Eliot Wall, StreetBond’s director of innovation. The nontoxic coating comes in 59 colors, extends the life of asphalt, and can be recycled. By the end of 2022, about 20 million square feet of pavement in the U.S. will be coated with solar reflective StreetBond.

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