As featured by Popular Science:
Labor Day weekend delivered record-breaking temperatures to California as a heat wave swept the state, fanning the flames of the largest wildfire Los Angeles has seen in decades. The unusually warm weather bears the mark of climate change, which is fueling record heat around the globe.
While politicians elsewhere waffle on climate change, officials in Los Angeles are tackling the problem head on with a radical plan to lower the temperature of the city. Mayor Eric Garcetti intends to cut the average temperature in LA by 3 degrees F over the next two decades. As part of that effort, LA streets are getting a new coat of paint.
The average temperature in a city of a million or more people can be more than 5 degrees F hotter than surrounding areas. That extra 5 degrees can turn a hot day from uncomfortable to deadly. As temperatures rise, cities will be an especially dangerous place to be during a heat wave, as sweltering weather threatens heat exhaustion, among other maladies. To protect public health, city officials are going to make the city cooler.
As part of that effort, Los Angeles is coating its roads in CoolSeal, a gray paint that keeps streets and parking lots 10 degrees cooler than black asphalt. Engineers developed the material for military air bases to keep spy planes cool while they rest on the tarmac. This can help them avoid being detected by satellite-mounted infrared cameras, which measure heat.
This article was originally published by Popular Science. Read the full article here.
