Reflective Pavements

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How does it save electricity costs of $100K/annually?
Does it adversely affect braking distance when wet?
How long does it last before it requires a recoat?
How much does the labor and materials and taking the road out of service during this process cost?

For that matter, why is a roadway that is 10* cooler a big advantage?

It looks nice...can I get this product for my driveway?
 
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
Are they using gold color paint?

Doubt it. It's California.
Has to be a low VOC, renewable, non polluting, converter equipped layer of environmentally friendly hog wash.
We do that here in the Midwest too. It's called snow. Saves on AC for several months out of the year.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: beanoil
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
Are they using gold color paint?

Doubt it. It's California.
Has to be a low VOC, renewable, non polluting, converter equipped layer of environmentally friendly hog wash.
We do that here in the Midwest too. It's called snow. Saves on AC for several months out of the year.


Yeah but you guys in the Midwest spend millions to remove that snow with chemicals very harmful to my beautiful steel.

I hear you on the type of sealant it must be in CA.

Its like when the US switched the formulas for the paint used in striping roadways to an environmentally friendly type...now those lines need to repainted approximately 5-6 times as often. Was the outcome worth it? Well there are probably some greenies who now sleep more soundly at night listening to NPR.
grin.gif
 
Originally Posted By: 09_GXP
More details:
http://www.scpr.org/news/2017/07/10/73657/roofs-streets-and-trees-how-la-is-trying-to-lower/


Thanks for that extra info. I wonder if a similar result can be achieved by repaving the streets with concrete when they need it.

Replacing asphalt with lighter material, along with planting more trees and using reflective roofing like the article explains, seems like a sensible combination to reduce the "urban heat island" effect. Darker materials absorb heat and lighter ones reflect it. Even my relatively small metro area illustrates what they're trying to address--the summer temperature and overnight low in the city center is always a few degrees higher than the suburbs and more rural outskirts.

I heard a radio story--on NPR, no less--that said Atlanta actually influences its own weather with this heat effect. To check my memory, I just did a quick Google search and came up with results from Atlanta Magazine, National Geographic, and this article: http://www.weatherwise.org/archives/back issues/2010/march-april 2010/atlanta-full.html
 
Phoenix has similar problems. Residents there have slowly changed the climate over the past few decades because so many of them insisted on having grass lawns and watering the [censored] out of them. This, coupled with the explosive growth of the metro area, have only made the Colorado River problems even worse.

Tucson, only about 2 hours south, has mostly the opposite approach: zeroscaping. No grass, just rocks in the front yard.
 
Heat is your friend. Oil and coolant and tyres and brakes all like to be hot.
Until I see it I can't help but feel that it will be slippery when wet.
 
The voters will vote a tax increase to fund the coloring. It is for the children.
 
Originally Posted By: ArcticDriver
Originally Posted By: beanoil
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
Are they using gold color paint?

Doubt it. It's California.
Has to be a low VOC, renewable, non polluting, converter equipped layer of environmentally friendly hog wash.
We do that here in the Midwest too. It's called snow. Saves on AC for several months out of the year.


Yeah but you guys in the Midwest spend millions to remove that snow with chemicals very harmful to my beautiful steel.

I hear you on the type of sealant it must be in CA.

Its like when the US switched the formulas for the paint used in striping roadways to an environmentally friendly type...now those lines need to repainted approximately 5-6 times as often. Was the outcome worth it? Well there are probably some greenies who now sleep more soundly at night listening to NPR.
grin.gif

If I listened to Not Particularly Reliable radio I wouldn't be able to sleep at night for fear of Russians everywhere.
smile.gif
 
I have to wonder if it'll be miserable to drive on, at certain hours of the day. Just like how it can be awful to drive when the sun comes out after a sudden rain.
 
Originally Posted By: Rhymingmechanic
Originally Posted By: 09_GXP
More details:
http://www.scpr.org/news/2017/07/10/73657/roofs-streets-and-trees-how-la-is-trying-to-lower/


Thanks for that extra info. I wonder if a similar result can be achieved by repaving the streets with concrete when they need it.

Replacing asphalt with lighter material, along with planting more trees and using reflective roofing like the article explains, seems like a sensible combination to reduce the "urban heat island" effect. Darker materials absorb heat and lighter ones reflect it. Even my relatively small metro area illustrates what they're trying to address--the summer temperature and overnight low in the city center is always a few degrees higher than the suburbs and more rural outskirts.

I heard a radio story--on NPR, no less--that said Atlanta actually influences its own weather with this heat effect. To check my memory, I just did a quick Google search and came up with results from Atlanta Magazine, National Geographic, and this article: http://www.weatherwise.org/archives/back issues/2010/march-april 2010/atlanta-full.html
I'm pretty sure that wouldn't work out as you planned. Concrete will still absorb solar energy and give it off once the sun goes down. Trees, depending on the area may not be a good idea either as they require water- which is getting scarce.
 
Interesting....

The incresed heat-island effect sure has occurred in near-by-Austin/Round Rock/Cedar Park/Leander/etc. due to the fast/vast population growth. While all about the 'green-thing', the COA in particular has heated itself by changing it's own climate.

Oh the irony......

What's also interesting is the influence of outsiders here who don't understand the concept of 'passive-cooling' techniques in construction. Dark black/red/green/brown/gray asphalt shingles here are a huge mistake as most indoor A/C equip. is located in the attic. Ditto for large expanses of glass facing South or West, South-facing enclosed sunrooms, open porches, dark paint/brick exteriors.

There's a reason limestone exteriors and tin roofs were popular here & in the Hill Country. Newer seamless metal roofs regularly 'oil-can' as they're too tight to 'expand' when hot and laid down in contact with decking.

Due to the humidity, the ambient air temp delta-T between night/day is roughly 25°F. It's often > 90F during the 10pm news. At least AZ, NM & Colo cool off into the 60's due to elevation & much drier air.

Today it was 104F and the solar heat index was 133F. This doesn't occur at noon, rather about 4-5pm. DST shifts everyones schedule to extended evening hours. We don't need that here so close to the Equator.

I installed a light grey shingle with green flecks with some other ingredient to increase reflectivity. When the new roof was done, the greater reflectance caused the bottom of some trees leaves to quickly dry out and drop: They weren't used to the additional heat!

Now that we're regularly experiencing > 100F temps, I've begun to water the roof around 8pm CDT. Quickly drops the attic temp about 10-12F.
 
It's a step in the right direction, at least they're trying.

We bought that roof paint stuff from Home Depot that's white. My grandmother's house has an addition with a rolled asphalt roof, its light grey. We painted it white and left the storage room with the same roof. When touching the white roof in the hot days it really isn't that hot while the light grey roof is very hot.
 
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