Unfortunately, that energy is pretty low-grade and not very usable. Thus that heat absorption mainly just contributes to the "heat island" effect, which among

Unfortunately, that energy is pretty low-grade and not very usable. Thus that heat absorption mainly just contributes to the "heat island" effect, which among other things increases air-conditioning costs. Better is to turn roads and roofs into reflecting surfaces, which generally improves the quality of urban areas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_heat_island http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_heat_island http://www.epa.gov/heatisld/ http://www.epa.gov/heatisld/