3 ms·

The lack of imagination of the unsympathetic knee-jerk skeptic who reads only the headline never ceases to amaze: "... I'd never see anything [with white pavem

by leot 16y ago

The lack of imagination of the unsympathetic knee-jerk skeptic who reads only the headline never ceases to amaze: "... I'd never see anything [with white pavement] ..." [right, how many roofs do you spend time scrutinizing?] "... now you can get snow blindness in the summer ..." [have you been to Greece??] "... it will take snow longer to melt off of them ..." [except when the snow is thick enough for this to matter, the coating ceases to be irrelevant anyway] "... what happens when it's cold and the extra heat is lost ..." [again, snow reflects plenty of light anyway. and this is at least as much about atmospheric effects as it is about effects on the actual building] It seems: Obama admin + recommendations for US public = immediate skepticism

burgerbrain 16y ago
I don't know. Having lived somewhere with a concrete driveway, and another place with a pavement/tar driveway (in the same area), I can definitely see the melting concern. It's not the thick piles of snow that cause problems, plows take care of that. It's the thin layers of slush, and the pools of water that refreeze into thin layers of ice. The difference between the almost straight white driveway and the black driveway was dramatic enough in my case that I had to resort to going outside and busting up the ice by hand with a piece of rebar, several days after snowstorms. Now, I'm fairly certain that using reflective surfaces on roofs of buildings in warm climates and using absorbing surfaces on roofs of buildings in cool climates has been standard practice for... decades?
- eof 16y ago
  Well since this is for 'hot cities' the snow thing is pretty irrelevant.
  - burgerbrain 16y ago
    How is that defined? Even cities south of the mason-dixon line like DC can get some pretty crippling snowstorms, while being brutally hot during the summer. Reflective roofs make sense just about everywhere of course, but I really only see light roads being acceptable in places like Florida. And the glare would make it pretty unworkable in hot cities without decent cloud-cover.
    - Locke1689 16y ago
      If you've lived in Maryland or DC you know that the reason that the winter weather is crippling in those areas is crippling incompetence, not incapability. The behavior in MD/DC after a light snowstorm is pathetic.
vacri 16y ago
White pavement is a real issue on a human scale, more than a white roof. It's true, we don't spend a lot of time looking at roofs, and where people congregate in large numbers, roofs tend to be flatter and more out of view. Pavement, on the other hand, is visible everywhere people are and you do look at it all the time when you're outside in a city. Regardless of the heat, a dark road/footpath is easier on the eyes than a light one. Concrete roads on hot, sunny days require either squinting or sunglasses as all that lovely light gets reflected into your eyes. Not to mention that concrete roads and footpaths are less pleasant to use in general.

by leot 16y ago

burgerbrain 16y ago

I don't know. Having lived somewhere with a concrete driveway, and another place with a pavement/tar driveway (in the same area), I can definitely see the melting concern. It's not the thick piles of snow that cause problems, plows take care of that. It's the thin layers of slush, and the pools of water that refreeze into thin layers of ice. The difference between the almost straight white driveway and the black driveway was dramatic enough in my case that I had to resort to going outside and busting up the ice by hand with a piece of rebar, several days after snowstorms. Now, I'm fairly certain that using reflective surfaces on roofs of buildings in warm climates and using absorbing surfaces on roofs of buildings in cool climates has been standard practice for... decades?

eof 16y ago
Well since this is for 'hot cities' the snow thing is pretty irrelevant.
- burgerbrain 16y ago
  How is that defined? Even cities south of the mason-dixon line like DC can get some pretty crippling snowstorms, while being brutally hot during the summer. Reflective roofs make sense just about everywhere of course, but I really only see light roads being acceptable in places like Florida. And the glare would make it pretty unworkable in hot cities without decent cloud-cover.
  - Locke1689 16y ago
    If you've lived in Maryland or DC you know that the reason that the winter weather is crippling in those areas is crippling incompetence, not incapability. The behavior in MD/DC after a light snowstorm is pathetic.

vacri 16y ago

White pavement is a real issue on a human scale, more than a white roof. It's true, we don't spend a lot of time looking at roofs, and where people congregate in large numbers, roofs tend to be flatter and more out of view. Pavement, on the other hand, is visible everywhere people are and you do look at it all the time when you're outside in a city. Regardless of the heat, a dark road/footpath is easier on the eyes than a light one. Concrete roads on hot, sunny days require either squinting or sunglasses as all that lovely light gets reflected into your eyes. Not to mention that concrete roads and footpaths are less pleasant to use in general.