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FOXe: Special Pavement Coating Reduces Temperature by Up to 40 Degrees
Cement of the future reflects sunlight
Updated: Wednesday, 08 Jun 2011, 9:38 PM MST
Published : Wednesday, 08 Jun 2011, 9:38 PM MST
PHOENIX - It won't be long until we are locked into our triple digit summer -- and is there any place hotter than standing in the middle of an asphalt parking lot? One Scottsdale company is trying to make a difference.
Emerald City built a brand new parking lot in downtown Phoenix. Coated with a special colored concrete, the parking lot reflects some of the sun's heat, keeping the temperature much cooler.
We gave the light green parking lot at 1st and Taylor St a try.
We took an infrared thermometer out, which calcuates surface temperature. First we tested an untreated parking lot -- 138.8 degrees.
As for the green parking lot -- 118! That's a 20-degree difference, and we're not even close to the thick of summer, when the spread can be much greater.
The technology aims to reduce the footprint of Phoenix's concrete jungle -- the "heat-island effect" -- in which pockets of urban areas become hotter than other spots because sunlight is absorbed and not reflected.
A study released last summer showed that the average low temperature in June in the 2000s was 2.85 degrees warmer than in the 1990s.
To treat that parking lot with the coating costs about $100,000. Emerald City claims, at the hottest time of the year, it can cool the surface of a parking lot up to 40 degrees.
Related Story: Heat Island Effect is Warming the Valley
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