Los Angeles cools street temperatures by painting them white

boing
1

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/06/21/los-angeles-expands-its-progra.html

…

5 Likes
2

That’ll last a few weeks, then the black rubber from car tires will turn the streets black again.

12 Likes
3

I seem to remember reading about New Mexico and Arizona communities doing something similar but chose a light shade of green to reduce the heat since it was easier on the eye produced less glare.

23 Likes
4

I hope it works, but you know what really moderates solar heating? Grass.

8 Likes
5

Glare was the first thing I thought of. Perhaps it’s a conspiracy orchestrated by Big Polarised Sunglasses?

23 Likes
6

I was wondering what the glare coming of the street would do to the drivers.

7 Likes
7

You know what really moderates solar heating? Razing the city and letting nature take over! And it’s only slightly more impractical than grassing over all the roads!

8 Likes
8

You know what contributes to rising temperatures? Lawn Mowers. :smiley:

11 Likes
9

And the first time it rains…

https://media.giphy.com/media/7OWOZmU8u69CtLcd4m/giphy.gif(image larger than 3072KB)

2 Likes
10

It sure will make any blood look vibrant.

How long until gangs start tagging the streets?

I have a dark mental image of LA.

6 Likes
11

Seriously, the size of that potential canvas makes 5 Pointz look like a postcard.

6 Likes
12

It’ll last longer than that. If nothing else, most tire contact is in a few narrow stripes. The majority of the road surface will stay white for a good long while.

Obviously it’s not permanent, but roads need to be resurfaced periodically anyway. I imagine you could do a lot of good even if you only laid down the sealant when resurfacing.

7 Likes
13

Ah, I remember about eight years ago when everyone made fun of Al Gore for suggesting that white roofs and streets could help reflect excess heat in summers.

24 Likes
14

And you don’t even have to climb any walls. You do have to be amazingly good at Frogger though.

2 Likes
15

No problem, just get paint that’s super slippery so the rubber just glides off!

16 Likes
16

I bet it’ll confuse the hell out of the self-driving cars.

10 Likes
17

Grass uses A LOT of water.

3 Likes
18

Now I’ve got this stuck in my head:

11 Likes
19

Seems risky, but I’m willing to give it a shot…

EDIT: also, for clarity, you don’t need to raze the roads, but just tearing up some of those sidewalks and replacing them with grass would help.

(I will now have Missing Persons in my head in anticipation of complaints about walking in LA.)

1 Like
20

Eh, isn’t there so much smog there that glare doesn’t really rise up as an issue?

2 Likes