Social Responsibility and Sustainability News

The art and science of sustainable coatings is on display at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, where researchers have taken over part of a parking lot to test a series of differently colored treatments intended to cool down paved surfaces that are exposed to sunlight.

Uncovered parking lots account for a large part of the surface area in typical cities, making them a major contributor to increased urban temperatures called the “heat island” effect. The extra heat packs a triple whammy by contributing to smog formation and adding to the public health impacts of excessive outdoor temperature, increasing the energy needed to cool interior spaces, and putting an extra strain on the grid by exacerbating peak energy loads.