Cool Roof: white roofs to cool Orleans?

Painting city roofs white would give them a Mediterranean air! And even more than an air, since according to an American study, this whiteness would cool them down...

Like green roofs, white roofs cool houses and combat the heat island effect that characterizes large urban centers. White is a highly reflective color.

Read more: Painting roofs white, a solution to keep the heat out

A study by the National Center for Atmospheric Research(NCAR) underlines the merits of this innovation. Their scientists used a new computer model to simulate the quantities of solar radiation absorbed and reflected by urban surfaces. Their results, based on a schematic vision of different types of city, show that if all roofs were painted white, the urban heat island could be reduced by 33%. In summer, this cooling effect would obviously be greater, since the amount of radiation received is greater.

"Our research shows that white roofs can be a method of reducing urban heat," explains Keith Oleson of NCAR, lead author of the study. "Whether it is actually feasible to paint city roofs white remains to be seen, but the idea certainly deserves further study."

Orléans is surrounded by business and logistics zones, with many companies housed in industrial premises with flat, black roofs... What if we started there?

(Source : futura-sciences.com)

To find out more :

• White roofs and global warming: what's the link?
  
• Understanding the urban heat island effect
  
• Painting your roof white: benefits and authorizations required
  
• Methods for cooling a data center
  
• What are the advantages of a white roof?
  
• Supermarkets and hypermarkets: how to reduce electricity consumption?
  
• The influence of roof color on the amount of heat absorbed
  
• Cool Roof in La Réunion, the energy-saving solution
  
• Cool Roof in Grenoble: an example of ecology
  
• Cool Roof: white roofs to cool Orléans?