Special permeable concrete pavement can help reduce the “urban heat island effect” that causes cities to sizzle in the summer, according to a Rutgers-led team of engineers.
Special permeable concrete pavement can help reduce the “urban heat island effect” that causes cities to sizzle in the summer, according to a Rutgers-led team of engineers.
Their study appears in the Journal of Cleaner Production.
Impermeable pavement made of concrete or asphalt covers more than 30 percent of most urban areas and can exceed 140 degrees Fahrenheit in the summertime. It heats the air, posing human health risks, and surface runoff, threatening aquatic life.
In cities with 1 million or more people, average air temperatures can be 1.8 to 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit higher than in less densely populated areas. The difference can be up to 22 degrees at night. The heat can increase peak demand for energy in the summertime, air conditioning costs, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, heat-related illness and deaths, and water pollution, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Read more at Rutgers University
Image: A permeable concrete specimen. (Photo Credit: Hao Wang/Rutgers University-New Brunswick)
