A new substance is being used to pave Philadelphia's streets in an effort to mitigate the impacts of summer heat.
According to WHYY, the new "cool pavement" doesn't absorb heat like concrete and asphalt, and therefore, it keeps cities a little cooler. The city of Philadelphia announced it's testing the cool pavement in two spots.
The pavement will be monitored by students and researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, led by the Thermal Architecture Lab and the Composto Research Group, which specializes in soft matter materials. The patches will be tested for durability and how temperature affects them.
The project aims to combat the urban heat island effect, which the EPA has said can raise city temperatures by as much as 7 degrees Fahrenheit. Conventional pavements, such as concrete and asphalt, absorb and trap heat, but cool pavement is reflective, offering a potential solution.
Cool pavement is already being used in Phoenix, Arizona. Around 140 miles of roadway around the city are coated in the stuff.
The city found that it lowered road temperatures by as much as 12 degrees Fahrenheit. While it was less effective on air temperature, cooling by less than a degree, the city touted the improvement as "small but beneficial."
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Cooling street temperatures can mitigate human health impacts caused by extreme heat, as well as increase comfort. Immediate health problems caused by excessive temperatures include heat stroke and exhaustion, while long-term exposure can cause rhabdomyolysis, which has symptoms including muscle cramps and weakness.
In Philadelphia, experts say the impact of cool pavement isn't clear yet. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania believe a variety of heat-resistant practices are needed, including building in canopy shade by planting trees.
"You mix and match the best approaches to mitigate urban heat," Russell Composto, a professor of engineering at the university, told WHYY.
Researchers say city officials plan to evaluate their results in the fall of 2026. That's when they'll decide whether to move forward with cool paving more spaces or pivot in another direction.
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