Authors
Summary
The researchers found that, in most cases, the extra energy embodied in the cool material was far greater than the energy savings from increasing the albedo.
“Over the life cycle of the pavement, the pavement material matters substantially more than the pavement reflectance,” - Ronnen Levinson of Berkeley Lab.
“I was surprised to find that over 50 years, maintaining a reflective coating would require over six times as much energy as a slurry seal. The slurry seal is only rock and asphalt, which requires little energy to produce, while the reflective coating contains energy-intensive polymer.” - Ronnen Levinson of Berkeley Lab.
Citations
Research conducted by:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) -
University of California Pavement Research Center (UCPRC)
University of Southern California (USC)
thinkstep, Inc.
April 2017, for California Air Research Board
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