A review of using reflective pavement materials as mitigation tactics to counter the effects of urban heat island

Abstract

Urban heat island (UHI) is a phenomenon which creates temperature distinction between cities and its ambient environment outside cities, which also increases the energy consumption of cooling during summer time. Paving surface materials account for a high proportion of cost in urban construction and contribute significantly to urban heat island. Solar-reflective materials used in paving surface alternative to traditionally absorptive materials can reduce high-temperature storage by daylight and release the storage at night. In this review, the reflective paving techniques and materials will be introduced with the analysis and description of the main thermal performance and existing developments as a tactic for effects’ mitigation of UHI. Furthermore, real applications and the market barrier of these materials will be summarized. The expectation is that reflective materials on the roadways have considerable influence in the temperature’s decrease in paved surfaces and ambient air during summertime, and they are proposed to be adopted especially in hot regions to retard certain influences of the urban heat island.