Abstract
The widespread use of solar-reflective concrete pavements can mitigate climatic change and urban heat islands (UHI) by cooling the pavement surfaces that are made of concrete instead of asphalt. The methodology that was followed is based on the comparison between the asphalt and concrete albedo effects in a specific application and area. In this study, we found that a reduction of temperature in the terrestrial surface, equivalent to the removal of 25–75 kgCO2/m2, could be achieved. Considering all the motorways and freeways of Spain, which is the third country in the world in km, a yearly equivalent carbon dioxide emissions reduction of 13–27 million tons could be reached. This value is quite high considering that the cement sector worldwide released about 2.9 Gigatons of carbon dioxide in 2016. Therefore, there is a positive balance in the use of concrete pavements. Furthermore, concrete is a material completely recyclable at the end of its service life and concrete pavement construction requires local resources, avoiding GHG emissions due to transport. An increase in the Spanish freeway network albedo by replacing asphalt pavements with concrete ones will improve the local climate change mitigation.
Highlights
Emilio Bastidas-ArteagaAlbedo or solar reflectivity is a thermal property defined as the ratio of the reflected to the incident solar radiation at the earth surface
The following conclusions are based on the solar reflectance measurements of 38 precast concrete pavement specimens from different concrete mixes representing the entirety of the precast concrete pavements produced in Spain: 1
Concrete pavements can contribute very efficiently to climate change mitigation by lowering the earth’s surface temperature, which is equivalent to a reduction of 25–75 kgCO2 /m2
Summary
Emilio Bastidas-ArteagaAlbedo or solar reflectivity is a thermal property defined as the ratio of the reflected to the incident solar radiation at the earth surface. Albedo is an indicator of the reflecting capacity of a given surface This dimensionless parameter is zero for nonreflecting dark surfaces, whereas this value is unity for total reflection of white surfaces (100% reflected). Cooling the cities worldwide by reflecting sunlight with solar reflective surfaces of roofs and pavements is an easy and cost-effective lever to cool the planet, which will cause other global changes in climate. It could be an effective Urban Heat Island (UHI)-mitigating strategy and a way to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in urban areas [1,2]
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