With the effects of climate change becoming more pronounced each year, the City of Los Angeles has emerged as one of the only places in the United States where heat-related deaths occur regularly throughout the year. This public health issue is at the front of the cities attempts to reduce urban temperatures.

Located in a desert valley and dominated by asphalt roads, the metropolis is extremely vulnerable to the heat island effect. Fortunately, the city is taking a series of innovative steps towards combatting rising climates. City officials have begun the process of covering several pilot road surfaces in white CoolSeal, in order to use the products UV-reflecting properties to lower temperatures.

“We found that on average the area covered in CoolSeal is 12 degrees cooler than black asphalt on the same parking lot,” said Greg Spotts, the assistant director of the Bureau of Street Services for San Fernando Valley, one of the hottest spots in Greater LA.

LA officials hope that cooler streets will result in cooler homes, which in turn keeps energy costs and health risks low.

“Not everyone has the resources to use air conditioning, so there’s concern that some low-income families will suffer,” said Alan Barreca, an environmental science professor at the University of California at Los Angeles. “The [cool-treated] pavement would provide benefits to everyone.”

The coating, which costs $40,000 USD per mile and lasts for seven years, will be applied to streets in a pilot program before it is applied citywide. Its future looks bright. “We’ve done things over and over again that people said couldn’t be done,” Spotts said, “and this time is no different.”

Image via Greg Spotts