Albedo is the measure of the fraction of solar energy reflected by the Earth’s surface. Lighter color surfaces reflect light and have a high albedo, while darker surfaces absorb light and have a low albedo. Rapid urbanization has changed land use and surface properties, which has an effect on climate regionally and even globally. CSHub researchers are studying the impact of albedo on climate. 

News

• Yahoo News: Could ‘cool pavements’ help in the battle against climate change? (August 2021)
• MIT News: Countering climate change with cool pavements (August 2021)
• The Boston Globe: Solutions to Extreme Heat Can be Found in Our Streets (August 2021)
• The Conversation: Lighter Pavement Really Does Cool Cities (June 2021)
• 3 Questions: Hessam AzariJafari on mitigating climate change with reflective pavements (December 2020)

Topic Summaries and Information Sheets

• Mitigating Climate Change with Reflective Pavements (November 2020)
• Urban Heat Islands (June 2019)
• Albedo Information Sheet (April 2019)

Related Research Briefs

• Climate Change Mitigation Potential of Pavement Albedo (January 2018)
• Quantifying the impact of pavement reflectivity on radiative forcing and building energy demand in neighborhoods (March 2017)
• The Impact of Changes to Surface Albedo on Radiative Forcing (January 2016)
• Quantifying Climate Impacts of Surface Albedo (July 2015)
• A High-Level Analysis of Context-Dependent Albedo Effects (May 2015)

Online Tools

• Radiative Forcing Interactive Dashboard

Peer-Reviewed Publications

• AzariJafari, H., Xu, X., Gregory, J., Kirchain, R. "Urban-Scale Evaluation of Cool Pavement Impacts on the Urban Heat Island Effect and Climate Change." Environmental Science and Technology. August 2021.
• Xu, X., Swei, O., Xu, L., Schlosser, C.A., Gregory, J., Kirchain, R. “Quantifying location-specific impacts of pavement albedo on radiative forcing using an analytical approach”, Environmental Science and Technology, 54(4), 2411-2421, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b04556.
• Xu, X., AzariJafari, H., Gregory, J., Norford, L., Kirchain, R. "An integrated model for quantifying the impacts of pavement albedo and urban morphology on building energy demand." Energy and Buildings, Volume 211, March 2020.
• Xu, X., Gregory, J., & Kirchain, R. (2018). "The Impact of Pavement Albedo on Radiative Forcing and Building Energy Demand: Comparative Analysis of Urban Neighborhoods." Transportation Research Record, 2672(40), 88–96.
• Xu, L., E. Monier, A. Schlosser, Kirchain, R., Gregory, J. (2017). "Estimating the potential of U.S. urban infrastructure albedo enhancement as climate mitigation in the face of climate variability." Joint Program Report Series Report 319, September, 9 p.
• Xu, X., Gregory, J., Kirchain, R. “Evaluation of the Albedo-induced Radiative Forcing and CO2 Equivalence Savings: A Case Study on Reflective Pavements in Four Selected U.S. Urban Areas," Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Concrete Pavements, San Antonio, TX, August 28-September 1, 2016.
• Xu, X., Gregory J., Kirchain R. "Climate Impacts of Surface Albedo: Review and Comparative Analysis." Transportation Research Board 95th Annual Meeting, No. 16-6158. 2016.
• Schlosser, C. A., Xu, L., Xu, X., Gregory, J., & Kirchain, R. (2015). "Quantifying the Impacts of Surface Albedo on Climate Using the WRF Model," Proceedings of American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2015.

Related Resources:

• Explained: Radiative Forcing (MIT News Office, March 2010)

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