Is air conditioning making cities hotter?

Re:Is air conditioning making cities hotter? by crazygringo on Sunday September 10, 2023 @03:40PM (#37459217)

> No one actually does it.

To the contrary -- at least in NYC it's extremely common. The vast majority of "tenement" apartment buildings have silver roofs, for this reason.

Just fire up Google Maps in satellite view over Manhattan and see for yourself. White-looking roofs everywhere (but silver in reality).

New construction with roof decks tends to use things like white-ish floor squares as well. They're obviously much cooler to walk on in the summer.

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Re:Is air conditioning making cities hotter? by wolverine876 on Sunday September 10, 2023 @08:24PM (#37461444)

Why silver and not white?

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Re:Is air conditioning making cities hotter? by crazygringo on Sunday September 10, 2023 @10:41PM (#37462230)

Good question. I can't easily find an answer, but this page at least describes the type of silver roof common on old NYC buildings:

Elsewhere I find a claim that the aluminum paint used was a 20th century thing, but now white paint is preferred as being more reflective.

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