How the little-known 'dark roof' lobby may be making US cities hotter

10 ndsipa_pomu 3 6/2/2025, 12:09:00 PM theguardian.com ↗

Comments (3)

southernplaces7 · 1d ago
Years ago I wanted to cool a second-floor apartment I lived in (the top floor of a two-floor house) a bit during the summer, and decided on the simple solution of painting its entire flat roof with white rain-proofing sealant.

It worked, and was useful as far as that goes, but for someone who also used their flat roof as a terrace for barbecues and etc, there was one very obvious drawback that I so obviously should have foreseen: On a sunny day, forget about relaxing up there. The reflective glare was enough to induce something like snow blindness.

Alex-Programs · 1d ago
It's interesting to see the Guardian using Fahrenheit ("50 degrees hotter") here. Unless it really is an entire 50 degrees C? I suppose that's plausible.

It's co-published with an American group, though, and they also use 50.

It'd be nice if they were more explicit.

ndsipa_pomu · 1d ago
Yeah, I'd assumed that they were using Celsius, but elsewhere they mention summer temperatures climbing into the 90s which I hope would be Fahrenheit.