From the course: Cert Prep: LEED Green Associate

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Sustainable site design strategies: Heat island reduction

Sustainable site design strategies: Heat island reduction

From the course: Cert Prep: LEED Green Associate

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Sustainable site design strategies: Heat island reduction

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- [Instructor] An urban heat island is an urban area that is significantly warmer than the surrounding areas, mainly as a result of dark surfaces of roadways, parking lots, and rooftops that absorb and retain the sun's heat during the day and radiate it at night. As a result of heat island effect, cities are usually warmer than nearby rural areas. Urban areas can have temperatures 1.8 to 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than surrounding suburban and undeveloped areas, and as much as 22 degree Fahrenheit warmer in evenings. There are two terms related to this topic that you need to know for the LEED Green Associate exam: solar reflectance and solar reflectance index. Solar reflectance, or SR, is the fraction of solar energy that is reflected by a surface on a scale of zero to one. Black paint has a solar reflectance of zero. That means it can reflect 0% of sunlight, versus white paint that has a solar reflectance of one, and…

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