Painting Roofs In London White Could Help Save Lives, Reduce Temperatures

Painting London’s roofs white could have saved hundreds of lives during the record-breaking hot summer of 2018, a new study has found, Rosie Frost reported for Euronews.

Cool, light-colored roofs installed across all of London’s roofs could have cooled the city by around 0.8°C would have prevented the deaths of an estimated 249 people or 32% of the 786 heat-related deaths that occurred in London in June, July, and August 2018.

The average temperature from June through August that year was 19.2°C - around 1.6°C higher than usual for that time of year. Researchers from University College London (UCL) and the University of Exeter found that cool, light-colored roofs installed across all of London’s roofs could have cooled the city by around 0.8°C.

They say this would have prevented the deaths of an estimated 249 people or 32% of the 786 heat-related deaths that occurred in London in June, July, and August 2018.

“If widely adopted, cool roofs can significantly reduce the ground-level air temperature of a city,” says lead author Dr. Charles Simpson from the UCL Bartlett School of Environment, Energy & Resources.

“The resulting cooling effect across the city would save lives and improve the quality of life for residents throughout the urban area.”

Covering all of London’s roofs with solar panels would also help reduce heat-related deaths while generating energy, the study’s authors say. Researchers found that this could have cooled the city by around 0.3°C, preventing the deaths of 96 people—12% of the heat-related deaths that occurred that summer.