Sydney will block dark roofs on new homes and ask residents to plant trees to help them adapt to climate change and reduce the heat of summer.
As part of the plans, simple colored roofs will be mandatory in new properties and living quarters should be large enough to accommodate one tree in each backyard garden.
The new rules will initially apply to the Wilton neighborhood in the southwest of the city, where developers have built a large number of dark-roofed houses.
Sydney suffers from frequent explosions during the summer months, with temperatures as high as 50 degrees Fahrenheit[50 ° C]. This month’s East Africa Climate Change Report He warned that Australia’s terrain has been warming by 1.4C since 2010.
Cities are hotter than rural areas because concrete buildings and asphalt roads absorb heat. Buildings finished in white or light colors reduce sunlight and reflect more light – keeping the temperature inside the building cool.
New South Wales Regional Planning and Public Works Minister Rob Stokes, for his part, said dark roofs were heating up and increasing street temperatures – leading to higher temperatures in the capital.
“We are determined to help cool our homes and roads during the summer months, especially on the west and southwest of Sydney,” he said.
Mr. Stox also mentioned that dark roofs lead to high electricity bills, as houses need to be cooled. “The need to adapt and reduce urban temperatures is not a future challenge, it is already with us,” he added.
Matthias Santamorus, a professor of high-performance architecture at the University of New South Wales, told Sydney Morning Herald “Cold roofs” can reduce energy consumption by up to 50 percent in unoccupied buildings in western Sydney.
The West Sydney Regional Council (WSROC) welcomed the move. “Choosing a light-colored roof has no additional costs, as it provides significant benefits for household energy bills and provides a wide range of temperatures in the suburbs,” said President Barry Calvert.
It is not the first city to adopt a “cool roof” policy to reduce temperatures. A.D. In 2017, in the western Indian city of Ahmedbad, where mercury can rise to 50C, more than 3,000 roofs were painted using white lime and a special reflective coating.
New York City painted 9.2 million square feet[9.2 million sq m]of white roofs to reduce indoor temperatures.
But plans in Sydney have been criticized by some experts. Stephen McMahon, president of the New South Wales branch of the Australian Institute of Urban Development, described the roofing policy as “sick and ineffective”.
“For new societies, bureaucracy can lead to corruption and neglect of thermal performance.