The City of Austin, Texas, has reportedly agreed to share data with Google on the solar reflectivity of roofs across the city to understand better which areas of the community would benefit most from ‘cool roofs,’ a type of roofing that reduces heat in homes and neighborhoods.
As first reported by NBC affiliate KXAN, Laura Patiño, Austin’s chief resilience officer, after the city concludes its roofing study throughout its various neighborhoods, it plans to use that data to identify which areas of town would benefit the most from cool roofs; that data could be used for future climate policies. The data will be a part of Austin’s heat resilience playbook, described as a tool to reduce urban heat.