The paper models the high-level global impact of increasing surface reflectivity (albedo).  For the continental US, the land surface temperature decreased by ∼0.03 K for an average 0.01 increase in surface albedo. Based on these forcings, the expected emitted CO2 offset for a plausible 0.25 and 0.15 increase in albedos of roofs and pavements, respectively, for all global urban areas, was found to be ∼57 Gt CO2. A more meaningful evaluation of the impacts of urban albedo increases on global climate and the expected CO2 offsets would require simulations which better characterize urban surfaces and represent the full annual cycle.

Igor Sednev (Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL)), Ronnen Levinson (Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL))

Surabi Menon, Hashem Akbari, Sarith Mahanama, Igor Sednev and Ronnen Levinson, 2010: Radiative forcing and temperature response to changes in urban albedos and associated CO2 offsets. Environ. Res. Lett. 5 (January-March 2010) 014005

doi:10.1088/1748-9326/5/1/014005.