A heatwave continues to grip large parts of Europe, with authorities in many countries issuing health warnings amid searing temperatures.
Southern Spain is the worst-affected region, with temperatures in the mid-40s Celsius recorded in Seville and neighbouring areas.
A new heat record for June of 46C was set on Saturday in the town of El Granado, according to Spain’s national weather service, which also said this month is on track to be the hottest June on record.
Could we build a huge glas dome around a city, with adjustable mirrored / polarised surfaces to block out the heat using electricity to alter the properties of the glass?
No, we literally cannot safely build a glass dome that big. I do think large blimps with reflective tops could cool a city a little though.
It’s possible to protect against heatwaves on a city level. Increase the albedo value of the city by doing the following: Incentivize lighter colored roofing and walls, grow leafy trees for shade, cover parking lots with solar roofing (and add EV chargers). Basically do whatever possible to reduce the amount of asphalt and darkish materials in general, being hit by sunshine.
No it won’t save your ass when ambient temperature is 50C, but considering that cities are by their very nature hotter than the ambient temperature out side of the city, these things would help reduce that gap.
Trees are good and general greenery too, but then you run into water issues which will be the limiting factor for a lot of stuff going forward as fresh water availability decreases and groundwater runs low.
Yeah, hoping we can avoid that, but it’s not looking too great. It’s a mitigation for today’s world, but not for the future unless we also manage to solve the water issue. And just global warming in general.