City crews are painting Los Angeles streets a lighter color to reduce climate change

The Los Angeles Street Services department has been painting streets with a coating that they believe will help reduce climate change, Fox News reported.

What's the story?

Last May, the department started testing CoolSeal, a light gray coating that's applied to asphalt surfaces.

City officials claim the product has helped lower roadway temperatures by up to 10 degrees, Los Angeles Daily News reported.

"CoolSeal is applied like conventional sealcoats to asphalt surfaces to protect and maintain the quality and longevity of the surface," according to GuardTop's website, the company that makes the product. "While most cool pavements on the market are polymer-based, CoolSeal is a water-based, asphalt emulsion."

The city reportedly suffers from "heat island" effect.

"Heat islands occur on the surface and in the atmosphere," according to the Environmental Protection Agency. "On a hot, sunny summer day, the sun can heat dry, exposed urban surfaces, such as roofs and pavement, to temperatures 50–90°F hotter than the air, while shaded or moist surfaces—often in more rural surroundings—remain close to air temperatures."

How long does it last and what's the cost?

Each coating, applied in two coats and about 50 microns thick, can last up to seven years, the city officials told the Daily News in a previous interview.

And the cost is not cheap.

The estimated cost is about $40,000 per mile, the outlet reported.

What else?

CoolSeal passed California skid test and the slip test for wet traction, according to the streets department.