Kew Gardens in West London recorded a temperature of 34.8 degrees during the late May heatwave, and given the current trends reported by climate scientists, it’s only going to get worse in years to come given that we’re not doing enough to stop the warming.

I expect air conditioner sales are running at an all-time high, but that can be expensive, and the energy they devour just adds to the atmospheric warming problem.

In ‘The Conversation’ news site, Rosa Schlano-Phan, one of the authors of the book The Architecture of Natural Cooling, talks about memories of her childhood around the Mediterranean with the white coloured houses, shady courtyards and shuttered windows.

One of the simplest ways to cool a building is to change it’s colour. White surfaces reflect sunlight rather than absorb it, and painting a roof white (or adding some other reflective layer) can reduce the house summer temperature by up to 4 degrees. A white roof is more effective if windows stay shut during the day, with external shutters or shades to keep the sun out.

See the article here