Colombo needs more trees

I had to visit the Colombo city area some time back. That involved a bit of walking, and parking the car in some rather, well, sunny places. I think I should mention the car had a bit of an AC issue. By some miracle, I actually got home without too much of a heat headache, but it got me thinking.

Colombo seriously needs more trees. Or solar panels. Or more trees.

Please hear me out.

Colombo is situated in the wet zone. Its average annual rainfall is 2348 mm according to a quick google search. The daytime temperature seems to hover at 30-32 Celsius. It receives a ton of sunlight. That is basically plant heaven.

There are a few streets with a full canopy overhead, and in those places, well, it's actually quite pleasant. However, when you look at most of the streets, there is no significant tree cover. 

I mean, I can see people have tried and there are juvenile trees in places - I understand they take years to grow. Sure, it'll take time for those trees to provide any meaningful level of shade, but when they do, it'll be so worth it. 

But, in some places, you don't see that, either. There's the street and there are buildings, and the sun just grills the road surface which then blinds everyone around, roasts the pedestrians, and barbeques the vehicles from below.

My suggestion is, if it's possible to grow trees, do grow them. They look lovely and help cool the streets. I recognize the problems with this though - not every street has enough space between the tarmac and the buildings for a large tree. There is electrical wiring and they could get in the way of trees in some places. 

I'm not saying they have grown trees in every possible location - they haven't. 

Well, a possible solution is a canopy of vines. There are some vines you could use as a sort of shade tree that uses a bit less land area for roots and stuff. A bit of a problem with this is that it'll make a road a veritable tunnel. It would be better than a true tunnel of course - mottled sunlight would come in like with a tree cover - but some people may find it a bit claustrophobic. Another thing is maintenance - it could become more difficult than trimming off a few branches, and if the netting overhead is too dense, the dead plant matter (leaves and such) could pile up on top of the net, making it a true tunnel, and a stinky one at that. 

Still, I think this is a viable solution for some places.

If you think it will be a problem for streetlights, well, you could use those poles as part of the structure and put the vine canopy over them.

But I recognize that some people might not like this approach, but well, there is another solution. Solar panels.

Sure, they wouldn't be quite as shading, but there is a lot of solar energy falling on Sri Lanka in general that is underutilized. Sure, it's not available when it's dark, but we're in the tropics and pretty close to the equator at that, which means the length of the day doesn't vary by much. It's not like you have to account for twenty hours of darkness on some days. 

According to linked source, Colombo receives somewhere between 2.5 - 4.0 kWh/m^2 of solar energy per day depending on the season. When travelling in Colombo, it feels like a lot of that is used to heat the tar and mess up with car AC systems for some reason. It's a lot of energy. Solar panels over some areas of road can be used to capture some of that.

This is especially true for highways, especially in areas where the view isn't too great. There is a maximum possible height on highways anyway due to all the roads going over them, so installing solar panels over at least some sections can help. It won't be a tunnel if you install it in short sections about the width of a road crossing overhead. That'll be a lot of electricity we can use, and people won't be frying in their cars.

This is just my opinion on what I think should be done, as someone who is decidedly not good at dealing with sunlight or heat in large doses. In addition to reducing the severity those problems, you get electricity and/or a pleasant atmosphere as a bonus.

Do you agree with me, or do you see any issues with this approach? I'd love to have a discussion on this topic, so please comment below.

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See you next time!