Los Angeles is slathering its streets in white sealant to combat the effects of climate change - and if it works, the rest of the US could be next.

California is pioneering the $150,000 scheme to cool down the blisteringly hot streets in August by by turning some of its streets white which can reduce temperatures by up to 15 degrees.

The lighter 'cool pavements' and streets reflect as much as 30 to 50 percent of the sun's energy, compared to only 5 percent for new asphalt, and 10 to 20 percent for aged asphalt.

LA is pioneering a pilot scheme to try and cool the city by painting its streets and pavements with white sealant

And with climate scientists predicting that temperatures are only going to rise, measures such as this could be crucial to preventing heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and even heat-related deaths across America.

The average annual temperature in the Southwest has already gone up 1.56 degrees since 1901-1960 and is projected to rise another 4.8 degrees by mid-century and 8.65 degrees by the end of the century if carbon pollution continues unabated. While California's three-year spell of hot dry weather has been connected to climate change.

With more 'extreme heat' days predicted by the mid-century, cool pavements may be one of a series of useful tools for reducing heat in American cities which suffer from the urban heat island effect - caused by a lack of vegetation and paved surfaces.

'When we look at our vulnerabilities associated with climate change, we know that extreme heat is one of our top concerns,' Lauren Faber, the city's Chief Sustainability Office, told Gizmodo.

For now, the city is moving ahead a few thousand square feet of cool street at a time for the pilot project. The Bureau of Street Services has budgeted $10,000 per installation, with one in each of LA's 15 districts.

If successful it could be rolled out state, or even nationwide.

Los Angeles is slathering its streets in white sealant to combat the effects of climate change - and if it works, the rest of the US could be next

But even then, the scheme would still only be applied in the areas that needed it most.

'The goal is to say where are people most vulnerable to extreme heat, and in those regions where the people are most vulnerable, what are the mitigating strategies that should be most pursued that would help the most,' George Ban-Weiss, an engineering professor at the University of Southern California says.

The concept of cool pavements has been around for years, and can be made from traditional pavement materials that are lighter in color, or can be painted with cool-colored coatings or surface treatments for asphalt surfaces. But it is only now that they are being rolled out in the first scheme of its kinds.

Sealants such as CoolSeal have shown around a 10-degree reduction in heat gain.

'It's amazing how hot these pavements get and how we've let them cover most of our urban surfaces,' said Haley Gilbert previously, while a researcher at Berkeley's Heat Island Group in California.

'Because dark pavements absorb almost all of the sun's energy, the pavement surface heats up, which in turn also warms the local air and aggravates urban heat islands.'

Still, it is early days, and some have questioned whether the greenhouse gases involved in the manufacture and procedure of laying the sealant, could end up affecting the environment for the worse in the long run.

The lighter 'cool pavements' and streets reflect as much as 30 to 50 percent of the sun's energy, compared to only 5 percent for new asphalt, and 10 to 20 percent for aged asphalt

'The science is less settled on whether the benefits outweigh the penalties,' Ban-Weiss said.

However, residents in some of the pilot areas, such as Canoga Park where the streets have been slathered with CoolSeal since May, say they have already noticed the difference.

Sealcoats are already a common maintenance practice for parking lots and schoolyards since the asphalt pavement structure degrades over time. Traditional sealcoats provide a protective layer, keeping water out and helping to slow the oxidation of the asphalt in the pavement structure, while restoring the aged asphalt surface to a jet-black color.

Cool pavement sealants come in different hues, including green, blue and yellow, and their solar reflectance value depends on both color and material.

The benefits of cool pavements extend beyond just cooling the local ambient air.

They can also impact global warming and energy loads. Dark roofs and dark pavements both contribute to global warming by absorbing large amounts of solar energy stored in sunlight, then radiating the energy back into the atmosphere in the form of heat.

Residents in some of the pilot areas, such as Canoga Park where the streets have been slathered with CoolSeal since May, say they have already noticed the difference

Gilbert added: 'Across an entire city, small changes in air temperature could be a huge benefit as it can slow the formation of smog. Just a couple of degrees can also reduce peak power demand, by reducing the energy load from air-conditioning.'

LA is also looking at tackling the heat by creating an urban tree canopy and the city is offering free shade trees to residents to cool the area, donating 18,000 free trees last year alone.

The city also enacted an ordinance that requires most new and renovated buildings to install lighter colored roofs with high solar reflectance ratings.