In an interview with the Daily Mail South Australian woman Sophie Thompson explained how shocked she was when she used her digital infrared thermometer to measure the heat of natural grass versus artificial grass on a 35C degree day and found that the temperatures were radically different.
Sophie lives in Murray Bridge, SA, and her thermometer showed that natural grass had a reading of 33C degrees, while artificial grass had a reading of 65.6C degrees on a 35C degree day.
Sophie shared her findings with her 26,427 followers on her Facebook page, getting hundreds of comments on the post and it has been shared over 1k times.
The real concern here is the prevalence of artificial grass installed in home and sporting ovals across Australia. Sophie expressed her concern for children playing sports on artificial grass to Kidspot.
“Two people have told me that they know of sports fields that are watered before they are used on very hot days, I read comments from parents about the glue in their kids' sneakers melting from the heat on fake turf ovals. They're plastic, they're made from petrochemicals and we shouldn't have kids playing on that.”
In both articles Sophie highlighted the importance of parents and pet owners to be aware of how hot fake grass can get. It poses a real threat to any animals who may be trapped in a backyard with only artificial grass, or people who have decked their backyard out with it, as sitting outside on your artificial grass may actually be hotter than sitting anywhere else, and children who play on artificial grass will experience hotter outdoor temperatures.
In her interview with Daily mail Sophie explains that if it comes down to a money issue, real turf is $10 per square metre while faux is around $100 for the same amount. Furthermore, homes surrounded by artificial turf may find themselves closing blinds and using far more air conditioning than those surrounded by real grass and trees.
Definitely something to be more aware of during the Australian summer.
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