Well, I think that goes without saying.
If there is no light (because it is blocked by the snow), there will be no additional heat.
Yeah, this sort of thing is commonly known in the snow belt, such as here in Northern Wisconsin.
But then walking barefoot in July and ouch ouch oooh ouch.
move to florida...
Or, you could just spread salt before the snow falls....
Not a great idea to paint and clear coat horizontal concrete surfaces. Rain or any water on that type of surface will result in a lot of busted a$$es.
What if the temperature drops, and the melted snow freezes?
I have a red door. Do you want it painted black?
Next you’ll want the sun blotted out from the sky, I suppose.
Well, I think that goes without saying.
Reminds me of the old thermodynamics test question in college. There are two cars; one has the engine painted black and the other has the engine painted silver (or chrome plated), which engine runs cooler?
Note it is the color of the engine and not the engine compartment. The correct answer is the engine that is painted black will run at a cooler temperature.
I will let you think about that in regards to the sidewalk.
This sounds like an episode from Red Green.
Or....maybe don’t use a clear coat.
And then in the summer?
But who wants to have a dreary, black entrance to their house just to avoid a few winter calisthenics?
Cover it with a tarp. When snow is done, pull up on one side of the tarp and empty snow into the adjacent yard.
It would heat up faster but not necessarily fast enough to exceed the rate of accumulation.
The mat would reduce heat transfer to the underlying concrete. Concrete plus the underlying soil is a very high heat sink. The fact that aluminum is on one or more surfaces of the mat as no bearing on absorbing heat energy from the sun since the outward face is painted black. The insulating power of the mat is probably trivial in the thermodynamics involved.
No need to go paint anything black to see if it helps to reduce snow and ice any. Just drive around and look at some asphalt driveways and compare it to the concrete driveways. In the lightest of snow and ice, black asphalt will self clear somewhat faster but only if there is some black showing.
Really though, you have to help the sun energy by using the snow shovel. Lol… Sodium chloride salt sucks. First, NaCl is only functional to about the mid-20s F plus it is easy for it to damage concrete via freeze thaw cycling of the water. Much better is to look for a product such as Heet that uses magnesium chloride salt. Mag chloride is functional towards 0F. I’ve used it for light overnight dry snow of a couple of inches and the concrete will actually be dry and clear (sublimation) when the sun comes up. It doesn't work as well on heavier or wet snow because it gets diluted too much by melt water and washes away.
Google “solar freakin roadways”.
Pour your sidewalks with a 30 degree downhill slope and the snow will slide right off of them.
We already have black sidewalk paint. It’s called tar.
You must live in the South, bless your heart, to think of this.
Some of us here way Up North where it really snows have driveways that are made from asphalt, not concrete, and are already very black.
Guess what? It doesn’t matter, they get snow all over them, too.
You see, the problem is twofold: When it snows the sky is very overcast, and not much solar heating can occur, and it also often snows overnight.
Once you do shovel the asphalt driveway and the Sun does come out, then yes, the asphalt driveway will melt the remaining snow and ice faster than a concrete driveway, but not that much faster.