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We currently require large commercial and residential projects to provide water detention under or adjacent to large parking areas. This helps deal with water runoff issues and probably helps recharge groundwater supplies with less negative soil settlement issues.

But what if we took it a step further by demanding that developers reduce total asphalt coverage as well by making the parking lots semipermeable? A beautiful but small example of this can be seen at Phoenix's "Tuck Shop" restaurant in the Coronado neighborhood (they have neat little river rock filled rectangles beneath each parking spot), as well as the many small businesses that choose DG or other gravel in lieu of asphalt. We should demand more of this rather than leave it to the market, which would generally favor the status quo of more asphalt and the minimum number of trees/landscaping allowable.

The attached link to an EPA report is quite informative regarding albedo and other issues related to various paving/coverage technologies.