Dr. Steven Chu, the Nobel prize-winning physicist appointed by President Obama as Energy Secretary, wants to paint the world white. Chu said at the opening of the St James's Palace Nobel Laureate Symposium that by lightening paved surfaces and roofs to the color of cement, it would be possible to cut carbon emissions by as much as taking all the world's cars off the roads for 11 years. Pale surfaces reflect up to 80 percent of the sunlight that falls on them, compared with about 20 percent for dark ones, which is why roofs and walls in hot countries are often whitewashed.
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/27/1934245&from=rss
An increase in pale surfaces would help to contain climate change both by reflecting more solar radiation into space and by reducing the amount of energy needed to keep buildings cool by air-conditioning. Since 2005 California has required all flat roofs on commercial buildings to be white and Georgia and Florida give incentives to owners who install white or light-colored roofs. Put another way, boosting how much urban rooftops reflect would be a one-time carbon-offset equivalent to preventing 44 billion tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. 'For the first time, we're equating the value of reflective roof surfaces and CO2 reduction,' says Dr. Hashem Akbari. 'This does not make the problem of global warming go away. But we can buy ourselves some time.'
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/05/27/1934245&from=rss
Yup, my uncle picked up some crazy nasa-grade stuff.
How does that stuff work... it comes off in big chunks and then your house explodes?
The issue has never been about doing one thing to save the planet. It's what Al Gore calls the "Silver Buckshot" theory (as opposed to the silver bullet).
Right... <snipped> his idea earns an F-
A comment from the original post:
>> Cameron McDonald, Stanford, US
Its sad that such a small fraction of people have the basic science knowledge to appreciate this idea. Increasing albedo with white roofs reflects SHORT WAVE RADIATION from the sun back into space. The Greenhouse effect refers to the atmosphere absorbing LONG WAVE RADIATION emitted by the earth.
Right...because reflecting 80% of the radiant heat back into the atmosphere will help global warming. Global engineering fail. Remember, our atmosphere is holding this heat in, that's what got us into this problem in the first place. Unless you know of any depletion of greenhouse gases that we don't know about, his idea earns an F-
Actually, your understanding of what Dr.Chu is talking about earns you an F-
Oh, and KnivesOut beat me to it.
Dr. Steven Chu is my favorite pick Obama has made so far. And easily the best Secretary of Energy our country has ever had.
>> ^rottenseed:
Right... <snipped> his idea earns an F-
A comment from the original post:
>> Cameron McDonald, Stanford, US
Its sad that such a small fraction of people have the basic science knowledge to appreciate this idea. Increasing albedo with white roofs reflects SHORT WAVE RADIATION from the sun back into space. The Greenhouse effect refers to the atmosphere absorbing LONG WAVE RADIATION emitted by the earth.
Pfff Stanford...are the even accredited yet?
*looks at community college "Dean's List" certificate*
hmmm...I'll go away now.
You mean my pale ass is saving the world? yesssss.
we should start a national "moon the world" day. It'd be like taking all the world's cars off of the road for 11 seconds.
Then we could pass a law to have our roofs painted white by June. We would all have to remove our studded tires and paint our roofs or pay the fine!
I don't think this will catch on.
Years ago, a kid at a science fair invented a roof shingle that changed is reflectivity when the seasons changed. When the sun is at a high angle(summer) the roof tile reflected light. when the sun is at a low angle (winter) the tile appeared dark, and absorbed the heat. like those little hologram images that are on lots of things these days.
Sounds Greener then painting the world white.
So, even if you wanted to save the planet, you're probably not legally permitted to do so.
>> ^volumptuous:
I don't see why one can't buy a hybrid as well as paint their roof white, as well as collect rainwater, as well as plant a garden to curb how many trucks drive from mega-farms to urban areas, as well as use green-lightbulbs, as well as...
The issue has never been about doing one thing to save the planet. It's what Al Gore calls the "Silver Buckshot" theory (as opposed to the silver bullet).
>> ^quantumushroom:
Man-made global warming is a hoax. Just tax the sun into shining less.
>> ^Krupo:
Yup, my uncle picked up some crazy nasa-grade stuff.
How does that stuff work... it comes off in big chunks and then your house explodes?
lol - just super-high reflectivity or low-absorbtion of heat.
To those who say, 'what then paint dark in the winter?' - no. The painting-white thing applies to warmer climates, first of all. Second of all, you don't get that much sunlight in the winter anyway, so trying to collect heat through a darker roof is a non-starter anyway. Plus, heat rises so the heat in your house will hit your roof anyway. The idea is to keep your house from heating up, which is more expensive (energy-wise) to combat than warming it up (which is generally way easier to accomplish).