U.S wants to paint the world white to save energy

I have never heard of this before, is there actual research to proof that if every roof top in the world would fight global warming? This sounds a bit silly to be, but is it one of those silly things that actually work or is this yet another push to make cities impose yet another law to further an agenda? Can anyone actually explain to me how this would actually do anything good for the environment?


green.yahoo.com...

Originally posted by Darth Lumina
I have never heard of this before, is there actual research to proof that if every roof top in the world would fight global warming? This sounds a bit silly to be, but is it one of those silly things that actually work or is this yet another push to make cities impose yet another law to further an agenda? Can anyone actually explain to me how this would actually do anything good for the environment?


green.yahoo.com...

Interesting. I can't say whether this is worth doing or not, but white certainly reflects sunlight rather than absorbing it (the so-called albido effect). Part of the reason polar caps can remain unmelted is that they are huge masses of white ice and snow that reflects the heat back in the direction it came from.

Tokyo is experiencing increasingly severe heat-island effects. There is a citywide initiative (that's not working out too well, by the way) to plant roof gardens, which (it is believed) will make it cooler and inject more oxygen into the world's biggest city. I don't know whether that would work better or worse than painting everything white.

Yeah, its sounds a little far fetched to me. Just the idea behind it does not hold much weight.

For people who found white hard on the eye, scientists had also developed "cool colours" which looked to the human eye like normal ones, but reflect heat like pale colours even if they are darker shades.

And painting cars in cool or light colours could deliver considerable savings on energy use for air conditioning units, he said.

Cars AC does not really have that much effect on the environment to begin with, except on your battery.

Rather than mandate painting everything white, they should show some real world examples of how owning and operating something white would compare to other colors or even black.

Silly example might be your home...

During summer months when you would use the most AC...

With a Black Tar shingle roof you would spend $300 a month cooling.
With a Terracotta (reddish/orange) roof you would spend $260 a month cooling.
With a White Washed roof you would spend $200 a month cooling.

But... Hey wait... In the Winter, It wouldn't absorb as much sunlight and you may end up spending more to heat that same home.

Maybe just covering the roof in Photo Voltaic cells and using other sun and wind based power generation would be the best solution in that example (for ALL seasons.)

As for painting roads and other ideas. That guy's head has spent too much time up his "think tank".

Pull your head out of your think tank & be practical.

i remember reading somewhere that the big box shops,,, home depot, target,, walmart etc,,,, usually have black rubber,, rolled roofing and if white could save something like 40% in heating/cooling costs



however it did cross my mind,,,,,,,,,,,,,, i wonder if the national roofing union///tragegroup is behind this,,,,,, and lobbying,,,,, that'd be a lot of new roofs and money rolling in haha

I say fit every roof with Solar panels and lets get off the fossil fuel kick!
Imagine all the energy it would produce!

Painting everything white HA!

Originally posted by SLAYER69
I say fit every roof with Solar panels and lets get off the fossil fuel kick!
Imagine all the energy it would produce!

Painting everything white HA!

here here. i hardly think white roofs are going to make enough of a difference.

anyway, global warming is natural IMHO. Its been proven all the other planets are warming too. that aint our fault!!

i like the whole "paint it white to save energy" idea but from a builders prospective doesnt that mess with the melting of ice and snow on the roof in the winter??

I have a white roof in my street, and i cant bare to look at it in the day time because it reflects to much light in my face. White roofs should be banned (if they generally aren't already) because they can cause all manor of traffic accidents as well as posing a problem to low flying aircraft.

However, there is also a house which has a roof covered in solar panels in my street and that doesn't hurt my eyes and according to the owner it reduces his power bill by 1/3.

Originally posted by Darth Lumina
I have never heard of this before, is there actual research to proof that if every roof top in the world would fight global warming? This sounds a bit silly to be, but is it one of those silly things that actually work or is this yet another push to make cities impose yet another law to further an agenda? Can anyone actually explain to me how this would actually do anything good for the environment?


green.yahoo.com...

With most roofs not being flat, the sunlight would not be reflected back into the heavens. Also, how much of the earth's surface is covered by roofs? Answer: not much. Much more of the earth is covered by trees...so paint them white, right? Wrong! Leave nature alone, for God's sake, Al Gore. He (God) has a better idea and with no profit angle like our "ol friend Al. Al might help his "carbon footprint" by foregoing the private jet and buying a hefty-sized bicycle.

surely it will make more sense with black instead of white. White will just reflect energy into space!!