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| Obama's green guru calls for white roofs |
| 2009-05-28 |
| Y'know, everybody said this guy was nuts, but I was willing to wait and see. Well, the wait's over... President Obama's energy adviser has suggested all the world's roofs should be painted white as part of efforts to slow global warming. Hello, and welcome to "Al Gore's Professor Steven Chu, the US Energy Secretary, said the unusual proposal would mean homes in hot countries would save energy and money on air conditioning by deflecting the sun's rays. More pale surfaces could also slow global warming by reflecting heat into space rather than allowing it to be absorbed by dark surfaces where it is trapped by greenhouse gases and increases temperatures. More "green jobs"! "Obama's White Roof Painting Brigade"! Coming soon to your neighborhood! Whether you like it or not... In a wide-ranging discussion at the three-day Nobel laureate Symposium in London, the Professor described climate change as a "crisis situation", and called for a whole host of measures to be introduced, from promoting energy efficiency to renewable energy such as wind, wave and solar. The Nobel Prize-winning physicist said the US was not considering any large scale "geo-engineering" projects where science is used to reverse global warming, but was in favour of "white roofs everywhere". How about...painting the roads white? With black lines? He said lightening roofs and roads in urban environments would offset the global warming effects of all the cars in the world for 11 years. "If you look at all the buildings and if you make the roofs white and if you make the pavement more of a concrete type of colour rather than a black type of colour and if you do that uniformally, Ah. See? I'm on to something. Where's my Nobel Prize? that would be the equivalent of... reducing the carbon emissions due to all the cars in the world by 11 years – just taking them off the road for 11 years," he said. 10 gazinta 100000 gazinta 30000 gazinta 120000 carry the 2 equals...eleven years! Wow! Can ya win two Nobel prizes! The three day Nobel laureate Symposium will end in a memorandum that is likely to influence any international agreement on climate change at the end of this year in Copenhagen. Well I can hardly wait if this is an example of what's gonna come out of it... Environmentalists insist the developed world must commit to cutting carbon emissions in order to set an example for poorer countries. And perhaps the poorer countries can teach us how to live in grass huts and use two sticks to create fire... Secretary Chu said he was optimistic the US could lead the way through energy efficiency measures and boosting the use of renewables like solar, wind, nuclear and clean coal. "The US will move, inevitably it will move first, as a more developed country we should be moving first, and I hope China will follow," he said. And...what if they don't? Guess we'll be fucked, eh, Stevie Boy... The symposium has gathered some 60 scientific experts and 20 Nobel Laureates to talk about climate change. The high level meeting, hosted by the Royal Society and the Prince of Wales, is likely to influence any international agreement on climate change at the end of this year. Doesn't Chucky have some gardening to do so he can leave the rest of us alone? |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #24 It really does make scientific sense to have white roofs. White reflects 90+% of the energy while black absorbs 90+%. White is much better than blue because it's reflection spectra is much wider. You want a roof that highly reflects sunlight to about 900 or 1100 nanometers. Anything more and the organic compounds in paint, dyes, whatever all look black in the infrared spectrum. Solar spectra That said, I just spent $12K for new dark roof shingles. There was no way a light color roof would match the brickwork, instead would produce an eyesore. Instead I went for a few more roof vents. |
| Posted by: ed 2009-05-28 19:22 |
| #23 raaaaaccciissstt! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-05-28 19:17 |
| #22 Imma way ahead. I already gots a white roof. Neener-neener. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2009-05-28 19:07 |
| #21 What are we gonna do about all the blinded pilots? Oh, that's right, "Universal Health Care"(tm) will take care of them. As for those unpatriotic "housing associations", it'll depend if they're mostly Republican contributors then they'll just have to abide with official government policy. Now, Democrats will get special dispensation. Just like car dealerships. |
| Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2009-05-28 18:42 |
| #20 That's not important, Gabby. What's important is that the lefties feel good about your roof. **spit** |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-05-28 15:21 |
| #19 But what about folks (like me) who live in relatively cool or cold climates? The black asphalt roof on my home keeps it warm throughout the entire windswept, fog-bound year (think San Francisco in the summer). We don't even own a fan, much less an air conditioner. In addition, our house is well-insulated and our gas/electric bills are usually quite low. I'd match our "carbon signature" against anybody's. Seems to me that a white roof would negate many of these current advantages. |
| Posted by: Gabby 2009-05-28 14:43 |
| #18 I thought I read somewhere that a glossy blue roof tile was the most energy efficient? |
| Posted by: AllahHateMe 2009-05-28 14:10 |
| #17 When I first moved to the sunny South a few decades back, I painted my car roof white - don't know how much it helped. Now all the school buses around here have white roofs. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2009-05-28 13:34 |
| #16 He's not completely nutso on this. My old house back in Phoenix has a white roof, and we pretty much only had white cars because it was a little easier on the a/c. Even the kiddies' school buses had white roofs on them, for exactly the same reason. I don't think it will give the kind of savings back that he claims, though. |
| Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie 2009-05-28 13:00 |
| #15 more reflective surfaces cools the planet directly reducing CO2 only cools the planet indirectly (and possibly does so only minimally) and, except in very cool climates, more reflective roofs save the owner on heating and cooling give Chu some credit here. |
| Posted by: Lord garth 2009-05-28 10:27 |
| #14 White paint uses an awful lot of titanium oxide. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2009-05-28 08:45 |
| #13 Kinda seems like an OK idea to me. I dreamed up with the same concept over 30 years ago, when I was a wee lad. Black asphalt shingles in the summer = hellish hot. |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2009-05-28 08:32 |
| #12 Paging Mr. Tom Sawyer to the 'white' courtesy phone. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-05-28 08:29 |
| #11 This was tried once before by the British and the Dutch as they tried to paint Africa white in the 1700-1900's. Someone from Kenya would know all about it. Why waste paint most mobile homes are white already? |
| Posted by: airandee 2009-05-28 08:24 |
| #10 I hope China will follow... Foreign Policy, 0bama style. |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2009-05-28 08:15 |
| #9 Look, it's hard to find somebody less interested in greenwashing and ecological moral panics than yours truly, but I honestly can't see what's the harm in shifting over to white roofs. There may be a glare problem with brighter asphalt on roads, but who cares about rooftops? It can't hurt, and it ought to help with air conditioning in the summer. In northern cities, it wouldn't be a brilliant idea - heating in winter's a more important goal than cooling in summer - but a hell of a lot of energy's used in the global south on necessary air conditioning. Anyways, this was a "right-wing" brain-bug from about six-seven months back. Jonah Goldberg and Glenn Reynolds were talking about it back then. It's a good thing when the green fanatics start taking relatively free-market, practical suggestions from the skeptic side of the aisle. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2009-05-28 08:04 |
| #8 I did the calculation a few years back and concluded painting roofs white would be more effective than Kyoto and save about a trillion dollars. BTW, how reflective the roof surface is more important than the colour. A reflective grey is better than a matt white at keeping heat out. |
| Posted by: Phil_B 2009-05-28 08:04 |
| #7 You can forget white roofs. Some Homeowners Associations have rules against roofs that are not approved colors. If white is not an approved color, the white roofs won't happen. Of course, someone will probably come up with something showing that making white paint is environmentally unfriendly, as well. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2009-05-28 06:53 |
| #6 I don't want to sound like a rascist, but white roofs all look alike to me. |
| Posted by: whatadeal 2009-05-28 06:10 |
| #5 Obama's green guru calls for white roofs. Racist. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2009-05-28 04:54 |
| #4 The white washers are coming! The white washers are coming! Sorry, I just couldn't contain myself. It would help me if the greens weren't so funny. |
| Posted by: Richard of Oregon 2009-05-28 02:56 |
| #3 Remember back in the 70s when these same people wanted to spread coal dust over the polar ice caps to speed melting which would help us avoid the coming ice age? Anyone who might remember that died off in the world-wide overpopulation famines and resource shortages of the 80s. We've been doomed pretty much forever. Just ask Mr. Malthus! |
| Posted by: SteveS 2009-05-28 02:16 |
| #2 lightening roofs and roads in urban environments would offset the global warming effects of all the cars in the world for 11 years. Given the infinitesimal percentage of the earth's surface covered by roads and roofs, I am...sceptical. Let's see the numbers, even just a back of the envelope calc. On the other hand, this may be an admission that auto emissions have little or no impact on 'global warming'. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2009-05-28 02:06 |
| #1 Remember back in the 70s when these same people wanted to spread coal dust over the polar ice caps to speed melting which would help us avoid the coming ice age? |
| Posted by: AzCat 2009-05-28 01:40 |
