US wants roofs, roads, cars white to save energy

US Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Tuesday the Obama administration wanted to paint roofs an energy-reflecting white, as he took part in a climate change symposium in London.

The Nobel laureate in physics called for a "new revolution" in energy generation to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

But he warned there was no silver bullet for tackling climate change, and said a range of measures should be introduced, including painting flat roofs white.

Making roads and roofs a paler colour could have the equivalent effect of taking every car in the world off the road for 11 years, Chu said.

It was a geo-engineering scheme that was "completely benign" and would keep buildings cooler and reduce energy use from air conditioning, as well as reflecting sunlight back away from the Earth.

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.

Speaking at the start of a symposium on climate change hosted by the Prince of Wales and attended by more than 20 Nobel laureates, Chu said fresh thinking was required to cut the amount of carbon created by power generation.

He said: "The industrial revolution was a revolution in the use of energy. It offloaded from human and animal power into using fossil fuels.

"We have to go to a different new revolution that can severely decrease the amount of carbon emissions in the generation of energy."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090526/sc_afp/climatewarmingusbritainchu

Put a few billion into perfecting the technology. Spend a few hundred billion installing the panels.

Do I have to think of everything?

"Congressional Leadership" -- up there with "Military Intelligence" as the greatest of oxymorons.

We have a house with flat-roof areas. We painted those with an elastomeric roof coating. It makes a big difference in keeping the house cool in the summer and it has the benefit of water-proofing also.

My driveway is nice and black and melts fast when the sun shines. A neighbor with a whitish concrete driveway is icier longer, even when shoveled as well as mine.

Not all solutions are universal.

He was attempting to reflect light (heat) away from the earth, and reduce the demands on carbon based fuels as well. In cold climes, dark roofs on homes might help, but black driveways and roads will still contribute to global warming. Better to have white road and black houses in such climates.

But I think putting plants on top that will convert the sun's energy to remove carbon from the atmosphere (photosynthesis) is the way to go. Put the energy (heat) to good use. Also makes for a roof that "repairs" itself.

You aren't going to get enough heat gain in really cold weather to make a great deal of difference I think.

There are quite a few places though that have fairly extreme temperature swings with cold winters and hot summers.

If you need to use AC to keep your home comfortable for more than a month or so a year I suspect white would be the better choice even if your winters are quite severe.

I agree. In fact, in the colder areas, you would probably burn more fossil fuels to make up for your house being cooler. Though probably not a bad idea on a case by case basis.

I noticed that right away, but never figured out why until now.