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It's a form of geoengineering, but doesn't address the underlying problem. I.e. it's a bandaid; the planet still needs to be healed. But I can understand a preference for geoengineering solutions among certain parties.
I have an issue with that statement as well, but presumably less CO2 and especially pollution, and more habitat and biodiversity to adapt to an ever-changing climate, which humans have naturally destroyed as a result of expansion (buildings, asphalt, concrete, lawns, landscaping, geographical ecosystem fragmentation, soil disturbance).
The way I look at global warming and climate change is the way I look at most things. The far left who is certain climate change is real and only massive taxes and regulations are needed to save us and we need to get rid of cows. And on the far right its a scam and not real part of that being a push back to crazy ideas like banning cows. I think both sides are missing the mark.
I think the climate is getting hotter and I think humans are at least partially to blame. But I don't want all the stuff the left thinks has to be done. If we can do some things that don't cost that much and don't change our lives much. I can deal with that. If it turns out climate change is not really happening and things start cooling of. Little harm done. So perhaps the left is giving up on all the draconian ideas they have. This idea is white paint. Very white. How it works is explained below. I would like this white paint for some of my properties. Sounds very useful.
You bet there is. A program pursuing what scientists call “ground-based albedo modification” (GBAM) — sharply enhancing an area’s ability to reflect the sun’s solar radiation away from its surface — is now completely plausible, according to a July 12 report in The New York Times that didn’t get one-millionth the attention it deserves. It detailed how, after years of research, Xiulin Ruan, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, had developed the whitest paint in history, capable of safely bouncing 98 percent of the sun’s rays “away from the Earth’s surface, up through the atmosphere and into deep space.” The paint, which is cool to the touch, can reduce the temperature of structural exteriors by as much as 8 degrees at midday.
Current latex paints don't last. The voc's they pushed out of paint are what makes paint last. The runoff of deteriorating paint will cause water pollution problems. Right up with a train across an ocean.
A few months ago they were working on asphalt that doesn't get hot.
I am thinking in places like Phoenix where the sun beats down all the time. An 8 degree decrease would at the very least cut power bills in the summer. And with enough of it could really cool down that entire area.
They tried this paint on a residential street in Phoenix a year or two ago. It made the news when it peeled off following a monsoon rain storm. They said, at the time, they were going to reformulate and try again. I never saw a followup story. The super white paint has also been applied to roofs in the Phoenix area. Gonna take a lot of it though.
Agree with the OP. I’m a man made climate change skeptic but I try to do my part to try to make the world a little better. What I don’t like are the grand and expensive ideas spouted by scientist and celebrities. The average person can’t afford such measures. I take what I feel are reasonable measures that I can afford. I drive the most efficient small car I can afford. I limit my travel in the vehicle. I made improvements in home efficiency in each home I’ve owned as I could afford to do so. In my current home (built in 1973 and 1300 square feet) I added insulation to the attic, replaced the central air unit with the most efficient model I could afford (previous one was dying), and installed storm windows with solar screens over the existing single pane aluminum frame windows. Though we’re in south Louisiana and are dealing with a heatwave, our highest electric bill has been less than $150 and that’s with the thermostat set for 73 degrees (wife stays home all day due to health reasons). I replaced all light bulbs with LEDs, our TVs are LED, we have a motion sensor carport light that turns off after a minute instead of leaving the light on for when I return from work at the hospital, and we take other small steps to reduce home energy use. We’re getting ready to get estimates on replacing our roof and are considering metal or a roofing shingle material that helps to reflect heat. Both are more expensive than traditional shingled roofs and current roofing rates are massively expensive compared to years past. A metal roof would be the most energy efficient and last longer. My wife also hardly ever drives and only as needed. I bought my 2015 Hyundai Elantra SE new in 2015 and I’m at 55,000 miles now. Our miles would be far less if it weren’t for a certain relative and her DUI. I carry my energy efficiency ideals with me to work at the hospital boiler room working with the hospitals HVAC system and boilers. We try to run the plant as efficiently as possible without hurting patient comfort. We can’t control the energy used by medical equipment nor elevators but we can try to make our HVAC system as efficient as possible. Our building maintenance department is gradually replacing the fluorescent fixtures with LED fixtures or adapting existing fixtures to accept LED tub bulbs. The exterior of the building was painted white years ago to help with energy efficiency and to improve appearance over the red brick.
The illegals will do it for less than minimum wage.
I can't read the article so I don't know if the glare coming off of that paint was addressed.
If the government painted everything with the reflective white paint then there would be a lot of glare. Paint the rooftops/buildings, highways, streets, sidewalks, parking lots, etc., and everyone will have to wear sunglasses when going outside and maybe have to install heavy drapes or dark window tint on their windows in their homes, schools, office buildings, etc. And the glare might block our satellites, airplanes, birds, etc., from seeing/sensing the ground, so that would have to be addressed.
This is why it's a bad idea. We already know that snow and ice can cause eye damage:
I think the climate is getting hotter and I think humans are at least partially to blame.
What you think is irrelevant. What is relevant is the science.
This is the coldest Inter-Glacial period with the lowest sea levels ever in the last 800,000 years.
Why is it 7.5°F to 15.2°F colder than all other Inter-Glacial Periods in the last 800,000 years?
Why are sea levels 3 meters to 14 meters lower than all other Inter-Glacial Periods in the last 800,000?
If average global temperatures increase another 10°F the only truthful statement you can make is this Inter-Glacial Period is normal.
If sea levels rise another 10 meters, the only truthful statement you can make is this Inter-Glacial Period is normal.
800,000 years of scientific data says so.
If we were living like Neanderthals did during the last Ice Age global temperatures would still rise another 7.5°F to 15.2°F and sea levels would rise another 3 meters to 14 meters and there ain't a damn thing you can do to stop it.
What gives you the right to even think you can impose your non-science beliefs on us?
There is no global warming. There is only Earth being Earth.
Our pollen-based climatic reconstruction suggests a mean temperature of the warmest month (MTWA) range of 9–14.5 °C during the warmest interval of the last interglacial. The reconstruction from plant macrofossils, representing more local environments, reached MTWA values above 12.5 °C in contrast to today's 2.8 °C.
Just to make sure we're clear on the concept, 12.5°C is 22.5°F warmer than present temperatures.
From applications of both correspondence analysis regression and best modern analogue methodologies, we infer July air temperatures of the last interglacial to have been 4 to 5 °C warmer than present on eastern Baffin Island, which was warmer than any interval within the Holocene.
Again, to make sure we're clear on the concept, 4.0°C - 5.0°C is 7.2°F - 9.0°F.
Those studies were conducted on Baffin Island and in northeastern Siberia.
Palaeo data suggest that Greenland must have been largely ice free during Marine Isotope Stage 11 (MIS-11). The globally averaged MIS-11 sea level is estimated to have reached between 6–13 m above that of today.
“Even though the warm Eemian period was a period when the oceans were four to eight meters higher than today, the ice sheet in northwest Greenland was only a few hundred meters lower than the current level, which indicates that the contribution from the Greenland ice sheet was less than half the total sea-level rise during that period,” says Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Professor at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, and leader of the NEEM-project.
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