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I just viewed a T.V. show that pointed out a reaction called the "Albedo Effect" where white surfaces reflect heat, darker ones absorb. This is how the Earth's Ice Age accellerated at a very rapid rate. Surfaces would become white with snow and ice, reflecting heat which would create more cooling leading to more frozen white surfaces and so on.
If more of us drove white cars (preferably hybrid) painted buildings or homes white, more white in landscaping and ground surfaces, etc. would it have any impact on present undesirable trends the earth is presently going through..?
Yes, I know, things might get a little boring, but a boring yet healthy earth might be more desirable than a more exciting alternative.
Besides, look at Mykonos Greece, no stranger to white, but still pleasant and charming.
I just viewed a T.V. show that pointed out a reaction called the "Albedo Effect" where white surfaces reflect heat, darker ones absorb. This is how the Earth's Ice Age accellerated at a very rapid rate. Surfaces would become white with snow and ice, reflecting heat which would create more cooling leading to more frozen white surfaces and so on.
If more of us drove white cars (preferably hybrid) painted buildings or homes white, more white in landscaping and ground surfaces, etc. would it have any impact on present undesirable trends the earth is presently going through..?
Yes, I know, things might get a little boring, but a boring yet healthy earth might be more desirable than a more exciting alternative.
Besides, look at Mykonos Greece, no stranger to white, but still pleasant and charming.
Food for thought anyway...
White everywhere?
Do you have any idea how bland that world would look?
lighter colored roof tops help with your electric bill.
I think we should make all surfaces out of leaves. leaves always feel cool.
well, for what that's worth, green (living) roof tops are making a big comeback. They help with surface runoff too (important for cities that have drainage issues)
Isn't it ironic that CO2 is (supposedly) bad because it's a greenhouse gas and makes the planet heat up. Yet, the "cure" in nature is plant life which converts that evil CO2 to oxygen but the plant life is dark colored (green and brown for the most part) and absorbs heat which (supposedly) makes the planet hotter. You might also want to consider that ocean water which covers 2/3's of the globe is dark blue and absorbs a lot of heat too. Damn that nature!
Even if the temperature of the earth could be measurably affected by making everything light colored (which is seriously doubt) it wouldn't mean anything. The planet can shed 20, 30 even 50 degrees of temperature into the atmosphere in a matter of hours. It happens every day when the sun goes down. It's like a pot of hot water on a stove. It matters very little if the water is 175 degrees or 200 degress. When the heat is cut off on the stove, the pot will be room temperature in about an hour. The planet works on the same concept.
well, for what that's worth, green (living) roof tops are making a big comeback. They help with surface runoff too (important for cities that have drainage issues)
Yes, and you just have to trim the roof once in awhile, cuttings are compostable, no shelling out thousands to tens of thousands to replace the roof every 30 years. Also a great insulator to keep heating and cooling from esacping through roof.
Fully and partially "bermed" houses where one or more walls are actually undergound us the earth's natural thermal and regulatory properties to cut fuel and electricity use.
I'm thinking, surfaces would not have to be necessarily white to help cool the earth, any lighter color or shade may help.
Based on sunshine intensity data collected when air travel was shut down after 9/11 the condensation trails left by "normal" air travel reduced the incoming sunlight by 3% by reflection the light back toward space. This is a significant amount of energy not added to the atmosphere. It would act in a cooling direction.
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