Avoid Global Warming - Paint the Roofs and Roads White

[Capt Worley PE]

Scam artists.

 

[IlPadrino]

I believe in being a good steward of the planet and trying to minimize impact, but if the Adults In Charge are promoting white paint as a cure for Global Warming, they are MORONS - arrogant, self-important, Ivory-Tower dwelling morons, with no idea how absolutely big the planet is and how absolutely small we are. The man-made square footage of impervious surface on the planet is a postage stamp on a football field. What percentage of that postage stamp can you paint white to change the temperature of the football field by one degree?

While I agree with all your comments about growth rate, I still support a "think globally, act locally" mentality. If a white roof helps you conserve electricity from reduced air conditioning, I say have at!

And, yeah, probably scam artists... but aren't all politicians?

 

[Dleg]

^I look at it exactly as IlPadrino does. I have no idea what the reasons are they are giving for painting roofs white in Washington. But from an energy usage point of view, it works. If it didn't work, people out here wouldn't have been doing it, voluntarily, for the past 30+ years. And let me tell you, at 40 cents a kilowatt hour (last summer's prices around here), every little bit helps.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

I don't see why we don't go back to tin roofs, at least in the South. Highly reflective, and they last for-freakin-ever.

Big, wide front porches help a lot, too.

 

[Guest]

While I agree with all your comments about growth rate, I still support a "think globally, act locally" mentality. If a white roof helps you conserve electricity from reduced air conditioning, I say have at!
And, yeah, probably scam artists... but aren't all politicians?

^I look at it exactly as IlPadrino does. I have no idea what the reasons are they are giving for painting roofs white in Washington. But from an energy usage point of view, it works. If it didn't work, people out here wouldn't have been doing it, voluntarily, for the past 30+ years. And let me tell you, at 40 cents a kilowatt hour (last summer's prices around here), every little bit helps.

I don't have a problem with the notion that you can realize a savings in electrical cost by using white paint. In fact, I have noted that a number of building codes are moving towards incorporating energy saving/reducing features as required codes. I haven't thought it through ... but I probably don't have much of a problem even with that notion.

Like Wolvie said - I have an issue with the person who is the head of the agency that is leading the charge for energy conservancy and, now, apparently climate change and say that rolling out this measure en-masse is a solution to climate change. The problem is that it isn't FEASIBLE because you don't have a social consciousness that this is the right thing to do. So, how can one parade this out as a solution if it is basically DOA?

I don't see it much different from recycling waste materials or conserving water or reducing gas consumption - the resource conservation component has not kicked-in. And why should it? We live in a country of consumption ... and I don't see that changing, not through aesthetically (or not) pleasing white-roofed houses or legislation.

That's my :2cents:

JR

 

[IlPadrino]

Like Wolvie said - I have an issue with the person who is the head of the agency that is leading the charge for energy conservancy and, now, apparently climate change and say that rolling out this measure en-masse is a solution to climate change. The problem is that it isn't FEASIBLE because you don't have a social consciousness that this is the right thing to do. So, how can one parade this out as a solution if it is basically DOA?

I thought he said "If we did so, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist said, and if we also made sure the world's roads and sidewalks were light-colored, it would have the same effect on global warming as taking all the cars in the world off the world's roads for 11 years."

So it's far from *the* solution. Just something that helpsm, even if only a little.

 

[CivE Bricky]

This whole debate brings to mind the "buy duct tape and plastic" directive....remember that one?

 

[Dleg]

^Not really. That was a paranoia thing, that would only benefit you in the extremely rare event a terrorist attacked your town with a biological agent.

Painting your roof white will give you an immediate, real return on your investment (if you live in a wamr climate and use air conditioning.

It's just a conservation measure, meant to be one of many. I believe it has just been twisted around by others into the "solution for global warming".

Capt: corrugated tin gets pretty hot, too. That's my roof, and the white elastomeric makes a significant difference compared to the bare tin. I can't even get up on a bare tin roof until about an hour after sundown, but I can sit on my white painted roof with no discomfort at noon.

 

[IlPadrino]

but I can sit on my white painted roof with no discomfort at noon.

I don't want to know what you're doing sitting on your roof at noon.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

I don't want to know what you're doing sitting on your roof at noon.

Drinking, I hope.

 

[Supe]

The real reason the Obama administration wants to paint the roofs white: to provide painting jobs to illegals.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

Capt: corrugated tin gets pretty hot, too. That's my roof, and the white elastomeric makes a significant difference compared to the bare tin. I can't even get up on a bare tin roof until about an hour after sundown, but I can sit on my white painted roof with no discomfort at noon.

Pretty loud in a rainstorm, too, as I recall.

 

[Dleg]

Very^^

Drinking, I hope.

Nope - fixing leaks! My renovation contractor made some crucial mistakes with the way he installed the flashing along the edges of the raised parapet wall. If I don't regularly maintain the roofing tar seal along there, it leaks.

My fault for not watching him like a hawk.

ldman:

 

[JoeBoone82]

from NSPE's Daily Design email today:

New York City Mayor Urges Residents To Paint Rooftops White.

The AP (9/24) reports that although New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants New Yorkers to paint their rooftops white to make buildings cooler and more energy efficient...the city hasn't painted hundreds of its own buildings." Although the city "has identified some 300 buildings that could benefit from the simple makeover," no painting has been done. The AP notes, "The mayor's much-hyped 2007 environmental plan noted the benefits of the practice, and the city's overhauled building code in 2008 included cool roof requirements for most new buildings and renovations."