These days, everyone seems to think they have a solution for the climate crisis, but the one I didn’t see coming was Secretary of Energy Steven Chu’s recommendation that by painting roofs and pavements white or light-colored we could reduce global warming.  If the suggestion wasn’t coming from a Nobel prize winning scientist I might think the idea was a tad reductive, but Chu explains that the lighter surfaces would serve the dual purpose of reducing energy demands for air-conditioning, while reflecting planet-warming sunlight back into space.  The proposed plan may take a while to implement (ever hear the expression: “It’s a small world, but I wouldn’t want to paint it”), and will obviously not solve all of our climate concerns, but nonetheless should be taken seriously as the simple change could have a tremendous impact.  Aware of the potential comedy in his suggestion, Chu explains the benefits:

Now you smile, but if you look at all the buildings and make all the roofs white, and if you make the pavement a more concrete-type of colour than a black-type of colour, and you do this uniformly… It’s the equivalent of reducing the carbon emissions due to all the cars in the world by 11 years.

The potential for drastically reducing carbon emissions makes for a good argument, and I could hardly think of an industry that would object to the implementation, except for maybe a company that sells only black paint.  And besides, who wouldn’t want their neighborhood looking like a beautiful white-washed Greek island.  Of course, Obama doesn’t have to worry about repainting his house.  Secretary Chu also recommends that cars could come in lighter shades as well, to help reflect light and radiation, reducing the need to crank the air-conditioner in the summer.  In addition to the white paint, creating more green spaces in cities would help reduce energy demands and eliminate urban heat islands.

Now, I wonder how Secretary Chu feels about wearing white pants after Labor Day…

Photo: sanderovski and linda’s flickr photostream (creative commons)