There is new evidence that global climate change can be reversed to a great extent by simply painting the roofs of buildings and homes in the world’s biggest cities. Research conducted at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory suggests that a great deal of carbon dioxide that becomes trapped in the atmosphere could be offset by simply reflecting the sun’s rays back out into space with white roofs.
Physicist Hashkem Akbari addressed the California Climate Change Research Conference this week and reported the results of the study. Akbari claims that by simply replacing black roof tiles with a reflective white surface, the average American home could offset as much as 10 metric tons of greenhouse gases.
To Los Angeles Times reports that home and building roofs account for approximately one quarter of all surface space in major cities — another 35% is attributed to pavement. If all of these surfaces were changed over to white reflective material or paint throughout the major cities of the world, more than 44 metric gigatons of greenhouse gases could be offset, more than is actually emitted by every city on earth any year.
Akbari’s research shows that approximately 10 years of carbon emissions could be offset practically overnight, simply by painting or recovering the surfaces of our major cities. As a side benefit, changing over to white roofs could cut air-conditioning expenses by an estimated 20% according to some experts, while reducing the so-called “urban heat island” effect, or the tendency of urban areas to absorb considerably more heat than rural areas.
And even more good news: by reducing the impact of the urban heat island effect, physicists claim that the cooler temperatures would lessen the effects of smog in urban areas.
While Mr. Akbari’s research certainly sounds impressive, there is also skepticism from some quarters about the ability of countries around the world to coordinate and pull off such a grand and far-reaching plan — simple though it may be. Within the United States alone, there are thousands of different local zoning regulations that would have to be considered. And the cost of converting or painting black asphalt to a white surface could be expensive, and potentially cause traffic problems on major highways.
Multiplying these issues by scores of countries around the world could make Akbari’s “white surface” plan tricky to implement. Still, according to many experts, if only 10% of roofs and roads are converted to a white surface in the world’s largest cities, it would offset carbon emissions for one year, which is certainly a good start.
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