It took 20 nobel prize winners...
 

to come up with this
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/ear...ite-roofs.html

forgive me for finding this hard to believe


"If you look at all the buildings and if you make the roofs white and if you make the pavement more of a concrete type of colour rather than a black type of colour and if you do that uniformally, that would be the equivalent of... reducing the carbon emissions due to all the cars in the world by 11 years – just taking them off the road for 11 years," he said.

LOL that is too much.
On a related note, I was behind a car in traffic this afternoon with a bumper sticker "Let's Go Green"...seconds later the driver flicked a cigarette butt out the window.

sounds like a Jets fan

00000000!!

Whatever happen to acid rain?

Always wear light colors when I'm cruisin' the So Cal coast in the convertible. :cool:

its not even debatable that black absorbs heat where as white reflects heat.

interesting proposal but dont know if there is any way to have all the people in the world paint their roof's white. and basically all the roads in the world would have to be re-done. would create a ton of jobs, would also cost a TON of money and doesnt seem possible really.

It doesnt really matter what the US does about climate change. It has to be a world wide change. Nothing that one country does is going to affect the world unless everyone goes along.

i'm not painting my roof. i don't even know that it's possible. actually, i thought it sounded overly simplistic. but what do i know, i've never won a Nobel. :rolleyes:

Farakhan called today and wants to know why the roofs have to be painted...white?????

Try the veal...we'll be here till thursday.:p

Sure it does, because we are one of the biggest contributors. Nobody may care what Ruwanda does, but the US? Yes, as "the" industrialized nation, we matter.

I don't know if you've ever re-roofed your house, but choice in roof color is influenced greatly by where you live - light colors often chosen in southern areas to reflect the heat and keep the attic cooler (thus the house), dark in the north (helps heat the house in winter, etc)

Most city roofs have flat, black, asphalted roofs. Trouble is, there's not a good substitute for black roofing asphalt. So another "thing" becoming very popular is roof gardens - even things like planting a whole acre of roof in short wildflowers. Stops the heat reflectivity of the black roofs. Keeps the building insulated all seasons. Helps with rain runoff/flooding locally, too

way back when, when i was in high school, i used to do construction work, including roofing. we just had ours redone last year, it's a lighter brown color. can't answer for everyone, but my roof color was based on the color of the brick exterior. my point was that i don't think you can paint shingles. :D
we installed attic fans to help keep the attic a bit cooler, and help ventilate it. also had a top of the line heating/air unit installed when the compressor went tits up a few months back.

as for whether our country matters as far as helping with emissions....there are a lot of other countries who spew a lot more pollution than we do, since a lot of other countries can be as populated or moreso, without all the epa regulations that we face. i think as a country we're doing our part, but some others (cough, cough China, india, etc) may not be doing theirs. but they still point at us since we're such a popular target.

a million comedians out of work.....:)

okay....i have a serious question...and i am not going to argue im just curious.

How many people believe that global warming is a problem? Or not a problem?

Reading the article, they weren't talking about single family dwellings <g> (and this isn't "what 20 Nobel prizewinners" came up with, either, it's just what the US guy said)

You're right, we are light-years ahead of China on industrial emissions, but we don't do that much extra in the overall world scheme, really. We are not only a popular target, we are a valid target. We Americans are tied very tightly to our freedom to do whatever we want, consequences to others be damned.

But what other countries do doesn't matter to me. What we do, does.

i guess i don't take it very seriously. i remember when i was a teen that all the talk was about the impending ice age...now it's the impending global warming and resultant flooding. like politics, it seems our weather goes from one extreme to the other. some scientists say it's real, others that it isn't. how do you know who to believe?
i know one scientist i wouldn't believe- that scientist from russia that says a ufo saved us from a meteor. :zz:

thing is....and i know some don't want to consider it, or choose not to....but this planet is doomed eventually regardless. the sun isn't going to be around in its current state forever you know.

as for us being a 'valid' target...i don't agree with that. sometimes yes, but not on everything. i think we're way ahead of the curve on a lot of stuff. but it's easy for someone elsewhere to just say 'boooo evil u.s.a' and have no one argue.

I don't think global warming is a "belief". It's proven beyond doubt that it's occuring. And faster than predicted 30 years ago. Man's contribution is also clearly measurable. Yes, the earth goes through cycles of warmth and cooling. Industrialization has definitely fanned the flames.

Is it a problem? Yes, one thinks it's sad polar bears will be gone in most of the wild in 20-30 years. If you realize more species have gone extinct in the last 100 years (due to population, industrialization, etc - humans) than in the last 10,000.

It's sad many beaches will be gone in 50 years, and tons of landmass lost, due to rising ocean waters. It's sad agricultural areas will be devastated by climate change and unrecoverable for use, as we have so many people in the world to feed.

The other side is there will be new species that will evolve to the new climate , there will also be new beaches , it doesnt take that long for things to break down and make new sand . We as humans will adapt and improvise to our new climate , we will evolve just like the rest of nature.