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Something I have been thinking about for years: black attracts heat, right? So why do we not have a worldwide initiative to turn anything that is black to white

Something I have been thinking about for years: black attracts heat, right? So why do we not have a worldwide initiative to turn anything that is black to white. Primary uses I am thinking are roofs of houses, and pavement on streets. I remember as a kid painting roofs on my Dad's commercial properties in Florida with reflective paint in order to reduce cooling costs of the properties, which ended up working pretty well. If climate change really is the threat they say it is, why are we not starting with the simple and obvious solutions first that are super easy to deploy/implement?

adrianN 7y ago
Increasing the albedo is one geoengineering strategy that is being discussed regularly. But it doesn't help with other negative aspects of increased CO2 concentrations like ocean acidification.
teshier-A 7y ago
Do you have any idea how much surface there would be to cover outside of your own backyard for this to be effective ? Are you aware that 1/3rd of the Earth's surface is covered with snow at some point of the year but that snow cover has been declining for decades ? It truly boggles my mind that you think painting stuff white is the first step to take to take on climate change.
- llukas 7y ago
  http://www.whiteroofproject.org/faq http://www.whiteroofproject.org/faq It can reduce energy consumption for start... and you already might need to paint your roof...
- ForHackernews 7y ago
  Part of the problem with climate change is that it's too big for anyone to intuitively comprehend. The scope of the disaster (both in timescale and magnitude) is beyond anything humans deal with in their everyday lives, so laypeople are prone to unhelpful observations.
voisin 7y ago
>If climate change really is the threat they say it is... When can we stop couching our discussion of climate change with clauses like this? Also, the UN has some numbers on what happens if we increase the albedo of the planet. IIRC, the issue is that almost nothing we do can counteract the loss of albedo from the melting icecap.
- burroisolator 7y ago
  I think it helps to understand that only 0.37% of the world's land mass is artificial covering [0]. It makes sense that counteracting the loss of albedo from the melting icecap would be difficult as that would imply drastically increasing the artificial covering while making up for the loss of albedo from what is removed during the process. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_cover https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_cover
- bubblewrap 7y ago
  When the climate change has actually happened.
  - Brometheus 7y ago
    Climate change happens right now! https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/styles/large/public/2016-07/temperature-figure2-2016.png https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/styles/large/publ...
    - bubblewrap 7y ago
      But obviously not to the degree that something dramatic has happened to the world. And a lot of assumptions presumably go into that chart, that are not shown on the chart. Anyway, I don't want to discuss climate change. Just saying there is no dramatic impact yet - once there is, maybe the language will change...
      - irb 7y ago
        Due to the gradual nature of the change to the climate in comparison to the average human lifetime and the shifting baseline of people's perceptions, many people will never acknowledge that there has been a dramatic impact.
arethuza 7y ago
That doesn't seem a bad idea - it is like polar sea ice reflecting heat. However, you'd need to calculate what the benefit would actually be and compare that with the impact of suddenly manufacturing and applying a lot more paint. It might be worth it, it might not.
gyaniv 7y ago
Actually some places are already working in those solutions as well, like basically painting roads white, and it has been proved that in those areas it's not as hot in the summer so there is less power consumption for AC. (see https://www.cbsnews.com/news/los-angeles-is-painting-some-of-its-streets-white-and-the-reasons-why-are-pretty-cool/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/los-angeles-is-painting-some-of...) However, that is still very expansive, and you need to paint a lot of surface areas (counting those that you can even paint) for it to make a significant difference (in world-wide terms).
Tepix 7y ago
If you have a white roof on your house, you need more heating in the winter. Does that help? > If climate change really is the threat they say it is, If you're not past the "if" stage... you're not worth talking to.
hairytrog 7y ago
There are a lot of other solutions. https://royalsociety.org/~/media/royal_society_content/policy/publications/2009/8693.pdf https://royalsociety.org/~/media/royal_society_content/polic...

adrianN 7y ago

Increasing the albedo is one geoengineering strategy that is being discussed regularly. But it doesn't help with other negative aspects of increased CO2 concentrations like ocean acidification.

teshier-A 7y ago

Do you have any idea how much surface there would be to cover outside of your own backyard for this to be effective ? Are you aware that 1/3rd of the Earth's surface is covered with snow at some point of the year but that snow cover has been declining for decades ? It truly boggles my mind that you think painting stuff white is the first step to take to take on climate change.

llukas 7y ago
http://www.whiteroofproject.org/faq http://www.whiteroofproject.org/faq It can reduce energy consumption for start... and you already might need to paint your roof...
ForHackernews 7y ago
Part of the problem with climate change is that it's too big for anyone to intuitively comprehend. The scope of the disaster (both in timescale and magnitude) is beyond anything humans deal with in their everyday lives, so laypeople are prone to unhelpful observations.

voisin 7y ago

>If climate change really is the threat they say it is... When can we stop couching our discussion of climate change with clauses like this? Also, the UN has some numbers on what happens if we increase the albedo of the planet. IIRC, the issue is that almost nothing we do can counteract the loss of albedo from the melting icecap.

burroisolator 7y ago
I think it helps to understand that only 0.37% of the world's land mass is artificial covering [0]. It makes sense that counteracting the loss of albedo from the melting icecap would be difficult as that would imply drastically increasing the artificial covering while making up for the loss of albedo from what is removed during the process. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_cover https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_cover
bubblewrap 7y ago
When the climate change has actually happened.
- Brometheus 7y ago
  Climate change happens right now! https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/styles/large/public/2016-07/temperature-figure2-2016.png https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/styles/large/publ...
  - bubblewrap 7y ago
    But obviously not to the degree that something dramatic has happened to the world. And a lot of assumptions presumably go into that chart, that are not shown on the chart. Anyway, I don't want to discuss climate change. Just saying there is no dramatic impact yet - once there is, maybe the language will change...
    - irb 7y ago
      Due to the gradual nature of the change to the climate in comparison to the average human lifetime and the shifting baseline of people's perceptions, many people will never acknowledge that there has been a dramatic impact.

arethuza 7y ago

That doesn't seem a bad idea - it is like polar sea ice reflecting heat. However, you'd need to calculate what the benefit would actually be and compare that with the impact of suddenly manufacturing and applying a lot more paint. It might be worth it, it might not.

gyaniv 7y ago

Actually some places are already working in those solutions as well, like basically painting roads white, and it has been proved that in those areas it's not as hot in the summer so there is less power consumption for AC. (see https://www.cbsnews.com/news/los-angeles-is-painting-some-of-its-streets-white-and-the-reasons-why-are-pretty-cool/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/los-angeles-is-painting-some-of...) However, that is still very expansive, and you need to paint a lot of surface areas (counting those that you can even paint) for it to make a significant difference (in world-wide terms).

Tepix 7y ago

If you have a white roof on your house, you need more heating in the winter. Does that help? > If climate change really is the threat they say it is, If you're not past the "if" stage... you're not worth talking to.

hairytrog 7y ago

There are a lot of other solutions. https://royalsociety.org/~/media/royal_society_content/policy/publications/2009/8693.pdf https://royalsociety.org/~/media/royal_society_content/polic...