We’ve been told that US Energy Secretary Steven Chu, is a genius. An absolute genius. The smartest man alive other than President Obama.
Chu’s latest brainstorm would have us combat global warming by painting everything white – roofs, roads, sidewalks, everything gets a coat of white paint.
Unfortunately, the Sydney Daily Telegraph’s Tim Blair did the math on this brilliant strategy:
The total area of the U.S. (50 states + D.C.) equals 9,826,630 km^2.
According to a 2004 study by the U.S. Geophysical Union, all constructed so-called “impervious surfaces” (buildings, roads, parking lots, roofs, etc.) in the USA total a combined 112,610 km^2. Which is a bit less than the total area of Ohio, a bit more than Virginia.
That means we’ve got about 1.14% for Dr. Chu to paint.
That should make a big difference.
This isn’t Chu’s idea. It was actually proposed last year by Hashem Akbari, a scientist based at the prestigious Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.
Eco wackos assume the entire world looks like Manhattan. As anyone who’s ever flown over the country knows, it’s mostly empty. 98.86% empty, in fact.
Blair points out that Chu accentuated his hypocrisy by travelling to and from the meeting in a jet-black SUV.
Someone needs to find out if Chu owns stock in a paint company.
Source: Tim Blair/SyndeyDailyTelegraph
This post was last modified on July 16, 2021
View Comments (9)
All sarc aside, the US navy does this for ships that are in tropical areas. When my ship made a "Persian Excursion" to the Gulf in the late 80's we painted all horizontal surfaces white to reflect the sun. It actually did reduce the inside temperature noticeably. However, we also repainted said surfaces back to gray before returning to the more temperate 'States.
Not taking sides with the eco-nuts, but sometimes they get at least half of a good idea. :-o Sarc still aside, this might be an idea for construction material manufacturers. - introduce a line of white, pale rose, pale yellow, pale green or highly reflective mylar-coated roofing shingles, targeted for hotter temperature areas. Gotta be less heat-absorbing than black, gray or red, and could compliment siding/paint color. Make a fashion statement with your home while saving money on lower cooling costs. Metallic silver reflective roof shingles - would that be cool or what? ;-)
Could possibly be a bit of an economic boost ( helping the 'small people' that manufacture/sell/install) IF it could get an Energy Star ™ rating and a tax credit, plus was inexpensive enough for the average home-owner.
Aww, crap, I wish this information was available earlier. I just got finished painting my roof white. It looks great...but now its raining and the paint is barely dry. The chemicals in the paint are now going down the roof, through the gutters and into the drain. Hopefully fish and frogs and birds and insects dont mind all the chemicals I just put into the environment.
They'll be alright, Doug. They've been adapting to our presence for centuries now.
wackyvorlon
Smart guy, and when it's cold, since most of the US has cold seasons, it will cost a hell of a lot more energy to heat...oh, wait, you mean we didn't get that far along the logic path? Ooops.
How about the environmental foot print of the paint, the paint cannisters, their costs of manufacture, transportation and removal? The chemicals given off while the paint flakes, heats and corrodes and then the constant need to reapply....we didn't get that far in our analysis either, did we? Ooops again.
This is why the Left makes one mockery of it's stupidity after another, it never thinks, it reacts on feelings, like a child with a temper tantrum and ADD.
Damn, when it snows, the snow pile man won't know what he's plowing over.
Won't all that paint put a bunch of chemicals in the air?
This is stupid. He was advocating painting *roofs* white. Not everything. And painting a roof white can result in significant energy savings, simply because the house is being heated less by the sun.
STFU
So, Wacky? Great name, by the way, very descriptive. If painting the roof white causes an energy savings by reducing the amount of cooling necessary, what about when the weather calls for heating the house? Time for another coat of paint on the roof? How much energy is used in the manufacture and transportation of all this paint?