Increasing Earth’s Albedo While Lowering Your Air Conditioning Costs
We’ve been learning all about albedo in environmental science, but I never really thought of this application: School districts are painting the tops of school buses white to reduce the buses’ internal temperature by an average of 10 degrees.
Businesses and schools, particularly those located in cities – like my alma mater Northeastern (go Huskies!) – are painting their roofs white to offset the effects of global warming and heat island effect (the phenomenon that cities are generally warmer than suburbs due to increased population and building density). White is more reflective than the typical black, and white roofs serve the same function as our diminishing polar ice sheets – they stabilize Earth’s temperature by reflecting the Sun’s energy.
But I guess I never thought of it this way – white roofs could be a great way to harness natural processes and cut down on summertime cooling expenses. In fact, this might be an even better application for this effort. If we lose our polar ice coverage, painting roofs white is going to be a measly effort in comparison, but it’s possible white roofs could have a substantial impact on cooling the interior of those buildings that have them.
Photo credit: Kevin Dooley
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