I see a black road and I want it painted white.
In a Washington Post op-ed today, that “septical environmentalist,” Bjorn Lomborg, advocated whitewashing roof-tops and streets to reflect sunlight in hopes of reducing the alleged warming impacts of manmade greenhouse gas emissions.
In support of his proposal, Lomborg cited a recernt paper by Hashem Akbari estimating that every 100 square feet of black surface painted white would offset one ton of carbon dioxide emitted. Akbari estimates that if all urban roof-tops and streets were painted white, about 44 billion tons of CO2-equivalent would be offset. Akbari claims this would offset the effect of the growth in emissions rates for 11 years.
Akbari estimates that roof-tops and streets cover about 910 billion square meters of the Earth’s surface. Given the coverage of a gallon of paint (about 400 square feet or 37.2 square meters), it would only take about 27 billion cans of paint (allowing for 10 percent waste) to do the job. This would be great for the paint industry which only sells about 630 million gallons of paint annually in the U.S. And of course, once we finish painting the world white, it will be time for another coat. BTW, it costs about $8 per gallon to dispose of paint, about $20 billion for the amount of paint at issue.
Lomborg concludes his op-ed with,
Obviously, whether it involves dikes or buckets of white paint, adaptation is not a long-term solution to global warming. Rather, it will enable us to get by while we figure out the best way to address the root causes of man-made climate change. This may not seem like much, but at a time when fears of a supposedly imminent apocalypse threaten to swamp rational debate about climate policy, it’s worth noting that coping with climate change is something we know how to do.
So Lomborg apparently wants us to spend trillions of dollars continually whitewashing the world while “we” figure out how to address those “root causes of man-made climate change.” Of course, Lomborg has already decided what needs to be done:
Ultimately, we’re not going to solve any of these problems until we figure out a way to stop pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Meet the new Al Gore. Same as the old Al Gore.
Let us not forget that CO2 is such a rare species in air and such a poor absorber of IR that it only contributes 0.1% of the atmospheric heating. Water vapor does 99.9% Any sharp junior high school science student can figure this out in five minutes.
The final IPCC Report “Physics” section includes one sentence stating that CO2 concentrations follow temperature rises! It is not the other way around. This dashes their whole game and it is right in their own report! Does anyone with a brain ever read this stuff?
Adrian Vance beat me to it. Painting roofs white happens under the supposed green house gas blanket, i.e. it should not affect global temperature.
Oddly, IPCC research indicates changing the Earth’s albedo (painting it white) DOES affect climate change. Talk about junk science!
BTW, there are additional color choices. The US Army developed an olive-drab paint that reflects more heat than white many years ago. No need to abandon ‘green’ just to reflect heat.
Do we have to paint ALL the roofs white? Wouldn’t it be better to paint just the right number of roofs in the right places so that we can get the exact global temperature we want? Or maybe there is some other color which we can paint all the roofs that will change the global temperature to the precise number that is wanted. Baby Blue, perhaps…
Better yet, why don’t we just prevent the poor people in other countries from building homes and paving their roads. This will cost much less and then we can do whatever we want!
Can you imagine driving on a sunny day on a white road ? you would need double UV protected sunglasses to even begin to get where you want to go . if no sun glasses then you will be snow blind before you get to your destination. I drove during a bright day and had only drove about twenty miles and had to stop and get a pair of sunglasses before I went blind. Are these people so drained of any intelligence from stuffing millions in their pockets that they can’t think . It is just another way of getting the cap an trade back up and running . no one believes this crap other than a few do gooders that want to be part of saving the earth. They do not realize they are playing into the hands of the people that want to rule the world and have access to all the money . It begins with Soros and ends at the UN and Gore, they are in it to take billions in profit and not provide any service or goods. It is a hoax plain as day . When will they stop trying? maybe never because I do not think they have a chance of getting it through congress and the senate . I will keep writing the letters but I need others to do the same or they may sneak it past us while we sleep.
Lomborg is a Judas nitwit to whom some “Green” or communist, “one worlder” billionaire has given at least $1 million for his books and film projects.
A white roof reflects IR back to air to heat it in a “second bite of the apple” that any junior high school science student understands, but the average American Democratic, member of a party named with a verb, is too stupid to figure out.
You too can speak “Conservative.” See: http://adrianvance.blogspot.com “Two Minute Conservative,” daily 300 word, two minute topic intros for broadcasters, opinion page editors and dinner table illuminators. Also on Kindle as “The Two Minute Conservative.” Drive liberal progressives nuts.