203: Make your roof and pavement white by robbieadler

If you’re re-roofing or building a new home, consider making your roof white. If you’re repaving your driveway do the same. You’ll save money and cut energy use by reducing your need for air conditioning, and you’ll reflect sunlight back into space rather than let it warm the earth’s surface. This is especially true if (like most humans) you live in a warm area; in cooler climates, you’ll have to weigh these benefits against the possibility that a dark roof could warm your house and reduce winter heating needs.

According to the Lawerence Berkley National Laboratory roofs account for 25% of the surface of most cities, and pavement accounts for about 35%. If all were switched to reflective material in 100 major urban areas, it would offset 44 metric gigatons of greenhouse gases, which have been trapping heat in the atmosphere and altering the climate on a potentially dangerous scale. That is more than all the countries on Earth emit in a single year. And, with global climate negotiators focused on limiting a rapid increase in emissions, installing cool roofs and pavements would offset more than 10 years of emissions growth, even without slashing industrial pollution.

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