Turns out all we may need to stop climate change is 139 billion gallons of super-duper white paint::According to one professor, we may be able to stop climate change if we used a new super white paint to cover the entire United States

  • astropenguin5@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    according to this the total land area of built up human development and infrastructure is also around 1%, seems a hell of a lot easier to mandate every building have a white roof. Especially considering most buildings have black roofs, it will be even more of a difference. Also will reduce energy consumption from AC because, as said in the article buildings panted with it have reduced need for cooling.

    Roads could also maybe be painted or have a whiter material used, might make it harder to drive though

      • astropenguin5@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yep, that’s a great thing we need to be doing too. There is no silver bullet for climate change, we need to be doing everyb possible thing at once. Cutting all carbon output/using green energy, better agriculture and farming practices, etc.

    • Obi@sopuli.xyz
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      1 year ago

      Might not make it harder to drive per se but it would definitely mean I would need to wear sunglasses while driving at all times (during daylight).

      • astropenguin5@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yeah thats basically what I meant by harder to drive, definitely would have to wear sunglasses all the time in the day

    • Coolcoder360@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I think white roads could be a problem with snow, usually the only good way to find the road in a snowstorm is to look for the darkness, no darkness and you can’t tell the road from the ground covered in snow.

      • astropenguin5@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Oh yeah that’s a good point too. Probably not actually practical. Also the super special paint almost certainly would not take being driven on by thousands of vehicles very well.

    • PoliticalAgitator@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Even glossing over the more complex problems with the idea, sooner or later we’re going to run out of things to paint white.

      It’s another dead end idea thats being wheeled out by neoliberals so they can keep their snouts in the trough a little longer.

      • GreyBeard@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        There is no one solution to climate change, but requiring lighter roofs for all new builds/replacements would be a simple step to start with. It doesn’t just increase the amount of light reflected back out to space, but it also significantly reduces cooling requirements, meaning less power required during peak hours.

        When it comes time to change my roof, I will be considering lighter shades.