If we painted EVERY Roof of EVERY building WHITE?

Question

The reason i ask to be honest is global warming. with the polar ice caps melting one of the problems (and again i say ONE of the problems) is without the white snow/ice more or the suns rays ar absobed as opposed to reflected. With ALL the flat roofs of EVERY house and building in EVERY country would it not help? think of how much space that would replace in the polars?

Answer 1

1. If you painted every roof in the world white it would not equal the surface area covered by the ice being lost.

2. The paint must be manufactured which would mean using petroleum products and producing more CO2

3. Why spend money on an ineffective idea when conservation will do more and cost less

Answer 2

It could be a start

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/12/...

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/968...

http://www.thermoguy.com/

Specially if we used it alongside other solutions.

The best way of course is to reduce our level of energy consumption. Then next to replace technology and systems with less energy intensive ones

Answer 3

Painting all roof surfaces white could be compared to lighting one little candle rather than curse the darkness.

Yes, if all buildings, vehicles, parking lots, driveways, and roadways were white we might increase global reflectivity by 2%.

But the heat gain in cities, in particular could make life a bit more livable during periods of extreme heat. Go a bit further, and make all the walls of buildings white too.

When we have dark red bricks on a building it does take in a lot of heat.

Paint on a blacktop surface may require some materials evaluation.

Answer 4

My roof is already white.  It has been for 3 months.

More than that, my whole property has been white.

Answer 5

It would also help if we stopped burning fossil fuels.

Have you thought about painting roads white too?