What do you think of this for reducing the human impact on global warming?

Question

If the dark sea waters and asphalt, tar shingles, etc. absorb heat and the white ice caps reflect heat away from the planet like a giant mirror...

What if we white-washed all black-topped surfaces including roofs, highways and streets to increase the reflective surface area and decrease the absorptive surface area?

It would cost little, but do you think it could assist in slowing heat absorption?

How many people/cities/nations would have to participate for it to work?

Answer 1

roofs in hot countries are often painted white to reflect light to keep the house cooler, it does work.

but there are not enough roofs to make more than a tiny change in the average albedo of the earth, nowhere near as big an area as the ice that is melting.

Answer 2

What would be used as paint, latex, enamel, or oil?  What about all the runoff when it rains?  That would pollute the groundwater if there is enough of it.  Chemicals and pigments are used to make weather-proof paints.  Then how are the paints to be applied?  Spraying fills the air with paint particles.  There's a lot to consider here.

Answer 3

This doesn't work, i think..

Ok, think about it like this, snow is white and it reflects sunlight.

It's the same with white stuff.

White stuff is shiny and similar to mirrors.

What way can light reflect, up, of course, and if every house, apartment, mansion.. etc.. had a white roof, it would probably be powerful enough to make holes into the Ozone layer.

The Ozone Layer having holes is the reason why there is Global Warming.

So, in a way, it is a waste of white paint, time and money.

It will roughly end up the same, worse or better.

Answer 4

Maybe it would work if we lived on Coruscant.

So, humans should expand their population and infrastructure until the entire globe is covered. Then, paint everything white.

Problem solved.

Answer 5

I'm tempted to give you a star for your question simply because I like the 'lateral thinking' aspect.

Your idea could possibly cause a negligible change if everyone in the world participated in your experiment, but would have no real impact other than making the world a more dangerous place to live.

For example, it would be almost impossible to drive during most daylight hours, since you would be literally 'blinded by the light' being reflected off the road surface.

The fact of the matter is however, that man could not effect global temperatures one way or the other.

It is only arrogance, ignorance, and stupidity, which makes us feel that we have that type of control over nature.

Also, there is no proper scientific evidence to support man-made contributions to so-called 'greenhouse gases' could affect global temperatures.

Enjoy what we have now because another major volcanic explosion could send us back into another ice age which would be far more difficult to deal with!

Answer 6

Sorry but it won't work. The reason for global warming is because after visible light hits the surface, it becomes infrared rays. The carbon dioxide/water vapor etc. don't let infrared ray pass back into space. That is why the heat gets trapped.

Answer 7

that was pretty much what  i was gonna tell you, nice to see that somebody out there is still trring to save the world though