Green Leaf Report

Today I read an interesting article about the tradeoff between solar panels and reflective white paint in the amount of carbon dioxide prevented. By mimicking the reflective effects of an iceberg, white paint can both cool homes (thus preventing some energy use) and bounce solar radiation back from the surface of the planet.  It’s an important point- fancy technical developments get all the VC funding, while simple modifications could actually have similar impacts.  But the ROI on white paint won’t attract nearly as many glamorous firms to invest and help market the nifty product.

White paint isn’t a perfect universal solution, though.  The chemicals used to make it and the VOCs given off during and after painting make this an entertaining, but not necessarily practical idea.  As part of one LEED team I was on, reflective measurements were taken of the concrete around the office buildings, and we found that a lot of our city infrastructure is much more reflective than expected.  I would still prefer the original grasslands of Texas to the current concrete jungle, but working with what we have, let’s remove the blacktops, keep our concrete light and bright, and install as many green roofs as possible.  It may only make a small dent in the problem, but it’s a start.