White Roofs Could Save a Year’s Worth of Global CO2 Emissions
An infographic created by the White Roof Project, an initiative that wants to help cover the world's black roofs with white paint, illustrates some impressive statistics about the power of white roofs, including the fact that the transition from black to white roofs could prevent the emission of 24 billion metric tons of CO2, the same amount of CO2 emitted globally in 2010.
The project says that if we covered just 5 percent of roofs with white paint per year, we'd be done by 2030. White roofs can reflect 85 percent of sunlight compare to 20 percent for black roofs and buildings with white roofs stay up to 35 degrees cooler, which means less electricity required for cooling the buildings. In large cities, white roofs also curb the heat island effect, cooling the city as a whole.
In addition to the emissions savings, white roofs could save 14 power plants' worth of energy in 11 large cities, save $5 billion in energy costs in the U.S., reduce smog, blackout risk and heart-related deaths and Bill Clinton has said it's the quickest, cheapest thing we can do. So, what are we waiting for?
If you live in NYC, you can volunteer for the White Roof Project or adopt a building. The project plans to cover the roofs of an entire East Village block in white paint this August. You can view the entire infographic here.
via GOOD