Photo Credit: NREL, Department of Energy

July 28, 2011

White paint can go a long way in reducing carbon emissions. Environmental and energy experts say painting roofs and road surfaces white can help save money, energy and drastically reduce carbon emissions. According to the White Roof Project, painting every roof white could save a year’s worth of emissions. Project officials say white roofs can reflect 85 percent of the earth’s sunlight compared to 20 percent for dark roofs. Buildings with white roofs also stay up to 35 degrees cooler which saves electricity needed to cool the building. Black surfaces in the sun can also become up to 70 degrees hotter than most reflective white surfaces.

Bill Clinton is the latest big name to endorse the idea of white roofs. He told Newsweek magazine that painting black tar surfaces white is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to save money and energy. Clinton says the cost of paint and labor would be recovered within a week for most buildings. Energy Secretary Steven Chu also backs the idea of white roofs and surfaces. He says whitening the world’s roofs and roads would have the same effect on global warming as removing all of the world’s cars for eleven years.

The White Roof Project is recruiting volunteers in New York to help cover all of the roofs in the East Village white by the end of August. Mayor Michael Bloomberg also started a program to hire and train young workers to paint New York’s roofs white. Large cities like New York are especially vulnerable to the increased heat and emissions of black surfaces. Cities with a population of one million or more can be up to 22 degrees hotter than nearby suburbs. Heat trapping black pavement and rooftops in large cities create what is called an “Urban Heat Island”.

If 5 percent of roofs in the U.S. were covered with white paint every year, it’s estimated they would all be transformed by the year 2030. In addition to energy savings, white roofs could also save $5 billion dollars in energy costs in the U.S. and save 14 power plants’ worth of energy in 11 large cities.