Want to know an easy way to outwit climate change? It’s simple. All you have to do is paint your roof white. In New York City a man by the name of Herb Van Gant pointed an infrared gun at an unpainted grey shingle to measure the temperature. It read a scorching 143 degrees Fahrenheit. He then pointed the gun at the roof he had just painted white. It read a cooler 98 degrees Fahrenheit and decreasing. Van Gant painted just one coat and had already noticed a 45 degree difference in temperature when he was on the roof. He assumed since it is already cooler on the outside the temperature had to be cooler on the inside of the building. This means to him saving energy. The idea of painting roofs white is sponsored by New York City as a “Cool Roof program.” Van Gant was a part of a volunteer group that paints roofs to combat Global warming.
Energy Secretary Steve Chu said that, “Cool roofs are one of the quickest and lowest-cost ways we can reduce our global carbon emissions and begin the hard work of slowing climate change.” California energy commissioner Arthur Rosenfeld says “That a 1000 square-foot painted white can save 10 tons of carbon dioxide.” This amount of carbon dioxide savings is equivalent to one cars emission over a period of two and a half years. If you painted roofs white across the country a potential total of 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide could be eliminated. To reach levels this high you would have to take 20 million cars off the road for 20 years.
“Cool roofs are one of the quickest and lowest-cost ways we can reduce our global carbon emission and begin the hard work of slowing climate change,” said Chu. The idea of painting a roof white would only keep your home cool in the summer; it has no impact on keeping your house warm in the winter. According to the Department of Energy, “There are no federal tax credits for roof coatings, but there is a tax credit for using cool materials when replacing a roof.”
If you are looking into making a cool roof, information can be found here.
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