A recent study published by researchers at Stanford University shows how the heat island effect has little bearing on global warming and how painting roofs white actually may increase temperatures, writes David Malakoff for The Guardian.
The two researchers, Mark Z. Jacobson and John E. Ten Hoeve, developed a model that "meshed data on land use, vegetation, albedo (the reflective capacity of different land uses) and soil-type. Then, they ran two 20-year-long simulations to see how much heat islands contributed to "gross global warming" (warming before cooling factors) – and what impact a lot of white paint might have."
In the end, the study showed how the urban heat island effect may only contribute 2-4 percent of gross global warming.
White Roofs on the other hand could actually warm the Earth on a global scale. "Although white surfaces are cooler, the increased sunlight they reflect back into the atmosphere by can increase absorption of light by dark pollutants such as black carbon, which increases heating."
FULL STORY: White roofs are not a global warming silver bullet, study finds
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City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research