Upon reflection

I crank an eyebrow...

Obama's climate guru: Paint your roof white!

As a potential, simple, 'why not?', as this comes from the new President of the US's Secretary of Energy it has to be given a full and fair hearing.

However, I do wonder whether a full ground back to ground enviROI analysis for such a proposal has been carried out. Ignoring the aesthetics issues, the correct paint needs to be produced, applied... and maintained. Looking at an exterior wall to my property, after just a few years the paint is flaking, being subject to aggressive seasonable weather conditions.

So I, or blokes I hire, are to invest in regular multi-litre purchases of paint (what is its manufacture consequences?) to cover a pretty hefty area, on a regular lifetime basis? That's a lot of raw materials and man-hours.

I am also not so sure how many traditional tile materials will take to retroactive application of an alternative coating for which they were not designed.

What may be more productive is with built-in planning, whereby reflective tiles are manufactured and required to installed with new-builds and renovations.

Equally, as they seem to dig our road up four times a year, maybe the various authorities who get excited about such box-ticking efforts might like to ponder light(er) tarmac too?

And all farmers could be required to grow only year-round, light-foliage crops? Is an all rape diet practical?

Telegraph - Obama's green guru calls for white roofs

Guardian - White roofs and 'cool' cars - Obama's US energy secretary gives Prince Charles tips on tackling climate change

One thing I do note in all this is that the press release on this 'gathering' of 'great minds' has been pretty much run as is by most of the MSM. Not too encouraging on the calibre of science reporting and scrutiny in this arena.

Some that is green can be black or white?

Black car ban hysteria misses the point

And here was me thinking it made sense!

Mind you, imagining how eco-guys like the Prez and his motorcade of Suburban's and the limos of most green advocates with better business models than some would fare was proving fun.

The agricultural albedo effect

We've had the mirrors in space idea, and we have people experimenting with dumping iron filings into the oceans to encourage algal blooms, amongst many other strange geo-engineering ideas.

Now scientists have come up with the shiny plant idea. Let's grow lots of crops with shiny leaves and the albedo effect "could reduce maximum daytime temperatures in agricultural regions by as much as 1.9C".

There's that great word again: 'could'.

ADDENDUM by Junkk Male - Great minds...?

The problem: as clear as day...to night

As I watch the BBC 'environmental' 'correspondent' faithfully relate Mr. Brown's pearls of wisdom (apparently, he's going to make it easier to ban plastic bags as a point worthy of note!!), check this.

I just got it from a very dear, and talented, relative the other side of the world, who gives credibility to 'senior surfer' in all its accolades. She finds awesome stuff and sends it on!

It's from a PowerPoint of views from a space mission. Let me know if you'd like me to send it on. My only caveat is the provenance is unverified, so it's unclear whether anything has been 'enhanced'. I'd say it looks about right, though.

Or... maybe I can post it here??? IT-vestigator hat on.

What's big, yellow...

I was never good at those shark in the custard jokes.

Two letters in reply to a piece I missed in the Indy (which I am sure is traceable):

Sir: Your feature on the huge area of land occupied by oilseed rape (12 May) made me recall a conversation with my father, a former airline pilot. I remarked about how much of France and England were covered in yellow fields and he said that this was how you could tell, from 37,000 feet, where the boundaries of the EU were. Present airline pilots may like to confirm if this is still the case. This would seem to indicate that the supply of oilseed rape products is determined by subsidy, rather than demand.

Sir: "The Rape of Spring"?(article, 12 May) "Garish"; "Slicks of Day-Glo yellow"; "an intercontinental crisis"? What an emotive introduction to a report that fails to find any evidence for a major role for oilseed rape in hay fever. This is a crop that produces a useful and healthy oil, which could also help to cut our carbon dioxide production.

Interesting. I am also keen to understand how it helps cut our CO2 production.

This allows me to air one of my odd ponders, like what happens to the inland climate if we suck all the energy out of the air coming in from the sea with wind farms (just asking - it may be minimal).

I remember an album from my youth, called, I think, Albedo 0.39, which was the reflectivity of the Earth.

My ponder is what the effect of such high reflectivity crops are vs. a darker green on the whole sun beating down thing? One has to presume there may be one if the coverage gets significant.

It struck me as I was leaving the UK for Geneva to help save the planet with RE:tie. By air, I have to admit. But as the Indy did point out yesterday - Deforestation: The hidden cause of global warming (I must mention two things. One is that I do recall us all being a bit worried about cutting down rain forests even when I was a kid, so how hidden it is/was escapes me. Two: that's no excuse to keep on wasting away now) - the whole travel thing rather pales (pun intended) in comparison to other effects... possibly.

Grist - If not an answer, a lead to further info