Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The Science Behind White Roofs   [Greg Pollowitz]

It turns out that three huge proponents of the idea to paint the town white are former colleagues of Secretary Chu from the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory (LBNL) and they're looking for their share of stimulus loot:

It's also well timed. Akbari pointed out that by his and his colleagues' calculations, the plan could save Americans $2 billion annually in unspent air conditioning, even after taking into account the increased need for heating in winter. Moreover, he argued, it dovetails with the president's economic and environmental goals.

The Obama administration has made it clear that it wants a substantial portion of the stimulus package to go toward creating a greener economy, but that desire has to be balanced against the imperative to immediately circulate cash and create jobs. Painting or resurfacing roofs or pavement, Akbari said, would nicely fulfill both objectives. The technology exists and is readily available, and since a substantial portion of the country's home and commercial real-estate owners are going to need to re-roof at some point in the near future anyway, it's about as shovel-ready as any proposal currently on the table.

Akbari has thus far not heard back from the government, but he's holding out hope that his funding proposal will be folded into the energy-efficiency provision of the stimulus package.

Why does LBNL need to share in the stimulus funding, exactly? How complicated can the proposal be? Buy paint. Buy rollers. Paint roof. Clean and/or repeat when necessary. Look, ma — I'm a scientist!

05/26 09:00 PMShare