PAINT ALL ROOFS BRIGHT WHITE

THE Greeks have known since the dawn of civilisation that painting houses white reflects the sun’s rays, and keeps buildings pleasantly cool.

The same trick could massively cut carbon emissions in hot countries worldwide, according to researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.

They say that replacing nonreflective, dark roofing materials with a white roof on an average sized house would drastically reduce the need for air conditioning and cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 10 metric tons a year.

Indeed, why shouldn’t we paint everything white — and reflect significant amounts of solar energy back into space? Again, scientists are taking this seemingly bizarre idea very seriously.

Some are proposing that we cover the Arctic with white plastic, both to preserve its remaining ice and make up for the loss of reflectiveness caused by massive glaciers melting away.

Another proposal involves filling the ocean with a sun-reflecting foamy, white froth of ‘microbubbles’. The froth would be produced by pumps attached to dams, reservoirs and ocean-going ships, say supporters of the idea.

The only problem is that it would take enormous amounts of energy to produce this froth — which might mean burning up a whole new load of greenhouse gases.