White roof call
After visiting a just-completed open home on a new large subdivision in Whangarei and looking around at many black roofs I was astounded at the lack of scientific knowledge and environmental awareness architects and town planners have.
In Whangarei hundreds of new houses are being built in close proximity with trendy black roofs, which will spell disaster in the summertime causing a local greenhouse effect.
In many parts of the world the idea of light coloured roofs is beginning to be understood and is one of the fastest and cheapest ways to help reduce global warming by copying the way that polar ice reflects sunlight back into space and cools the planet. When sunlight falls on a dark roof much of it is absorbed and converted into heat. Scientific research has shown that a flat white roof, the size of a modest house, reflects enough sunlight to cancel the global warming of about ten tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. Cool Roofs work is going on in New York and the EU, so why does New Zealand appear to be unaware of the consequences of grouping many dark roofs together?
The White Roofs project is an immediate action that could be taken up when people feel helpless. I think that people really need to ask themselves if they really care about the planet enough to take care or if they just want to be trendy!
It would be interesting to know if the New Zealand Government, especially the Green Party and the minister for the environment, is investigating the scientific research into the matter.
Beryl McGunnigle, Whangārei (abridged)