Even if you don’t believe the globe is warming, painting roofs and roads white, or some other light color, would sure cut air-conditioning bills and go far in eliminating the heat-island effect. Not that I want the rancho’s roof white. But I don’t have to worry. Simple solutions never appeal to big government. They don’t produce new jobs for the bureaucracy or more tax money for pet projects. Still… Painting roofs and roads white. What a concept.
Via Instapundit.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 
Better yet, why not use the materials for construction that are naturally light-colored instead of painting the black into white?
I think it is possible to find building materials of natural white color (like river gravel) for road construction purpose that will lighten the overall plane. Same with asphalt sheets for roofs: it pays in the long run to invest in chemical research for additives that make roofing product inherently light-colored (or to have reflective qualities). Actually, it might already be researched; I’m constantly surprised at the amount of ingenious materials that are manufactured by myriad American manufacturers.
Ha! – 2 minutes – and voila:
http://www.genflex.com/tpo.aspx
Interesting stuff. Too bad it’s only for commercial or institutional buildings.
I’ll get you in on my [trade] source of building materials:
look up Arcat and find materials and CAD-drawn construction details by Standard Master Format Division.
White roofing search came up with
http://www.arcat.com/search/search.pl
Yeah. Good idea, but our city council demands them red roof tiles…
We at the rancho also like our red roof shingles. But, like good Dems, we would approve a change to force white on other people.