White Painted Roofs = Lower Energy Consumption

It's been mentioned by the new Energy Secretary Steven Chu and supported by Barack Obama that if we were to paint 30 billion square feet of commercial roof space in the United States white, it would be the equivalent of taking 75 million cars off the road for a year. As white roofs can stay up to 30% cooler in the summer.

This is big idea thinking meant to slowdown global warming but if we take it to a micro-level it certainly couldn't hurt our own energy bill.

Tom Silva of This Old House agrees that changing the reflectivity of your roof will keep your home cooler and he recommends painting your roof with a white elastomeric coating and foregoing the ones containing insulating beads as they've been proven to be just as effective as the non-bead paint.

Hat tip ~ Andrew Sullivan

photo: Runder