Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Climate Change Solutions: If You're Smart, You'll be Ahead of the Curve (or flat)

Over at ADAMANT, Russell Seitz gives a small -Heh- for being a step or two ahead of The Economist:

HEH!

E8_plane2a_2_3 Adamant does try to keep six months ahead of
The Economist

This time we managed nine:
Geometry is all
Nov 22nd 2007 The Economist print edition




Climateer asks:
How about being seven years ahead of Bjorn Lomborg on albedo!?
(again, not Mr. Gore's climate change income)

Here's Mr. Seitz in the August 21, 2000 Forbes:

On My Mind
Tim W. Ferguson, 08.21.00

RUSSELL SEITZ ASSOCIATE, OLIN INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES

Al Gore's answer to global warming is raising fossil fuel taxes. This may be as irrelevant as it is expensive and intrusive. For the greenhouse effect is not driven by fossil fuel burning, but by the power of the sun. Which is why, when a greenhouse gets too steamy, you whitewash it. This simple, passive solar cooling works so well, regardless of size, that it even applies to that largest of greenhouses, the Earth itself.

...
The real problem is Earth's low albedo--it reflects only a small fraction of the sun's energy because most of its surface is dark compared to a snowfield or a coat of white paint. Such white surfaces reflect three times as much as bare rock or desert soil, and up to ten times as much as deep water or black asphalt paving....MUCH MORE

Here's Mr. Lomborg in the November 18, 2007 Guardian:


Paint it white

Amid all the talk of cutting carbon emissions, we never hear about the simple solutions that can make a vast difference to temperatures

...Moreover, although it may seem almost comically straightforward, one of the best temperature-reducing approaches is very simple: paint things white. Cities have a lot of black asphalt and dark, heat-absorbing structures. By increasing reflection and shade, a great deal of heat build-up can be avoided. Paint most of a city and you could lower the temperature by 10C....

Heh, heh!