Cool Roofs

[BT]

http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/coolroof/faq.html

How cool is a cool roof?

During the summer, a typical dark roof is 150 to 190 degrees Fahrenheit at peak, while cool roofs peak at 100 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

What is a cool roof?

Cool roofs are highly reflective and emissive materials that stay 50 to 60 degrees F cooler in the summer sun, thereby reducing energy costs, improving occupant comfort, cutting maintenance costs, increasing the life cycle of the roof, and contributing to the reduction of urban heat islands and associated smog.

[Plane]

This months National Geographic includes a mornfull article about the shrinking of glaciers.

One of the things mentioned is that on mountains that loose their snowcap the exposed dark rock adzorbs more heat than the snow would have and the warmer mountain looses even more snow , it is a case of positive feedback.


This might be an occasion in which a bit of whitewash would actually be a practical help.

Painting the mountaintop white might preserve its glacier a bit.

I think it could be done with the same sort of aircraft we use to fight fires with .







http://www.bombardier.com/index.jsp?id=3_0&lang=en&file=/en/3_0/3_3/3_3_7_56.html




I can see it now , the filling of the aircraft with a pass over a ditch filled with highly reflective paint ,scooping up a few tonns in seconds .
The flight to the mountainside , the bombing run and the huge surprise of the climbers who didn't get warned.

Of course the result would resemble the effect  of sea gulls on a bollard , but if the mountain wound up cooler and snowyer this would be worth it.






http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/birds/gulls/seagulls/2120035_seagulls_roost.php?id=2120035