"If you paint a quarter of all London rooftops white, you could probably reduce heat wave temperatures by 10 degrees centigrade — so lots of impact at very low cost. Let's think about that," said Danish author and political scientist Dr Bjørn Lomberg,
Since roofs constitute <25 % of greater london's area, a look at the radiative forcing potential of the relevant urban statistics: http://livingroofs.org/20110502300/world-green-roof-policies/history-of-green-roofs-in-london.html Suggests Lomborg's estimate is too high by an order of magnitude or more. On Monday, August 27, 2012 5:44:51 AM UTC-4, andrewjlockley wrote: > > Geo-engineering: fixing climate for just US$6 billion > Summary: What's the best way to deal with climate change? > > Some engineers think that geo-engineering, or re-engineering the > planet, is a far more cost-effective way of tackling climate change > than market mechanisms, like emissions trading schemes or Australia's > carbon tax. > > One model suggests that a technique called "cloud brightening" could > counter all of the 21st century's projected temperature rises, for a > cost of just US$6 billion. To put that into perspective, that's around > the price being paid for 24 F/A-18 Super Hornet jet fighters by the > Royal Australian Air Force. > > Whether that model is accurate or not, it's starting to become clear > that market mechanisms and Kyoto-style negotiations won't be enough. > > On this week's Patch Monday podcast, you'll hear from two enthusiasts > for geo-engineering who spoke at the Centre for Independent Studies' > recent "Consilium" conference. > > "Even if we do reduce carbon emissions drastically, it's going to be a > very long time before we see any of the effects of that, and it will > be very costly and slow," said Dr Caspar Hewett, visiting researcher > at the University of Newcastle in the UK. > > "These other techniques that we're talking about are probably going to > be necessary anyway, even if we do reduce carbon," he said. > > The techniques include grand engineering schemes, such as artificial > volcanoes that inject sulphur particles into the atmosphere to seed > clouds, and even placing millions of smart mirrors into orbit around > the earth, like a giant pergola. > > But simple, small-scale techniques can also produce significant > effects, such as planting trees and painting the rooftops of buildings > white to reflect sunlight. > > "If you paint a quarter of all London rooftops white, you could > probably reduce heat wave temperatures by 10 degrees centigrade — so > lots of impact at very low cost. Let's think about that," said Danish > author and political scientist Dr Bjørn Lomberg, director of the > Copenhagen Consensus Centre in Washington. > > Needless to say, these schemes are controversial. Both Hewett and > Lomberg are calling for large-scale experiments to validate the > mathematical models. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/geoengineering/-/MF6RI3mZw7oJ. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en.
