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Old 01-29-2007, 12:30 AM
frizzfreeling frizzfreeling is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 142
Default Re: attn peak oil fearmongers: fuel cell cars take a leap forward

If it's not then we just need to get a few people to paint their roof slates white to compensate.

On a large enough scale, all jokes aside, yes this would solve global warming. White reflects all visible wavelengths of the spectrum with moderately high efficiency. That's why its white... because white is the color of all visible colors combined. Of course "a few people" wouldnt even come close to doing the trick. However, there is evidence stating that if all houses in large desert cities were painted white, those houses would use markedly less electriciy for cooling and the city as a whole would more temperature neutral compared to it surroundings. A large plot of solar cells many KM in diameter would be at a much higher average temperature than its surroundings. A tiny percentage of the earth's surface covered with solar cells will not have a big impact on global temperatures, however, to say that it is "none" is based on opinion and not fact. Heat pollution is already a problem in many areas, so globally it may not be a major problem, but locally, it may. Phoenix would have a massive heat problem if you built a 1000km^2 solar farm nearby, which just happens to be one of the best places in the U.S. to build a solar farm as climate stability and terrain are concerned.
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