It wasn’t too long ago that Energy Secretary Steven Chu suggested that America should paint all of its flat top roofs white in order to stop global warming. Cause, it’s all our fault you know.
Now, I don’t have a problem with someone who owns a building spending money to paint it white because they think they are helping the environment. I have a problem with the government a) forcing people to paint their roof white or b) paying for roofs to be painted white.
In New York there is a volunteer program that is painting roofs white, and Mayor Bloomberg and Al Gore are cashing in on the action:
“White is the new green,” said Bloomberg, as he gathered with blue-state-loving former VP Al Gore and volunteers to paint Queens rooftops white.
The color white absorbs less heat, making the temperature on the top floor of a building 10-20 degrees cooler, thus lowering the need for power-consuming air conditioners.
The mayor and Gore said members of the city’s new volunteer corps will paint 100,000 square feet of rooftop space by October 9.
And the Democratic Gore all but endorsed Bloomberg, who is technically an Independent but has support of city Republicans.
“The issue of climate crisis goes beyond party politics,” said Gore.
If this works, a business should do it. Not to prevent the fiery end of the planet from uncontrolled global warming, but to fatten the bottom line. After all, if the Democrats get what they want, electricity prices are going to “necessarily skyrocket.” They’re going to need the saving from white rooftops to pay for Obama’s energy tax.
As an aside, New York City had a really cool summer:
New York City’s three warmest days so far this year are April 25, 26, 28! They were 88-92-90 on those three days and they haven’t been warmer than 86 since then (though they should reach 90 a couple times in the next week). NYC has been -3.7° since the end of May.
