Now the man in the White House says paint your house white

By Fiona Macrae for the Daily Mail
Updated: 08:45 BST, 28 May 2009

The 解答 to 気候 change could be as simple as a big bucket of whitewash, Pre sident Obama's energy guru （人命などを）奪う，主張するd yesterday.

Steven Chu believes that 絵 the world's roofs, roads and pavements white would keep buildings cooler as 気温s rise and 削減（する） the need for 空気／公表する 条件ing.

Dr Chu, the U.S. エネルギー長官 and a Nobel prize-winning scientist, said the low-tech 解答 would be as 効果的な at 減ずるing 全世界の warming as taking all the world's cars off the road for 11 years.

Setting the white example: A roof painter in Bermuda

His advice is the same as that 問題／発行するd by Britain's Department of Health last week, although that was part of a 一括 of health tips for 対処するing with 未来 heatwaves.

Visiting London for a 気候 change 会合 hosted by Prince Charles and …に出席するd by 20 Nobel Laureates, he 宣言するd that the simple 行為／法令／行動する of making roofs, pavements, roads and even cars white or light-coloured could have a 劇の 影響.

Dr Chu said that when sunlight was 反映するd off a white or light-coloured surface it went straight through the atmosphere 支援する into space, but when 吸収するd by darker surfaces it 追加するd to the warming of the 惑星.

Pale roofs 反映する up to four times as much sunlight as dark ones, bouncing sunlight 支援する into space and so making buildings cooler, and in turn cutting the need for 空気／公表する 条件ing.

He said: 'If that building is 空気／公表する-条件d, it's going to be a lot coo ler (if painted white), so it can use 10 or 15 per cent いっそう少なく electricity.

The rooftops of houses in the island 楽園 of Bermuda are painted white

Dr Chu said those who do not find white roofs pleasing could 投資する in '冷静な／正味の colours' - pastel shades which also 吸収する いっそう少なく heat.

He 追加するd: 'If all 乗り物s were light-coloured, there could be かなりの 貯金 because then you could downsize 空気／公表する 条件ing ... a かなりの 削減 in energy.

'If you look at all the buildings and make all the roofs white, and if you make the pavement a more 固める／コンクリート type of colour rather than a 黒人／ボイコット type of colour, and you do this uniformly, it's the 同等（の） of 減ずるing the 炭素 放出／発行s 予定 to all the cars in the world by 11 years.'

Other 解答s 存在 looked at by the U.S. energy department 含む 要求するing banks to 査定する／（税金などを）課す a person 's gas and electricity use before 認可するing a mortgage.

Calling for a 革命 in energy 世代, Dr Chu said: 'The 産業の 革命 was a 革命 in the use of energy. It offloaded from human and animal 力／強力にする into using 化石 燃料s.

'We have to go to a different new 革命 that can 厳しく 減少（する） the 量 of 炭素 放出／発行s in the 世代 of energy.'

The U.S. 政府 予測（する） yesterday that without 義務的な 限界s on 温室 gases, the 量 of heat-trapping 炭酸ガス flowing into the atmosphere will 増加する by nearly 40 per cent by 2030 as energy 消費 grows.

The Department of Health's Heatwave 計画（する） for England, which was 明かすd last week, also recommends white paint.

Other advice for householders 含むs 取って代わるing carpets with tiles or 支持を得ようと努めるd, hanging curtains with white linings and 任命する／導入するing 天井 fans.

最高気温s can put 緊張する on the heart, while smog can make breathing problems worse. Heat-一打／打撃, in which the 団体／死体's thermostat fails, can also be 致命的な.

Sir Liam Donaldson, the 長，指導者 医療の officer, said: 'In contrast to deaths associated with 冷淡な snaps in winter, the rise in mortality as a result of very warm 天候 follows very はっきりと - within one or two days of the 気温 rising.

'This means that by the time a heatwave starts, the window of 適切な時期 for 効果的な 活動／戦闘 is very short indeed and therefore proper preparedness is of the essence.'