Whitewashing is a common way to deflect heat in warm climates. (Credit: afasoulis@stock.xchang)From this morning's headlines:

Paint the World White to Fight Global Warming

Reported in the UK TimesOnline, Steven Chu, Obama's Energy Secretary told an international audience that one simple way to fight global warming is to lighten up - literally. It makes for great headlines - great, silly headlines like "Paint the World White to Fight Global Warming" - and gives global warming skeptics lots of fodder for jokes. Can't you just hear it now?

"And then this clown - a clown appointed by Obama, no less - suggests that all we have to do is paint everything white and we can cure global warming! HAR!"

Kinda like the way they made fun of then-candidate Obama's suggestion that keeping the tires on your car properly inflated could help solve the energy crisis. Never mnd the fact that there's scientific proof that keeping your car tires properly inflated can increase your gas mileage by 3-4%. That means that the average driver may get 28 mpg instead of 27 mpg. Now, that might not sound like a heck of a lot, but it's all a numbers game. If you multiply that by millions of cars on the road, you get some pretty hefty reductions in the amount of gasoline that we use as a country.

So, the logic behind the idea of painting things white is based on a simple premise:

Light surfaces reflect more heat than they absorb.

What does this mean as a practical measure? At its most basic level, it means that if you paint your house white and whitewash the roof, you'll spend less money (and energy) on air conditioning than if your house roof is a darker color. Chu takes it much further, suggesting that we could save considerably more energy and reduce carbon emissions by requiring light roofs and light road surfaces on all new construction. In fact, though I haven't seen his math and couldn't poke holes in it if I had seen it, he claims that the carbon emissions saved if we painted all roofs white and made all roads from light concrete would be the equivalent of taking all cars off the roads for 11 years.

I know it sounds silly - Save the world! Paint your roof white!

But it's one of those silly things that, frankly, doesn't hurt and might help. It's a relatively low-cost solution with relatively high possible benefit. Even taken to its extreme, it would mean that we'd need to stop using black tar road surfaces in favor of lighter concrete-colored surfaces when we refinish or repave old roads and lay down new ones. It would mean that roofing tiles would be white, tan, pale pink, light gray - how much would it cost to stop making black and dark roofing tiles?

The fact is that silly, simple things often are things that MIGHT help and seldom hurt anything. We don't need to give up all of our creature comforts and revert to the Stone Age in order to go green, nor does it have to cost a lot of money to make little changes that make a little bit of difference. Here are some other simple, silly ideas that might help our world.

1. Keep your car tires properly inflated. (I know. I mentioned that one already. It bears repeating.)
2. Plant a tree. A single tree absorbs a ton of carbon dioxide over the course of its life. And it makes things pretty.
3. Change your car's air filter. According to StopGlobalWarming.org, changing your air filter every month can save 800 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
4. Change the filter on your air conditioner (and your furnace) regularly. It increases efficiency - and COULD save your life, literally.
5. Buy locally grown produce. It doesn't need to be shipped from far away. Or grow your own for even more benefits.
6. Turn off the lights when you leave the room. Why light a room that's not being used?
7. Bring back the sweater! By turning down thermostats and wearing sweaters in cold weather, you can save up to 1,000 pounds of carbon emissions a year, says StopGlobalWarming.org.
8. Nag your kids. No, really. I still remember my mother yelling, "Turn off the light!" and "Who turned up the thermostat?" Her concern was saving money on oil and electricity. Ours is saving the planet. So make your kids put on a sweater, turn off the TV when they're not really watching it, flip off lights when they leave the room and ride their bikes to the mall instead of getting a ride from a parent. And while you're at it - teach them about global warming.
9. Switch to a Wii game system. Seriously. According to the National Resources Defense Fund, a Wii uses 89% less energy than a PS3 and 85% less energy than an Xbox 360. Check out some other ways to save energy playing video games from an article I wrote last year.
10. Let your dishes dry naturally. Most dishwashers let you decide whether to use the dry cycle. Don't. It's an energy hog. Instead, as soon as your dishwasher is done running, open the dishwasher door and pull out the racks to let the dishes air-dry.