Painting 2% of the earth white would stop global warming

In 2021, researchers at Purdue University in the United States announced that they had created the whitest paint on Earth. This color is so white that it can reflect more than 98% of sunlight. This feature is very useful for the planet Earth; Because the light that shines on the earth produces heat, and these days the earth is a little more involved in heat than ever.

to report ScienceAlertResearchers say that this white color, if used to paint the roof of buildings, will reduce the surface temperature and the internal temperature of buildings, and as a result, the need to use air conditioners will also decrease. Now, if there is a larger agenda, such as lowering the temperature of the entire planet, what happens then?

Jeremy you stayeda professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California Davis and a researcher in the field of clean technology. He published an article in the journal Joule And in it he wrote that if about 1 to 2% of the earth’s surface is covered with a substance like pearl white (the light that this color reflects from the earth’s surface into space), the amount of heat absorbed by the planet’s surface will be enough to stabilize the global temperature. decreases.

In other words, this white painting can have a significant effect on solving the problems caused by climate change. In addition, you stayed in an interview with New York Times news agency He said that the light that is returned to the space does not cause much damage to the universe. “This light reflection is like pouring a regular glass of water into the ocean,” he added.

In the meantime, the question is, what exactly is 1-2% of the total surface of the earth? The surface of planet earth is about 510 million square kilometers and most of it is water, so this white color should cover about 3 to 7 million square kilometers.