Does owning a reflective colored car help the environment?
It occurred to me the other day that owning a white or reflective silver car might actually be better for the environment than a darker color of car. Because of global warming there is less reflective mass with the melting of the glaciers and polar caps. If the billions of people that drove all drove reflective colored cars would this not help to at least alleviated some of the warming?
I like your idea about reflective asphalt which makes me think you are a little conflicted about my idea of reflective colored cars.
I liked your answer though I do think there are more than a 100 million cars. I would think there are billions. Albeit still not enough I think every bit helps.
Unfortunately we do not drive Flying cars and they are not above the greenhouse gasses.
Think about how a greenhouse works, light comes in and heats up the AIR inside. Even if you replaced all of the flowers and dirt and EVERYTHING inside a greenhouse with something that was 100% reflective, your greenhouse would still get hot. WHY?
because the light transfers it’s energy to the air, anything that makes it to the ground and gets reflected goes back through the air for another chance to transfer it’s energy. Any light that makes it back to the greenhouse ceiling will most likely get reflected back to the ground again. And the whole process starts over again.
If you want to reduce heat by reflection it needs to be above the gasses that trap it. (Basically in Space)
Your question does show that you are thinking.
If you had 100 million cars with approximately 10 square feet of reflective surface each, that would be approximately
1 billion square feet of reflective surface. That is equal to approximately 36 square miles.
Although 36 square miles is a large area, when compared to the total reflective area of ice on glaciers and at the poles, 36 square miles is a very small number.
My conclusion is that the effect would be so small that it would be very difficult to even measure.
Good thinking though.
Well, yes it would. your car would also stay cooler, allowing you to use your air conditioning less and increasing gas mileage.
Car color is a pretty Small factor though. Better plan is to drive as little as possible and drive the most fuel efficient car that you can afford.
While a reflective coat of paint would make a small difference, as far as overall environmental impact the decision should be made on climate. If you live in Florida where your car becomes an oven in the sun you should buy a car with white paint. Your car will be cooler and you will use the AC alot less. Your cars overall AC and Heating usage will far overweight how reflective it is (in enviornmental impact). If you live somewhere where you use the heater alot, buy a car with a darker coat to trap in some heat.
As far as billions of people driving reflective cars, its pretty much impractical, but the concept leads to practical solutions. The one above, car color = less temperature control. And to the idea of using car surface to power the car itself. I helped my friend install a small solar panel on the trunk of his honda. Now he runs the radio and dvd player off solar power and can also charge his ipod or phone off that source, its pretty cool and you can find plenty of solar car products pre made for your car online. (It will cost you mabye 20 dollars more than doing it yourself)
Your question is a good one, way to be thinking out of the box!
Keep it green (or white or black)
ask the 8-ball
http://www.msu.edu/user/vandrag2/8-ball.html
I don’t know what is more sad: That you believe global warming is real, or that you asked a question like that…
Easy on gas is more important than easy on the eye.
OMG! I thought I was the only one who thought of this! This is my current senior design project. I went to great lengths to make my car as reflective as possible. I did studies and found that there is indeed a great difference in the warming of the environment if you drive a reflective car. You should get all your friends to buy my new paint product that will make your car soo reflective, you will get complaints from NASA’s space station like I did.
RETARD!
A dark colored car with a clothes line to dry laundry instead of using a dryer that would be best
A dark car is not a major contributor to global warming. Changing the colour of your car to increase the albedo affect cannot equate the albedo affect associated with the polar caps and glaciers. A more effective idea is to decrease the number of cars on the road or find a way to minimalize carbon dioxide emissions from cars. You could also think about using a different material besides asphalt for the streets, since the dark surfaces attract a large amount of energy which does get transmitted into the surroundings.