GabyBack in 2021, American researchers developed the whitest paint in the world. This color turned out to be so white that it can reflect over 98% of light. The invention is particularly useful because light generates heat, and global warming is currently a pressing issue for humanity.
Could an amazing white paint save us from climate change?
According to researchers, using this innovative paint on buildings would lower the temperature on surfaces and inside homes. This would reduce the need for air conditioning. That is why scientists became interested in the question of what would happen if this paint were used on a large scale, such as to lower temperatures across the entire planet.
Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Jeremy Mandei is researching clean technologies. According to him, if a material like Purdue paint covers 1-2% of the Earth’s surface, a significant amount of light is reflected back into space. This could lead to a reduction in the amount of heat absorbed by the planet, enough to stabilize global temperatures.
In other words, this will be able to solve the problem. climate change on a global scale. Furthermore, as Mr. Mandei points out, the amount of light that will return will not cause significant harm to space. According to him, the impact of this will be the same as “pouring a cup of regular water into the ocean.”
An interesting approach, but still quite fantastical for now.
The question immediately arises: how large of an area do these 1-2% cover? The total surface area of the Earth is about 510 million square kilometers. Most of this is covered by water. Therefore, the unique white paint needs to cover between 5 to 10 million square kilometers.
If we assume that the innovative paint works like a commercial one, as its researchers believe, then 3.7 liters of this material will cover approximately 37 square meters. Therefore, about 139 billion gallons of super-white paint would be needed to cover just 1% of the Earth’s surface. Of course, this number doubles since we need to cover 2%. Moreover, we must consider how difficult it would be to paint over oceans, deserts, and forests.
As noted by the publication Sciencealert Painting objects white to reduce temperature is not a new technology. In America, this is easily seen in the number of white cars in the hottest states. Many places around the world have already been painted white, and innovative paint will help in this regard. However, as the calculations above show, we are still far from solving the problem of global warming with this technology.
