A Global Effort on Albedo

The warming planet needs to be cooled down. People are fleeing from the desert regions because they just can’t deal with the heat anymore. Heatwaves predicted for the 2050 wash over Europe in 2022. Meanwhile a real solution is available : Increase Albedo. In hot cities like Phoenix, Arizona in the US this is done already. Streets are painted with lighter paint. It shaves 10 degrees of the daytime temperatures!

“The atmospheric and ocean circulation processes that redistribute energy are the same for CO2 radiative forcing and albedo change” (source)

In the literature you can read the above, so albedo change and CO2 radiative forcing (and Methan forcing) are the same. In other words increase Albedo and you neutralize CO2 radiative forcing. This is exactly what we need. I am still trying to find out what the real real truth is on this, so how local albedo changes affect temperature of the entire ‘atmospheric column’. This needs to be simulated using real world data, and if you can help with that let me know at info@greencheck.nl.

Meanwhile it seems sensible to start a global campaign for increasing albedo in cities but also on farmland. Crops can suddenly survive if they are in an area that sheds a large percentage of the solar radiation, instead of turning it all into local heat. I have experimentented and it is possible to make biodegradable (metal free!) high albedo materials. We don’t need glass mirrors or silver covered mountains.

The oceans are a challenge, because they are absolutely vast. But they also produce the materials we need to increase albedo. It is just more difficult to do anything there. We need to find methods and experiment.

A global Albedo Challenge would be a good idea, because every Joule we shed to space is one that does not warm our atmosphere. The sooner we have global awareness of this option to keep temperatures reasonable, the better. We need to cooperate to achieve it, we need to find methods and ways (there are many) and need to know where we’re at. It is also about food security, water preservation, Albedo is a real way to cope with both the challenges and the final threat of climate change.

I will be developing the AlbedoEnhancement.com webpage, looking for support on this, there will be a global overview of albedo, and a way to share information on increasing albedo as well as a knowledge base.

If you have suggestions or want to help out let me know via info@greencheck.nl!