Proof That A Nobel Prize Isn't Enough

Proof That A Nobel Prize Isn't Enough

Obama's Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, won the Nobel Prize in Physics some years ago. Alas, it doesn't seem like he has the knowledge required to do his job. From the May 27, 2009 Telegraph:

Obama's green guru calls for white roofs

President Obama's energy adviser has suggested all the world's roofs should be painted white as part of efforts to slow global warming.

You know, if w all lived in coastal California, or similar climates, this would make some sense. But guess what? We don't. Many Americans (and nearly all Canadians) live in places where it actually gets cold in winter. And a dark roof is what we call passive solar--because it absorbs the heat in fall and winter, and helps to warm up the house without using quite so much fossil fuel. Now, in California, it might well make sense that whatever was lost in winter would be more gained in reduced air conditioning bills in summer--but we don't all live in California.

I suppose that we could have huge work crews running around repainting all the roofs every spring and fall: white for summer, black for winter. But think of the carbon costs of that!

One of these days, an intelligent environmentalist is going to get put in charge, and we're going to work on an environmentally sound nuclear power system. When pigs fly.