Scientist Reveals How White Paint Can Combat Global Warming

We simply need to paint the USA - the entire area of the country. No joke.

In 2021, researchers from Purdue University announced that they had developed the whitest paint on Earth. The color is so white that it can reflect over 98% of light.

Researchers are confident that when used on buildings, such paint will lower surface and interior temperatures, as well as reduce the need for air conditioning. Moreover, theoretically, such a coating could lower the temperature of the entire planet.

According to Jeremy Mande, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, who researches eco-friendly technologies, if a material similar to this white paint covers 1-2% of the Earth's surface, the amount of light reflected back into space would reduce the heat the planet absorbs. This would be enough to stabilize global temperatures.

In other words, such paint could be a solution to the climate warming problem. Additionally, Mande noted that the amount of light reflected from Earth would not cause significant harm to space. "It's like pouring a cup of regular water into the ocean," he said in an interview with The New York Times.

But how large are these 1-2% of the Earth's surface? The total area of the planet is about 510 million square kilometers (most of which is water), so the paint would need to cover approximately 5 to 10 million square kilometers. For comparison, the total area of the United States is about 9.8 million square kilometers. This means the entire country would have to be covered in white paint, which is impossible even in theory.

However, if we fantasize and calculate the amount of paint needed, it would take approximately 139 billion gallons - and that's just for 1% of the Earth's surface. Of course, the complexities of covering desert and rocky landscapes are not taken into account. And all of this is just theory that may never be put into practice.