Roofs, the color of white and green might be able to curb global warming in some regions.
"White roofs win based on the purely economic factors we included, and black roofs should be phased out," Arthur Rosenfeld, main author of the information said in a statement when the findings came out USA Today reported. The information is printed in a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"(White and green roofs do) a good job at cooling the building and cooling the air in the city, but white roofs are three times more effective at countering climate change than green roofs," Rosenfeld said in the statement.
"There are trade-offs that need to be considered," Matei Georgescu, a climate scientist at the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University told USA Today. "We don't yet know enough about the various trade-offs," Georgescu told USA Today.
The National Science Foundation sponsored the study, which is printed in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.
Three scientists from the United States Environmental Protection composed the study, and utilized climate archetypes to see what good cool and green roofs could do in urban regions that are growing USA Today reported.
"The study is a step in the right direction and is consistent with other studies that suggest that cool roofs can offset localized urban heat island impacts," Mark Jacobson, an environmental engineering professor at Stanford University told USA Today.
"If you live in an urban area, you are in an environment that is warming because of greenhouse gas-induced climate change plus the added effect of an urban heat island," Georgescu, a climate scientist at the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University.
Statistics show less energy is used in surrounding areas of Chicago and Detroit, and the Mid-Atlantic states compared to Texas, Arizona, California or Florida where they aren't as much USA Today reported.
"Local decisions matter. Georgescu told USA Today. "That's really one of the take-home messages here."
