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Heat-sensible tar

Bond albedo should vary inversely with temperature
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Roofs and roads should reflect lots of light/heat when it's hot, and very little when it's cold. Currently shiny tin roofs make sense in consistently hot climates, and black tar in cold ones, but they both have flaws in mixed climes.

I'm not sure how bakable this is - would we increase the temperature swing in cities so much that we'd get no benefit from needing less heating/cooling? Would it help to plant trees along all the streets, to photosynthesise with the reflected light?

hello_c, Sep 06 2000

Variable-albedo roof covering http://www.halfbake...o_20roof_20covering
Similar idea. [egnor, Sep 06 2000, last modified Oct 05 2004]

"Mood Home" http://slashdot.org...sid=01/04/20/144241
Realization. [egnor, Sep 06 2000, last modified Oct 05 2004]

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       I've thought of this myself, I'm sure other peopel have to. Remeber Hpercolor shirts in the early nineties that changed color in the sunlight? Except I think they usaully got darker in the sun and lighter in the shade opposite of what you would want for a roof. There's got to be a chemist out there somewhere that can create color changing shingles. Maybe the Home Depot can hire some chemists to figure it out.
tedhaubrich, May 27 2004
  
      
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