We need your good ideas for stopping global warming. These can range from practical things that you can do in the home, to measures that we should push governments to take. The best ideas will be taken from the forum and posted on the downwithco2.co.uk manifesto.
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Painting the town white
Painting the town white might seem attractive on the face of it but is it a good idea in cities in the northern hemisphere that need to heat themselves a lot in winter? Wouldn't the loss of solar radiation to heat the buildings actually mean we used more fossil fuels and so sped up Global Warming?
Painting the town white
One of the reasons that the melting of the ice caps is a bad thing is because the ice refelects sunlight (and heat) back into space, rather than absorbing it. Therefore as they melt we lose this effect and global warming speeds up even more (a feedback loop). I wonder, shouldn't we start colouring all rooves, buildings and roads white so that they reflect the sunlight back into space? This would also help solve the problems of hot cities (and reducing the need for air conditioning in the sumer).
German Passivhaus Standards
I've read in the downwithco2 manifesto that you suggest all houses should be built to German Passivhaus standard? What is this and why is this a good idea?
I found this on a site about
I found this on a site about Passivhaus:
1. very good levels of insulation with minimal thermal bridges
2. well thought out utilisation of solar and internal gains
3. excellent level of airtightness
4. good indoor air quality, provided by a whole house mechanical ventilation system with highly efficient heat recovery
By specifying these features the design heat load is limited to the load that can be transported by the minimum required ventilation air. Thus, a PassivHaus does not need a traditional heating system or active cooling to be comfortable to live in - the small heating demand can be typically met using a compact services unit which intergrates heating, hot water and ventilation in one unit (although there are a variety of alternative solutions).
PassivHaus
But................if you've got a chimney/ open fire-place (there's four in our house) it makes draft proofing bit of a problem. I'm not sure I'd want to live in a house where there;s no air flowing in or out.......