Can the world's whitest paint save the world?

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/can-the-worlds-whitest-paint-save-the-world


I'd heard about this before, but this PBS Newshour Weekend story gave more details. Among them, reflects 98.1% of solar radiation vs. 80-90% for current commercial white paints, allowing the surface it's on to be cooler than ambient air temp. In the story, the statement is made that it could eliminate 75% of AC use during summer in places such as Phoenix or Reno. I found a McPaper article from last month that has the following statement:

Using this new paint to cover a roof area of about 1,000 square feet could result in a cooling power of 10 kilowatts. “That’s more powerful than the air conditioners used by most houses,” Ruan said.

Click to expand...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...test-paint-created-global-warming/8378579002/

It's also claimed that painting <1% of the earth's surface (roofs, cars, roads) would allow us to reverse global warming. They're working with a paint company now to try to commercialize it, but I'd say the energy savings would be huge, and far less expensive than trying to cool things down with electricity after they've heated up. The advantages for low income countries in hot climates seem especially great.

Yet another way to avoid actually saving the "world."

I'd say it's one method that will contribute to doing just that, at lower cost. It's going to be expensive and difficult enough as it is, and there's no single solution.