Cool Brazilian Roofs

(this video is in Portuguese)

Show from Andre Trigueiro's "Cidades e Solucoes" about three climate-friendly roofing technologies being used in Brazil. Summarized below.

1) Ecotelhado -- Green roofs in Niteroi, (the Brooklyn of Rio de Janeiro), they use modular synthetic tiles & a multi-layer system to absorb rainwater & short scrubby plants that don't need a lot of water in the first place. The plants can be used on flat or pitched roofs, or as vertical walls. The tiles insulate the building (ie. lowering interior temperatures), are low maintenance & don't grow into the building structure. Typical green roof technology.

2) Green Building Council Brasil -- running a "campaign" to paint residential roofs white. (Better than the idea on Good to paint highways white, um, roads are dirty), This lowers the temperature inside the house & reflects heat, lowering the city "heat island" effect. They presented in D.C. and aparently the Whitehouse is amenable to the concept. This is an inexpensive, simple solution, good for cities, and particularly for the tile roofs commonly found in Brazil. Idea: Let's use a whitewash so it sticks to the clay instead of Sherman Williams.

3) A roof made from juice boxes? (my favorite) replace corregated tin roofs with a composite material made from recycled milk/juice boxes. This is so cool! In Brazil, milk comes in a box similar to the juice boxes we use in the US. It's a plastic/cardboard laminate that we don't recycle here because it's a pain to separate into its individual parts. In Niteroi, 17 companies shred the stuff & turn it into a strong material that you can use for cheap roofing. Benefits: it comes from a waste material, doesn't conduct heat like tin roofing does, so the house/factory/etc. stays cooler. Doubt: Not very flame retardant. Idea: I wonder if you could spray paint the panels white.

NOAA Chief on Oceans and Global Warming

Yale Environment 360 interviews the head of NOAA (you know, the weather advisory & ocean guys) about returning scientific research and evidence to the forefront of the organization. Jane Lubchenco is (gasp) a real live scientist who believes that the organization's responsiblity is rigorous data collection and analysis, and then the translation of those results for the rest of us. Sweet. No more multivariate statistical regressions for me!

read interview here

Dancing for the Climate: Powershift Australia

Using dance to engage the public & get fun, positive attention for climate change. The video takes a little while to get going, but it's a great action. Powershift is a youth conference to create leadership around clean energy and green jobs. I attended the US version in March '09 held in DC.