Increasing the Albedo of Artificialized Soils to Reduce Climate Change
Romdhane Ben Slama
ABSTRACT
This article reviews the causes of the greenhouse effect: GHGs (well known worldwide) and infrared radiation (very rarely mentioned). It then presents concrete, albeit rare, examples of how to reduce the absorption of solar radiation and thus increase albedo, thereby reducing infrared emissions and consequently the Earth's greenhouse effect, which causes global warming. We cite Duha, Qatar, which is repainting its streets pale blue (the albedo increases from 0.2 to 0.6). Quebec prefers white for its roads. They are all doing this to avoid what they call the urban heat island effect. We call this radiative trapping, as scientifically adopted, or, more commonly, the greenhouse effect.
