The Albedo Effect

The greenhouse effect is a natural process whereby gases and clouds absorb infrared radiation emitted from the Earth’s surface and radiate it in all directions, which results extra heating of the atmosphere and the Earth’s surface. As the radiation from the Sun is absorbed by the Earth’s surface, the energy is converted to thermal energy. Then, the Earth emits lower-energy infrared radiation back out to the atmosphere and space. The Earth’s atmosphere and clouds trap this infrared energy and radiation directed from the Sun by certain gases called greenhouse gases, which include water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, and many more. Then, these gases radiate the energy received in all directions, which some are radiated back …show more content…
Albedo effect is a feedback loop in which an increase in Earth’s temperature causes ice to melt, which means more radiation is absorbed by the Earth’s surface (the white snow/ice reflects radiation of the Sun), leading to further increases in temperature for a warming effect on Earth. The albedo effect that cools the Earth is a negative feedback loop in which a decrease in Earth’s temperature leads to more formation of ice and thus more of the Sun’s radiation is reflected by ice, resulting the decrease in temperature of the Earth again. A black pavement has a low measure of albedo, which means that most of Sun’s radiation is absorbed by its surface. Also, the pavement’s snow is shovelled, meaning that there is less snow than other areas that weren’t shovelled. Thus, less of the Sun’s radiation is reflected by snow because there is no/less snow and the black pavement absorbs most sunlight, causing an increase in temperature of the pavement, which leads to the melting of the snow; and the feedback loop continues. However, on the roof of the cars, the snow wasn’t shovelled or brushed off, and the white snow has a higher measure of albedo (white colour of snow reflects the Sun the most for a cooling effect). This causes a decrease of temperature, causing more ice to form, and more of the Sun’s radiation to be reflected off by the ice/snow, …show more content…
They use less energy for heating and cooling, which saves money, and provides a cooler temperature in hot weather. The green roofs absorb storm water, reducing the amount of water wasted going into storm sewers, and do not require much care or money. Green Roofs are also environmentally friendly, improves air quality and reduce noise pollution. Cellulose insulation is one of the cheapest environmentally friendly technologies of insulation. It provides almost the same benefits as non-environmentally friendly insulation technologies such as fibreglass insulation. It has a strong resistance to air leaks, which helps to keep warm air or cold air in the insulated space. In addition, cellulose insulation is treated to slow down fire from spreading. Also, the technology generally doesn’t emit toxic chemicals to damage the