[ Climate Relevance ]

A first-principles response to a first-order problem.

Extreme heat is now the single deadliest weather hazard for human populations. Surface cooling is the most direct engineering response available, complementary to — not a substitute for — deep decarbonisation.

Earth’s energy budget, briefly.

The planet is currently absorbing roughly 1 W/m² more energy than it re-radiates to space. That imbalance is what we experience as warming. Increasing surface reflectivity acts on the same equation, from the same direction, with the same units.

+1 W/m²

Current top-of-atmosphere energy imbalance

~30%

Fraction of solar energy currently reflected by Earth

-6.4°C

Peak indoor cooling measured at MEER field sites

0 CO₂

Operational emissions from passive systems

Cooling is adaptation. Reflection is mitigation.

MEER’s work sits at the intersection of the two. We protect people from heat today while returning energy to space tomorrow. Neither role is a substitute for reducing emissions; both are necessary.