Black Cars are Banned

At least in California if regulators get their way. From Wards Auto.com (Mar. 24):

If California regulators get their way, auto makers may soon be forced to rewrite a cliché from the Ford Model T era and start telling customers they can have any color they want as long as it isn’t black.

Some darker hues will be available in place of black, but right now they are identified internally at paint suppliers with names such as “mud-puddle brown” and are truly ugly substitutes for today’s rich ebony hues. [read more]

The regulators want to ban the color black on automobiles because they want to decrease "man-made" global warming. Black colored cars are warmer in the interior in the summertime than white color cars because black colored cars absorb more heat than white color cars (scientifically that is true). Therefore when driving an automobile in the summertime with a black finish you will put your air conditioner more often than with a white color car so the theory goes. Putting on your air conditioner makes your car use more gas. You see where this is going hopefully.

Here's a question: How much more gasoline is used with black colored cars verses light colored cars? That needs to be answered. Also, the sun's rays come through the windows too increasing the interior temperature (probably more than any black paint). This is the greenhouse effect. That factor needs to be eliminated, not to mention the heat of the engine. So those two factors need to be controlled to get an accurate reading.

There is another issue: On cold days driving a black car would be nice because you would want the interior to be warm and would never use the air conditioner. I know California probably does not have many cold days, but if this stupid measure gets implemented in other states (17 other states follow California's regulations according to the article) that do have cold weather people will get upset. They might get upset anyway if their color options are limited.

Finally, what about houses that use black colored roofs? Wouldn't their interiors be warmer than lighter colored roofs? Thus using more air conditioning increasing "man-made" global warming? Something more to be controlled.

By the way, this is not an April Fool's joke. I wish it were, but it's not. The real joke is those regulators. But nobody will be laughing.