One Small Step: Choose the Correct Color Car
January 8, 2008 by Jennifer
“Choose the Correct Color Car” hmmm, say that ten times fast.
Seriously though, it’s a new year and some of you may be considering a new car purchase. When you go looking at cars, color choices, do matter to the green factor of your purchase decision.
Color comes down to where you live. Example, if you live in a warmer climate choose a light colored car. This goes for exterior and interior color. Dark colors absorb heat and hold it, while light colors reflect the light and thus the heat. Light car color in a warm climate = less air conditioning = less gas. The equation works the same even if it’s super cold in winter because heat (in a highly simplified sense) comes from your car engine, not directly as a result of gas use. The heat is already there no matter if you use it or not. So, for example, New Mexico is a great place to buy a light colored car. Believe me.
Also for hot climates consider cloth upholstery over plastic or leather (don’t consider leather period please — we don’t need animals dieing for cars). Cloth seat covers heat up much slower than plastic.
In super cold-often climates go the opposite way. Choose a dark colored car to stay warm longer.
Before you buy a new car: I also suggest that you head on over to Eco Friendly Driver where the always delightful Hilary shares her eco-car and eco-driving knowledge daily. Wait, that was two small steps. Consider it a bonus.
Thanks for the mention Jen, and WOW, for the great tip.
I love my silver Honda Civic. I did notice a big difference when I switched from a black to a silver car, and I live in a warm climate.
I also don’t have covered parking, so every bit helps.
I seriously doubt this is true. How about giving us a reference. Where is your data?
How about something to support this claim? Just because this is true that light colored fabrics reflect light and dark absorbs it, doesn’t mean that metals do the same thing. Environmentalists are catching a lot of ridicule these days for a perceived lack of evidence in their arguments and here you publish an article with absolutely no empirical evidence to back your claim.
I’ll do a new post on this soon with more sources. But just as a quickie; for one thing, countless studies have shown that light colors don’t absorb heat like dark colors. It’s basic science, nothing extraordinary, just science. Research by gov and other energy organizations constantly recommend light colored cars over dark – although to counter that, if you ALWAYS park in the shade, a light colored car may not be necessary because shade will work just as well as light colors at blocking heat.
Both Mythbusters and Snoops have set to disprove this theory before, but even though the heat affects the exterior more than the interior, the darker cars in each of their experiments still became about 10 degrees hotter on the inside than the light cars used. the American Automobile Association even recommends light colored over dark if your goal is a cooler car.
However, I don’t think that this is some big puzzle that warrants tons of money spent on major car experiments. Basic science tells us that dark won’t ever reflect heat in the same way as light colors.
The only big argument among folks that I’ve seen is whether the exterior color matters as much as the interior. Some orgs think that getting light interior is enough. Still, if having a light exterior lowers the heat inside by 10 degrees, thus reducing the need for AC over time, that’s plenty of gas saved. Enough to make a difference if everyone bought light cars.