You can have your car any colour you want.. as long as it's not black.

[California Tanker]

California to reduce carbon emissions by... banning black cars?!

In a move that will likely get California's consumers in a huff, impending legislation may soon restrict the paint color options for Golden State residents looking for their next new vehicle. The specific colors that are currently on the chopping block are all dark hues, with the worst offender seemingly the most innocuous color you could think of: Black. What could California possibly have against these colors, you ask? Apparently, the California Air Resources Board figures that the climate control systems of dark colored cars need to work harder than their lighter siblings – especially after sitting in the sun for a few hours
<snip>

Official CA website on the matter.
Subject Top Page: Cool Paints and Reflective Glazing

NTM

[godfry n. glad]

Da Mob ain't gonna be happy 'bout dis.

Pale and pasty: It's the new black.

[Ari]

Yes that's an awesome idea, I mean the first thing I say when I see a giant suburban tank lumbering down the street with one person and nothing in it, "Damn there goes another black car, if only we had more white suburban tanks on the road, that would save us from foreign oil and global warming."

[Qingdai]

I have noticed that darker cars are hotter, also they are less visible.
I say we make everyone have butter yellow cars!

[erimir]

Basically what Ari said - it's not the most helpful way to increase fuel efficiency, and really, it seems almost like it would be even less popular than simply mandating higher fuel efficiency standards anyway.

Consumers might want SUVs, but they want style even more, I think.

[godfry n. glad]

Shell pink and pearl gray are back in!

I'm beginning to think I should hold out for the chlorophyll paint job that transforms the UV rays into fuel for the car.

[viscousmemories]

Currently, most dark colored paints use carbon black as a pigment. Carbon black is very opaque, and has excellent coverage properties. But carbon black is extremely absorbing of infrared as well as visible light energy. To improve reflectance of dark colored paints, carbon black must be removed or substantially reduced. Staff investigated pigment choices that are currently available or under development to replace carbon black. Unfortunately, while many solar reflective “blackish” pigments are available, none offer the excellent hiding performance or true jet black color that is obtained through the use of carbon black. In addition, these pigments tend to be much more expensive than carbon black. Therefore, although staff believes that solar reflective paint can and should be developed for automotive use, staff was unable to clearly identify a technology path at this time that would lead to improved solar performance with acceptable color choices, costs, and ease of application. Staff believes that this approach should be further considered for a future rulemaking but that it is premature to include solar reflective paint herein.

http://www.arb.ca.gov/regact/2009/co...olcarsisor.pdf

Hold the revolution! Due to the above it looks like the legislation is focusing on window glazing for now.

[Ymir's blood]

[Jug Pilot]

Just wondering, since solar panels are dark, would they be banned too?

[MonCapitan2002]

I am all for encouraging greater fuel economy, but I think this restriction is a dick move.

[godfry n. glad]

Personally, I think the black-on-black look has had it. It's been overdone.

When I visited SF, I thought I was in some huge seminarian retreat and everyone was clergy. Everybody dressed in black (except me...I was wearing PNW plaids). It was like being in a penguin colony, where every member looks much the same. And the whole active groupthink thing is off-putting, to me.

Plus...I've met far too many people who complain about the heat on a hot day while wearing tall black boots (with mutiple straps, buckles and studs), black levis, black shirt buttoned to the neck with the long bottle black hair under a heavy black broad-brimmed hat...and black duster and black fingerless gloves. There were plenty of studs, presumably metal, or meant to be, and lots of black leather.

This nitwit was bitching about the heat on a 90º day while standing in the direct sun in that metal and black leather get-up. It adversely affected my opinion of the whole 'black is fashionable' crowd. I'm sure he thought he was the height of fashion statement, waiting there for the bus. In the hot sun. I wasn't impressed; I was standing in the shade.

Black is not fashionable; it's boring. Sometimes, (hopefully on rare occasion) even stupid. I don't know if every other color has that going for it or not, but with black and sunlight, I've always noticed superior heat retention. Dark and sunlight for that matter, which is why I rued buying a dark green van....It does have tinted windows, but I have no idea how effective they are.

I have no problem with the proposal. If they can figure a way to make black work so that it doesn't retain more heat and cause users to use air conditioning more, more power to 'em.

Me? I'm a shameful user of automotive air conditioning. I am a shameful user of air conditioning...period. I don't like hot weather. It is my biggest failing in being environmentally aware and positive.

Tough.

I'm going to stick with the cognitive dissonance for the time being.

[MonCapitan2002]

I bet you're one of those ne'er do wells who wear white after Labor Day.

[Wonderbread Leotard]

Why pick on black cars in particular? You'd never see them ban white cars. Fucking racists!

Racist dictator of California giving Nazi salute:

[godfry n. glad]

There are more colors in the spectrum than just black and white, MonCaptain2002.

[Dingfod]

Originally Posted by Qingdai

I have noticed that darker cars are hotter, also they are less visible.

In my experience, the most invisible cars are small ones that are silver or grey. Black stands out in daylight better than many colors. I think all personal vehicles should be DayGlo Lime Green except for emergency service, which would be in DayGlo Orange.

[Sock Puppet]

Light blue is the most invisible car color, I've found.

[Dingfod]

Yeah, light blue would be right in there with silver or light grey.

[Qingdai]

Nothing like a gray car on the freeway during "grey out" rain storms. Very invisible.

Yeah, butter yellow would probably blend in with the prairie.
"Where'd the car go? Nebraska?"

Hot pink for all!

[BDS]

In the suburb in which I grew up, they did a study on what color vehicle was most visible. The answer: white. So they painted all the fire trucks white.

The problem: once it snowed nobody could see the fire trucks -- the snow camoflaged them. They painted them all red again.

[California Tanker]

Interestingly, when the RAF wanted to paint their trainer aircraft in the most visible colour possible, they concluded that 'black' was the most visible. Hence, their trainer aircraft are now black.



NTM

[Anastasia Beaverhausen]

Come on, can you imagine a neon pink B14?

[godfry n. glad]

Originally Posted by California Tanker

Interestingly, when the RAF wanted to paint their trainer aircraft in the most visible colour possible, they concluded that 'black' was the most visible. Hence, their trainer aircraft are now black.



NTM

Yeah...I can see that. Up in the daytime sky, black is probably the most visible. It wouldn't show too well on the tarmac from above, but I'm guessing that student pilots aren't the concern on the tarmac that they are in the air.

And...I assume there are no night trainers. Nobody has seen one, at least.

[Deadlokd]

Originally Posted by Sock Puppet

Light blue is the most invisible car color, I've found.

Depends on whether it's falling out of the sky or not.

[Qingdai]

What if it came at you from out of the ocean?

[Kael]

A lot of emergency vehicles are moving to this greenish-yellow hue. Apparently it stands out more because of the concentrations of different wavelengths of visible light from the sun.