Painting the town red is so passé. How passé is it? It is so passé that if red and white were the last two colors standing on Project Runway, Heidi Klum would say "Red - you're out. Auf Wiedersehen. White, that means you're in." Houston, it's time to paint the town white!

If U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu has anything to do with it, Houston will definitely be seeing a lot of white paint - on the roofs. At the recent climate change symposium in London, Secretary Chu said that by "making roads and [flat] roofs a paler color [it] could have the equivalent effect of taking every car in the world off the road for 11 years." Talk about energy efficiency!

The 713 (aka the 4th largest city in the U.S., aka the energy capital of the world) could (and should) lead the way with implementing energy efficiency initiatives. This white hot roof Facility Improvement Measure (or FIM - as we say in the biz) is a great start and an easy conservation measure to install (with the proper professionals helping out, of course.)

Who knows, maybe the next time you jet off for that fabulous weekend getaway, you will casually glance down from your mile-high seat to see your city covered with white, energy-saving, light and heat reflecting roofs.

P.S. "Green" roofs are great, too.

Email with any questions to beth@julie-beth.com