DIY painting and earth-saving

Yes, you read that correctly - you can in fact help to save the world with your DIY painting.

It all starts from simply painting your roof white.

The Greeks and other cultures in the hottest parts of the world have been painting their homes white for centuries, and as pretty as it looks on a postcard, there's more to it than simple aesthetic appeal.

White houses, and white roofs in particularly have a significant impact on the temperature in your home, bringing down energy costs and carbon emissions all in one.

If you haven't already heard about it, there are already groups around the world banding together to raise awareness of the possibilities for home owners to make a real impact on greening up the environment by whiting their roofs.

According to the White Roof Project, a normal black roof will reflect just 20 per cent of sunlight, whereas a roof coated with a solar-reflective white paint reflects up to 90 per cent of that sunlight, while also staying significantly cooler.

This project, which began in the United States, has already begun to spread the word, achieving media attention from major organisations like USA today and the New York Times.

And it's hardly surprising when the project states that if we were to coat five per cent of rooftops every year around the globe, the job would be finished by 2030 and save the planet 24 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide.

To put that in perspective, the world emitted 24 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2010.

So how can simply reflecting sunlight do so much good for the earth?

Basically it comes down to keeping temperatures down, and right here in Australia we know exactly how much air conditioning we use to deal with those hot days and nights.

The White Roof Project, and other initiatives now running around the world, state that naturally keeping the insides of our homes cooler means less reliance on electricity.

So not only can it save you money on your electricity bill, it can also help you to reduce your carbon footprint.

It is often recommended that we paint our roofs every 20 years or so, so while it might be a few years before your roof needs a new lick of paint, why not consider jumping aboard the bandwagon?