BOISE -- The story goes the tops of Idaho State Police Squad cars were painted white to keep troopers cool in the days before air conditioning.

Now none other than the U.S. energy secretary says if all rooftops and roads in the world were made white, it would combat global warming.

"It would be the equivalent as if you took all the automobiles off the road for eleven years," said Secretary Steve Chu at a seminar in England.

Bill Nye, "The Science Guy", used a meter to show a CBS reporter in Los
Angeles how a dark-colored roof absorbs more heat. Why does it matter?

"The building doesn't have to run air conditioning as long if doesn't get as hot," Nye explained.

A shining example are the white painted villages in Greece.

The California legislature even considered banning dark-colored cars to save energy used in automobile air conditioning, but the idea stalled.

Secretary Chu also says using a light colored concrete rather than the standard blacktop would reflect heat into space and make the planet cooler.

Oh, about those white-topped ISP cars. You'll be seeing fewer of them. The money to paint the roofs has been cut from the budget.