Scientists Invent New Paint to Cool Buildings & Reduce Energy Consumption
Stanford University scientists invent a new kind of paint that can keep homes and other buildings cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, significantly reducing energy use, costs and greenhouse gas emissions.
Space heating and cooling accounts for about 13 percent of global energy use and about 11 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. The new paints reduced the energy used for heating by about 36 percent in experiments using artificial, cold environments. They reduced the energy needed for cooling by almost 21 percent in artificial warm conditions.
Current low-emissivity paints usually have a metallic silver or gray colour, the aesthetics of which limit their use. The newly invented paints have two layers applied separately – an infrared reflective bottom layer using aluminum flakes and an ultrathin, infrared transparent upper layer using inorganic nanoparticles that comes in a wide range of colours.
For keeping heat out, the paint can be applied to exterior walls and roofs.
To keep heat inside, the paints are applied to interior walls where, again, the lower layer reflects the infrared waves that transfer energy across space and are invisible to the human eye.