Scientists at Stanford University have designed a new paint that can help reduce our growing dependence. air conditioner and heater.
They come in a variety of colors and when used properly can significantly reduce your electricity bill and emissions.
This paint can reflect up to 80% of the sun’s mid-infrared, which is 10 times more than traditional colored paints.
Mid-infrared radiation is normally absorbed as heat by the surfaces of buildings. When used on the outside of a building, the paint can insulate heat, and when used on the inside, it can prevent heat from escaping.
Therefore, paint developers To tell It provides a “year-round energy saving solution” that can be used in different climates.
When tested in artificially warm conditions, the paint reduced the amount of energy required to cool an enclosed space by almost 21%. When tested in an artificially cold environment, it required 36% less energy to heat a space.
Across the building, the researchers estimate the paint could save 7.4 percent of the energy needed to heat, ventilate and cool mid-rise apartments.
This is by no means a small amount, especially considering US buildings. contribute about 40 percent accounts for a large proportion of the country’s total energy consumption, much of it for heating, ventilation and air conditioning.
With climate change, extreme temperatures are becoming more severe and frequent around the world, and air conditioning remains often the primary way to beat the heat.
It is estimated that by 2050, two-thirds of all households in the world will have air conditioners. While these devices can undoubtedly save lives, they are not the cheapest and most environmentally friendly way to cool a building, they cause carbon emissions and air pollution, and in turn endanger lives.
Other paints and glazes help reflect mid-infrared, but this new version from Stanford is more than just reflection. pure white or silver. Colors include white, blue, red, yellow, green, orange, purple and dark grey.
This rainbow is possible because the new paint is applied in two successive layers. The first is the reflective bottom layer, which contains silver aluminum flakes. The second is an infrared transparent top layer containing colorful inorganic nanoparticles.
The design of this two-layer structure, previously created It’s not entirely unique as it reflects other wavelengths of infrared light, but it appears to be quite effective.
“The versatility of paints,” the authors write“In addition to being able to be applied to a wide variety of surfaces in different shapes and materials, paints are useful in a wide variety of scenarios.”
When used on the outside of a building, infrared rays from the sun pass through the top layer of paint and are reflected off the mirror-like bottom layer. This prevents the building from absorbing heat from the sun.
Even better, both of these layers are water repellent and work well in humid and hot environments.
“Achieving zero-emissions targets will require global reductions in energy and emissions for both heating and air conditioning.” To tell Yi Kui, a materials scientist at Stanford University.
“How to reduce heat exchange between human living and working spaces and their surroundings is receiving increasing attention, and new materials are emerging to enhance insulation, such as low-emissivity films for windows. We sought.”
The team hopes to continue refining the technology and commercialize this paint in the future.
This research PNAS.