Any science boffins out there?

[Desert Orchid]

Some things fascinate me.

Science is one of them. A BBC News item caught my attention this morning. No doubt many of you will have seen it too.

It's about ultra-white and ultra-black paint, particularly the former as far as the item was concerned.

One of the guys who developed the ultra-white paint was claiming that if it was painted on the roof of a building it would have the same affect as a general air-conditioner for the building.

This is the bit I'm not getting.

I can see that it might reduce heat on the top floor of a building but how can it reduce the heat that's coming in through the walls and windows elsewhere.

And wouldn't any energy savings be lost in having to heat the buildings in winter? Or even just at night?

Would the reverse be true of the ultra-black paint in colder climes? Would it absorb so much heat that you wouldn't need central heating? And would these buildings get too hot in summer?

Answers in a weighty tome, please...

 

[Colin Phillips]

I have a scientific background but same questions as you have are going round my head.

 

[barjon]

"It's a big deal, because every 1% of reflectance you get translates to 10 watts per metre squared less heat from the Sun," he explained.
"So if you were to use our paint to cover a roof area of about 1,000 sq ft (93 sq m), we estimate you could get a cooling power of 10 kilowatts. That's more powerful than the central air conditioners used by most houses," he said.

I think he’s saying that it has similar cooling power, not that it works like air-conditioning.