In 2020, Xiulin Ruan, a mechanical engineering professor at Purdue University, and his team introduced an innovation: a type of white paint that can act as a reflector, capable of reflecting 98% of the sun’s rays from the Earth’s surface back into the atmosphere and space.
The properties of the paint are almost heroic. It can make surfaces up to eight degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the ambient air temperatures at noon and up to 19 degrees cooler at night, reducing indoor temperatures and decreasing the need for air conditioning by up to 40%. Unlike air conditioning, the paint does not require energy to operate and does not heat up with external air.
In 2021, Guinness recognized the invention as the whitest paint of all time, and since then, the product has collected several awards. Although the paint was originally designed for roofs, manufacturers of clothing, shoes, cars, trucks, and even spacecraft have shown interest in the novelty. Last year, Dr. Ruan and his team announced they would create a lighter version that could reflect heat from vehicles.
However, the paint will not be ready for commercial use for at least a year, and work is underway to increase its durability and dirt resistance.
As the climate crisis worsens, scientists are working to develop reflective materials, including different types of coatings and films, that can passively cool the Earth.
And the reflection that will bounce the sun’s rays back into space will not affect space at all. The sun already emits over a billion times more heat than the Earth, and this method that scientists are betting on only reflects the heat already generated by the sun.
Is painting everything with this white paint the solution to global warming? Of course not! “This is definitely not a long-term solution. This is something we can do in the short term to mitigate worse problems while we try to get everything under control,” said the researcher.
Source: The New York Times