A new white paint can reflect more than 98% of sunlight and cool buildings without air conditioning. A team of researchers from Purdue University developed the ultra-white paint that can lower the surface temperature by 4.5°C. This means that the white paint can reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from cooling systems. #whitepaint #cooling #energy https://www.businessinsider.com/global-warming-purdue-white-paint-climate-change-2023-7?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=HariTulsidas%2Fmagazine%2FArchetypes&r=US&IR=T

Scientist Unveil ‘Whitest Paint Ever’ That’s Based on Baryta Photo Paper

Researchers at Purdue University have unveiled what is being called the whitest paint on record, which can reflect up to 98% of light. The paint uses the same chemical compound found in a type of photo paper that has been used by photographers for over a century.

The paint was developed as a way to reduce power consumption for cooling large buildings in the summer as its 98% reflectivity is considerably higher than the 80-90% of light reflected by commonly available white paint on the market. It's even able to reflect infra-red heat, which makes it particularly suitable for this purpose. As reported by The Art Newspaper, it has already shown to reduce surface temperatures of buildings by 4.5 degrees Celcius (8.1 degrees Fahrenheit) below the ambient temperature.

Lead researcher Xiulin Ruan says that they were able to achieve this level of reflectivity due to a high concentration of a chemical compound called barium sulfate, which is used in some photo paper and cosmetics applications.

Barium sulfate photo paper is often referred to as baryta paper. As noted by WhiteWall, Baryta paper has been used by photography professionals for over 140 years.

"Traditional photo papers are made of a coated polyethylene, which makes processing them easier and quicker," WhiteWall writes. "The key difference of baryta paper lies in the barium sulfate (the so-called “baryta”) coating. Ultra-white with a neutral image color, the paper is outstanding at combining brilliant white with intense black tones."

Ruan has already been in contact with an art museum that wishes to display this new white paint next to the blackest material that has been created: VantaBlack. But unlike VantaBlack, which has been essentially privatized and copyrighted by the original creator, Ruan hopes to make this extremely white paint available to consumers and is working with a producer to distribute it within the next one to two years.

If barium sulfate paper is effective in producing better photos due to increasing the perceived levels of contrast, it stands to reason that using this ultra-white paint during the capture process, such as on a cyclorama wall, would also be beneficial. Given that the paint will be available to purchase soon, it will be interesting to see if studios or independent photographers can make use of the highly reflective paint in creative ways, just as has been the case with VantaBlack.

Image credits: Header photo courtesy of Purdue University.

#news #bariumsulfate #barytaphotopaper #photopaper #purdue #purdueuniversity #vantablack #whitepaint #whitestever

New Whitest Paint Might Help Fight Climate Change

It's hot! Hotter than it used to be, and too hot for things to remain nice in the future. The sun keeps beating down, and as our greenhouse gas emissions continue to blanket the earth, more of that heat is trapped, leading to the steady uptick in global average temperatures. Reducing these emissions can help, but there's other possibilities too. A team of researchers with a new very white paint think it might be of some use in solving the problem.

Thermal imaging shows the white paint's ability to cool a surface below ambient temperature, by radiating away excess heat.

The new "whitest white" paint comes to us from Purdue University in the US. It's capable of reflecting 98% of sunlight reaching its surface, a big step up over the typical 80-90% of conventional white paints. Additionally, it doesn't absorb UV light, and can also radiate out heat in infrared wavelengths that pass out of the atmosphere. This allows the paint to cool surfaces below ambient temperature. The paint achieves these feats by using barium sulphate as a pigment, which doesn't absorb UV like conventional titanium dioxide white pigments do. The paint also uses a lot of pigment - 60%, versus 20-40% in a more typical paint. This is similar to techniques used in producing Vantablack, the blackest black acrylic paints.

The hope is that by painting roofs and walls of buildings with white paint, more sunlight will be reflected back out into space, and buildings will be naturally cooler with less reliance on air conditioning, helping to reduce emissions. This could go a long way to solving the heat island effect in many major cities. Municipalities around the world have already begun adopting the technique, from California, to New York and Ahmedabad. It's an easy thing to do, with few drawbacks, so we expect to see the practice grow more popular in coming years. While it won't solve the climate crisis on its own, the world could surely use every bit of help it can get.

#science #climatechange #paint #whitepaint