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Researchers at Columbia Engineering have invented a high-performance exterior PDRC [passive daytime radiative cooling] polymer coating with nano-to-microscale air voids that acts as a spontaneous air cooler and can be fabricated, dyed, and applied like paint on rooftops, buildings, water tanks, vehicles, even spacecraft -- anything that can be painted. They used a solution-based phase-inversion technique that gives the polymer a porous foam-like structure. The air voids in the porous polymer scatter and reflect sunlight, due to the difference in the refractive index between the air voids and the surrounding polymer. The polymer turns white and thus avoids solar heating, while its intrinsic emittance causes it to efficiently lose heat to the sky.
Journal Reference:
J. Mandal, Y. Fu, A. Overvig, M. Jia, K. Sun, N. Shi, H. Zhou, X. Xiao, N. Yu, Y. Yang. Hierarchically porous polymer coatings for highly efficient passive daytime radiative cooling. Science, 2018; eaat9513 DOI: 10.1126/science.aat9513
The new desert home paint?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by EETech1 on Saturday September 29 2018, @04:30AM (1 child)
I have black plastic mats that are about 4 foot by 8 foot on my roof made from small parallel tubes that circulate the water from my pool through them.
Example: http://www.heliocol.com/ [heliocol.com]
The South half of my house has them, the North side has trees, and greyish shingles.
Besides running a 5000 BTU window A/C to dehumidify the bedrooms a few nights a year, the reduced heating of the roof makes the house very comfortable in summer.
I would think something very similar could be done with geothermal as well.
Run it through the house, then through the roof.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday September 29 2018, @01:55PM
Just get a properly installed metal roof. They lay down a heat-reflective barrier underneath the metal then physics takes over and draws cooler air from the bottom of the roof up and out the top as the metal heats the air underneath it.
Save the water cooling for the outside coil of your heat pump. Lay water pipe all throughout your yard deep enough for a constant temperature, attach a little pump and a small reservoir, and use it as a heatsink to heat or cool the outside coils as appropriate. My old heating and air boss had that sort of setup at his house and paid a little bit of nothing to keep his place pleasant year round because of the massive difference in heat transfer efficiency.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.