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'Whitest ever' paint reflects 98% of sunlight

bbc.com

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Re: 'Whitest ever' paint reflects 98% of sunlight

#61

Post by yetihehe »

FredPret wrote: post #45
cyberlab wrote: post #4

Someone needs to compile a list of all this fringe tech that I see popping up in my feeds, almost daily now. I know there are techpress blogs that pump out articles like this, but there doesn't seem to be an authoritative compendium of such tech anywhere on the net. I could curate this by hand with 3 hours of free time and some Red Bull I suppose. The reason I want this is because we seem to be swimming in innovation…

Speaking of joining the dots, did you know that both the train and steam power (albeit a toy version of it) were invented in ancient Egypt? Think what could have been had we joined those two dots in 2000BC instead of 17-1800 AD. I should note that their train was of course pulled by slaves and not a locomotive.

They didn't have one important dot: cheap good steel or other durable materials. Steel for them was more expensive and hard to get than titanium now.

Re: 'Whitest ever' paint reflects 98% of sunlight

#62

Post by malloryerik »

sandworm101 wrote: post #57
cyberlab wrote: post #4

Someone needs to compile a list of all this fringe tech that I see popping up in my feeds, almost daily now. I know there are techpress blogs that pump out articles like this, but there doesn't seem to be an authoritative compendium of such tech anywhere on the net. I could curate this by hand with 3 hours of free time and some Red Bull I suppose. The reason I want this is because we seem to be swimming in innovation…

This is nothing new. You are just now hearing more about it because of how journalism is being done online. There have always been lots of revolutionary things happening in labs. They are rarely ever practical, or if they are it will take decades to bring to market. How many dozens of new battery techs are announced as being "better than lithium ion" only to disappear once everyone realized how impractical they are.…

Your point clearly has merit in many cases, but paint seems almost the epitome of practicality. Assuming that it could be mass producible at a price similar to premium house paints I can't see the problem in bringing this to market.

And from the article: > In the US, New York has recently coated more than 10 million sq ft of rooftops white. The state of California has already updated building codes to promote cool roofs.

Re: 'Whitest ever' paint reflects 98% of sunlight

#63

Post by iamthepieman »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #55
rtkwe wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They show any dirt really clearly so for houses it’s a crummy choice because it’s not hidden on out of view (on most houses, if it’s a modern house with a flat roof you could potentially use a flat white painted roof) which means cleaning a lot.

architecturally is a non-flat roof good for dry, hot environments? I think I tend to associate flat roofs with a dry and hot environment.

It's bad for wet environments and snowy ones. You need to be super vigilant about inspection and maintenance if you have a flat roof where I live in northern U.S. While two feet of snow on the roof will provide a small amount of insulation, every material in contact with it needs to be rubberized or sealed every couple of years or both.

Shovelling your roof with a flexible waterproof membrane can lead to gouges which defeat the impermeability. And one small leak can go unnoticed until it has seeped into the visible part of the house and rotted rafters and supporting timbers. Drainage on flat roofs get clogged and need to be cleaned or you end up with standing water.

A sloped metal roof will last for 30+ years without any maintenance. A flat roof of any type will require several maintenance operations a year and last half that unless you have a commercial tar and gravel roof which is heavy and imposes additional load bearing requirements on the structure.

Re: 'Whitest ever' paint reflects 98% of sunlight

#64

Post by quickthrowman »

FredPret wrote: post #45
cyberlab wrote: post #4

Someone needs to compile a list of all this fringe tech that I see popping up in my feeds, almost daily now. I know there are techpress blogs that pump out articles like this, but there doesn't seem to be an authoritative compendium of such tech anywhere on the net. I could curate this by hand with 3 hours of free time and some Red Bull I suppose. The reason I want this is because we seem to be swimming in innovation…

Speaking of joining the dots, did you know that both the train and steam power (albeit a toy version of it) were invented in ancient Egypt? Think what could have been had we joined those two dots in 2000BC instead of 17-1800 AD. I should note that their train was of course pulled by slaves and not a locomotive.

You need machine tools capable of tight tolerances and quality metals/alloys to make useable (for work) steam engines. The Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Abbasid, Persians, Europeans, etc all lacked these, thus no usable steam engines in antiquity/Middle Ages. Usable engines followed consistent quality metal production and machine tools pretty closely, it’s not like older people were just stupid, they didn’t have the technology necessary to create steam engines capable of real work.

It’s like asking “Why wasn’t there a chess engine as good as stockfish for the PDP-11?” It simply wasn’t possible with the technology in 1970.

Re: 'Whitest ever' paint reflects 98% of sunlight

#65

Post by obmelvin »

malloryerik wrote: post #62
sandworm101 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is nothing new. You are just now hearing more about it because of how journalism is being done online. There have always been lots of revolutionary things happening in labs. They are rarely ever practical, or if they are it will take decades to bring to market. How many dozens of new battery techs are announced as being "better than lithium ion" only to disappear once everyone realized how impractical they are.…

Your point clearly has merit in many cases, but paint seems almost the epitome of practicality. Assuming that it could be mass producible at a price similar to premium house paints I can't see the problem in bringing this to market. And from the article: > In the US, New York has recently coated more than 10 million sq ft of rooftops white. The state of California has already updated building codes to promote cool ro…

> Assuming that it could be mass producible at a price similar to premium house paints I can't see the problem in bringing this to market.

Unfortunately, that's the whole point of this little discussion, right? GP is saying how many things like this, yes, seem like they have merit, but at the end of the day can't be produced practically outside of a lab.

Re: 'Whitest ever' paint reflects 98% of sunlight

#66

Post by kube-system »

malloryerik wrote: post #62
sandworm101 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is nothing new. You are just now hearing more about it because of how journalism is being done online. There have always been lots of revolutionary things happening in labs. They are rarely ever practical, or if they are it will take decades to bring to market. How many dozens of new battery techs are announced as being "better than lithium ion" only to disappear once everyone realized how impractical they are.…

Your point clearly has merit in many cases, but paint seems almost the epitome of practicality. Assuming that it could be mass producible at a price similar to premium house paints I can't see the problem in bringing this to market. And from the article: > In the US, New York has recently coated more than 10 million sq ft of rooftops white. The state of California has already updated building codes to promote cool ro…

There are a lot of practicality/implementation concerns to paint other than what color it is. Just as many if not more than there are for battery technologies.

Does the paint stick to the surface you want to paint, how is it applied, what is the coverage, is it durable, does it repel contaminants, can it withstand the environmental conditions, is it chemically compatible with the surface, it is chemically a concern for the other items/humans/animals that may come in contact with, can it be produced at scale, does it (and it's vehicle for application) meet regulatory standards? etc...

Re: 'Whitest ever' paint reflects 98% of sunlight

#67

Post by fidesomnes »

cyberlab wrote: post #4

Someone needs to compile a list of all this fringe tech that I see popping up in my feeds, almost daily now. I know there are techpress blogs that pump out articles like this, but there doesn't seem to be an authoritative compendium of such tech anywhere on the net. I could curate this by hand with 3 hours of free time and some Red Bull I suppose. The reason I want this is because we seem to be swimming in innovation…

Scientific American Magazine. You're welcome.

Re: 'Whitest ever' paint reflects 98% of sunlight

#69

Post by JKCalhoun »

walrus01 wrote: post #35
dejj wrote: post #2

Also: Black 3.0, the purchasable variant of Vantablack For sale at: https://www.culturehustleusa.com/

see also, color manufacturers that will sell to anybody who ISN'T Anish Kapoor https://www.dezeen.com/2017/07/07/anish-kapoor-banned-from-u...

FTA:

> In response, UK-based artist Stuart Semple created a pigment that he claimed to be the world's "pinkest pink" and made it available to purchase on his website for "everyone but Anish Kapoor".

I love artists.

Re: 'Whitest ever' paint reflects 98% of sunlight

#70

Post by kube-system »

Timshel wrote: post #17
dejj wrote: post #2

Also: Black 3.0, the purchasable variant of Vantablack For sale at: https://www.culturehustleusa.com/

Nice they have a White 2.0 too since last year (up to 99.6% reflective). And as with Black 3.0 banned for Colour criminals ;).

Of which, the picture of on the home page has clearly visible white text over it.... :D
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