Solar reflective auto paint

[California98Civic]

The findings reported here might be of interest to some of you, especially if you are considering buying a car or repainting yours:

Cool Science: Cool Cars | Heat Island Group | heatisland.lbl.gov

Here's the core point:

A light-colored or cool-colored car shell reflects more sunlight than a traditional dark car shell. This cools the cabin air and reduces the need for air conditioning. A recent study found that after parking in the sun for an hour, a silver Honda Civic (shell SR 0.57) had a cabin air temperature about 5-6°C (9-11°F) lower than an otherwise identical black car (shell SR 0.05). Modeling indicates that substituting a silver (or white) shell for a black shell would allow the specification of a 13% smaller (lower capacity) air conditioner, improving fuel economy.

The site cites this study for the above information:

Levinson R, Pan H, Ban-Weiss G, Rosado P, Paolini R, Akbari H., "Potential benefits of solar reflective car shells: Cooler cabins, fuel savings and emission reductions," Applied Energy (2011).
http://heatisland.lbl.gov/publicatio...-and-emission-

[shovel]

Indeed?



I've always been a fan of white roofs for this reason (even reducing duty cycle of factory equipped "overpowered" a/c unit, which has to be almost as good as having a smaller one...) - all our non-A/C cars received white paint jobs on the roof when I was a young'n... and I've been putting some serious thought into doing up my WJ that way.

[cfg83]

California98Civic -

We've always had white cars in my family going back to my Dad's 1960 Chevy Impala (not ours but close enough) :



My Dad's an engineer, and I am pretty sure he told me that he picks white for cooling reasons.

This is true of homes as well. Aesthetically most people wouldn't select white roofs, but they $ave a lot of money and degrade slower than traditional roofs. I remember driving out of Las Vegas one day and seeing a *WHITE* Spanish tile roof on a home. I just wanted to clap my hands.

More studies :

FSEC-CR-1220-00

In summary, this evaluation strongly confirms the energy-saving benefits of using more reflective roofing systems in Florida. Selection of colors with higher solar reflectance will result in tangible cooling energy savings for customers. This is particularly true for roofing materials such as tile and metal, which are currently available with solar reflectances of 65%-75% range. The selection of reflective roofing systems represents one of the most significant energy-saving options available to homeowners and builders. Such systems also strongly reduce the cooling demand during utility coincident peak periods and may be among the most effective methods for controlling demand.

CarloSW2

[NachtRitter]

Same here... have had only white cars since as far back as I can remember... (part of the reason my avatar is white too! )

[ecomodded]

My car is black, so i seek out the shade,desperately when parking during the summer. In the winter my car benefits from being warming do to the solar heat.
Also black is waaaaaaaaaay cooler of a color choice.
White won't cut it fer me, especially in my N Beetle..
I do like grey/silver.

[shovel]

That white tile house roof... damn... that looks good. Even without the thermal benefits it just looks good.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by cfg83

This is true of homes as well. Aesthetically most people wouldn't select white roofs, but they $ave a lot of money and degrade slower than traditional roofs. I remember driving out of Las Vegas one day and seeing a *WHITE* Spanish tile roof on a home. I just wanted to clap my hands.

CarloSW2

I've long admired this one, which I often pass on the way to one of my favorite hiking/biking trails: Carson Valley Nevada Real Estate - Gillmor Coons Real Estate Group | Search Properties If it weren't such an overkill - 13 garages! - I'd make an offer.

Likewise with white cars: the thing I regret most about my Insight is that it's silver instead of white.

[cfg83]

ecomodded -

The other good thing about silver is that unpainted pizza pans are close in color.

But white can look wicked :



CarloSW2

[cfg83]

jamesqf -

That's egg-zactly the picture I was looking for, one where you could see the classic Spanish tile roof :



CarloSW2

[botsapper]

Still waiting for this vaporware colloid. Getting a charge out of solar 'paint'