Thursday 12 November 2020

‘Paint that changes colour based on temperature could offer significant energy savings for buildings’

A reflective thermochromic paint that changes its colour based on temperature could save a significant amount of energy from buildings.

That's according to Zeynep Tulumen from Italy’s Politecnico di Torino - she is a Member of the group behind the SpectrumLab project who spoke to FNZ about the development of the new material, which was developed for use in construction, with the aim of reducing building’s temperature variance and improving energy efficiency

She said: "The paint is able to adapt to the outdoor conditions. So, if it's cold outside, it is able to absorb the heat in order to warm the indoor environment of the building and if it is warm outside it is able to reflect the solar radiation and passively cold the building."

The offering promises an annual saving of almost 15% of the total energy consumed for both heating and cooling.

She said if applied at scale, the technology has the potential to help regulate heat islands and urban temperatures: "We are now at a stage where we want to understand more the properties of the paint and try to put it in the market."

She added that according to their research, the paint could benefit more industrial, low-density buildings since they have more surfaces to apply the technology.

However, the paint can be applied to any type of building as it represents a quick and low-cost solution compared to other energy efficiency technologies, according to Ms Tulumen.

The project secured recent funding from the Global Grad Show, a programme for graduates working on social impact innovation.

The programme, in its sixth year, received applications from 270 universities in 60 countries.

[caption id="attachment_213887" align="aligncenter" width="720"] Image: SpectrumLab[/caption]