The latest edition of ‘Guinness World Records’ features Purdue for the world’s whitest paint that eliminates the need for air conditioning
- ByStartupStory | September 22, 2021
Want to save big on your air conditioning bills? Wait a few years to coat your home with the world’s whitest paint, which may dramatically reduce or even eliminate the need for air conditioning. In the 2022 edition of Guinness World Records, the Guinness World Records title has been earned by the paint developed at Purdue University which is now available for purchase.
Interestingly, the goal of the researchers was not to break a record for the whitest paint but to curb global warming.“When we started this project about seven years ago, we had saving energy and fighting climate change in mind,” said Xiulin Ruan, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue, in a podcast episode of “This Is Purdue.”
With the idea of creating a paint that would reflect sunlight away from a building, Ruan started researching with his graduate students at Purdue. The formulation of paint that Ruan’s lab has created reflects 98.1% of solar radiation and at the same time emits infrared heat. The surface coated with this paint is cooled below the surrounding temperature without consuming power because the paint absorbs less heat from the sun than it emits. Using this new paint formulation to cover a roof area of about 1,000 square feet could result in a cooling power of 10 kilowatts, Purdue researchers showed in a published paper. “That’s more powerful than the air conditioners used by most houses,” said Ruan.
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