William Atkins
Monday, 12 October 2009 21:13
Science -
Energy
Page 1 of 2
Students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have found an innovative way for your roof to save you money when it comes to heating and cooling bills. They have developed roof tiles that absorb heat in the winter and reflect it in the summer. How do the tiles accomplish this feat? They change colors!
If you have a dark-colored roof on your home or at your office at work, then it is doing a good job at absorbing heat in the winter.
Unfortunately, it does a poor job of reflecting it in the summer (to keep the structure cool).
Then again, if you have a light-colored roof, then it does a great job of reflecting heat away from it in the summer but does a lousy job at absorbing heat in the winter.
It just does not work out for a comprehensive, all-year-long energy efficient roof.
Until now, that is!
According to the MIT News article “
Energy savings in black and white: MIT students develop concept for color-changing roof tiles that absorb heat in winter, reflect it in summer,” a team of recent MIT graduates has developed a particular roof tile that changes color based on the outside temperature.
When it is hot outside, the tiles are white (to reflect away the heat of the summer), but when the temperature drops the tiles gradually turn darker and eventually turn black (to absorb the sun’s rays during the cold winter months).
And, it reverses itself when the weather turns hot again, turning back to white when the warmth of summer comes around again.
Page two concludes.
