b'Look-AheadWORLDS WHITEST PAINT WINS AWARDT he whitest paint, which was de- perature without consuming power. touch, prompting many surprised veloped by researchers at Pur- Using this formulation to cover aresponses from judges and viewers.dueUniversityandrecognizedroof area of about 1,000 sq. ft. couldWhile Ruans original paint for-byGuinness World Records Ltd.,result in a cooling power of 10 kW,mulawasmassivelyefficient,it has won the 2023 Innovation Awardmore powerful than the air condi- requireda layer 0.4 mm thick to in the sustainability category fromtioners used by most houses.Atachieve subambient radiant cool-SXSW LLC. SXSW, researchers demonstrateding. The newer, thinner formulation Led in development by Xiulinthe effects of the difference withachieves similar cooling with a layer Ruan, professor of mechanical en- two model barns sitting under directjust 0.15 mm thick.gineering, the paint fights global warming by keeping surfaces cool(The paint is) ideal for radiating heat away from cars, enough to reduce the need for in- trains, airplanes and even spacecraft.ternal air conditioning. SXSW is the latest organization to recognize the innovation, which has been featured onPBS NewsHourandThe Late Show With Stephen Colbert. The paint also was the winner of the 2023Gizmodo Science Fair.Last year, Ruan and his team inno-vated further by developing a formu-lation of his groundbreaking paint that is thinner and lighterideal for radiating heat away from cars, trains, airplanes and even spacecraft.Ac-cording to his teams models, cov-ering 1% of Earths surface in the technology could mitigate the total effects of global warming, a fact en-couraging the team to continue pur-suing formulas suitable for surfaces like asphalt and roadways. Purdue University/John UnderwoodTypical commercial white paintXiulin Ruan, professor of mechanical engineering, holds up his labs sample of the whitest becomes warmer rather than coolerpaint on record.when subjected to sunlight or other light sources. Paints on the markethalogen lights: one painted in com- The new paint also incorporates that are designed to reject heat re- mercial paint and one in Purduesvoids of air, which make it highly po-flect only 80% to 90% of sunlightwhite paint. Judges were able torous. This lower density, together and cant make surfaces cooler thancompare thermometers reading thewith the thinness, provides another their surroundings. In comparison,barns internal temperatures and tohuge benefit: reduced weight. The the whitest paint reflects 98.1% offeel the difference in the roofs. Thenewer paint weighs 80% less than solar heat away from surfaces. barn painted in Purdues technol- the original paint yet achieves nearly Because the paint absorbs lessogy consistently held cooler inter- identical solar reflectance of 97.9% heat from the sun than it emits, anal temperatures by 8 to 10 degreescompared with the original formu-surface coated with this paint isFahrenheit. The whitest white barnlas 98.1%.CTEcooled below the surrounding tem- roof was also much cooler to theTrevor Petersctemag.com/cteguide.com41LookAhead.indd 41 6/15/23 1:53 PM'