Paint has long been accused of being harmful to the environment, releasing such toxins as white lead and volatile organic compounds. It’s even been rapped as the leading cause of microplastics in the oceans, as reported in Paint News last year. But paint’s bad reputation might be in for a turnaround, as a recent article in the New York Times reports that some scientists believe that their newly developed paint may just be an answer to an impending environmental catastrophe.
We’ve reported on this as it’s developed: the whitest white paint was created at Purdue University by a research team led by Xiulian Ruan, a professor of mechanical engineering. The product seems to have some amazing properties. First developed in 2020 and then improved in 2021, this new paint reflects up to 98.1% of sunlight. When initially developed, it reflected 95.5%, which was still a vast improvement over the 80 to 90% reflectivity of most white paint.
The reflectivity is due to particles of barium sulfate mixed into the coating. They reflect the sunlight in a variety of ways, which allows the coating to scatter more of the light spectrum.
Keep your cool
The article goes on to say that scientists believe the paint can keep surfaces up to 8 degrees cooler during the day, and as much as 19 degrees cooler at night. Such coating technology can save home and building owners a truckload of money on air conditioning. More recently, the research team developed a thinner version of the coating that can go on planes, trains, and automobiles, keeping them cooler as well.
As has been widely reported, this year has set many heat records. And this may even be the earth’s hottest year in the past 120,000. Ruan is hoping to save people money on energy costs and benefit the planet at the same time. If this paint can cover one or two percent of the earth’s surface — which would require a whopping 139 billion gallons — it might do just that.
He also noted that the coating would need to be strategically placed. You couldn’t, for instance, just coat the entirety of the United States or half of the Sahara and call it a day. There would be too much disruption if one area suddenly became so much cooler. Used properly however, it could help offset the effect of “urban heat islands” and other man-made issues that contribute to earth’s rising temperature. It’s less a long-term solution, Ruan stated in the article, and more a short-term bandage: it could buy some time while global leaders work on longer-lasting changes (like, maybe…giant mirrors to reflect the sun…or using the sun to cook giant pools of soup).
When can we get it?
The paint is perhaps a year away from being available for commercial use while the team is still working to increase durability and dirt resistance. They’re even developing some colors that are mixed using this ultra-white base, although they won’t be as reflective as the original.
Once out of the can, it should look and act like the paint used today. “While the paint is officially the world’s whitest, as dubbed by Guinness in 2021, it doesn’t look different from paint in the hardware store because of the way it scatters light,” the article reported.