Plastic as a material for heating and cooling buildings.
In an era where climate change is forcing us to rethink our lifestyles, researchers from Princeton and UCLA have developed a passive mechanism capable of cooling buildings in summer and warming them in winter, using an unexpected material: plastic.
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An innovative mechanism based on radiative properties
Published in the newspaper Cell Reports Physical Sciencethis work demonstrates how coatings made from common materials can restrict radiant heat flows between buildings and their surroundings to specific wavelengths, providing superior energy savings and thermal comfort compared to traditional building envelopes.
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Optimization of optical properties
Jyotirmoy Mandal, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Princeton, explains that the primary heat exchange between a building and its surroundings is in the form of radiation. By adjusting the optical properties of building envelopes to exploit the behavior of radiation in our environment, it is possible to control heat in new and impactful ways.
The challenge of walls and windows
Roofs, usually exposed to the sky, can easily reflect sunlight and radiate heat to space. Walls and windows, however, see mainly the ground and neighboring buildings, thus absorbing heat from these warm surfaces during the summer and losing it to these same cold surfaces in the winter.
A double-effect solution
The solution lies in using materials that only absorb or radiate heat through the atmospheric transmission window, a narrow band of the infrared spectrum. This reduces broadband heat gains from the ground in summer, and losses in winter, while maintaining the cooling effect of the sky.
Impact and potential of common materials
The results show that many common and inexpensive building materials, such as polyvinyl fluoride used as siding, could be adapted for this purpose. Even more common plastics, such as polypropylene, have selective heat radiation or absorption properties in the atmospheric window.
Substantial energy impacts
The energy impact on a building scale could be considerable, comparable to the savings made by painting dark roofs white. This could be particularly useful as air conditioning costs and heat-related deaths continue to rise globally.
Towards a more sustainable future
The proposed mechanism is entirely passive, making it a sustainable method to heat and cool buildings with the seasons and achieve untapped energy savings. Mandal points out that the benefits of these mechanisms and materials are particularly high for buildings in the global south, providing a more equitable solution for resource-poor communities.
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This paper explores a major innovation in passive heating and cooling of buildings. Using common materials, this technology can efficiently control radiant heat fluxes, reducing energy costs while increasing comfort. With significant implications for sustainability and equity, this approach could redefine thermal management of buildings around the world.
Source : CELL
