New Reflection Material Beams Heat into Space and Cools the Planet

Engineers may have come up with a new material that beams heat back into space. They've created a new paint-like material that could potentially help cool buildings by radiating heat away from the structures and send it into space as infrared radiation.

The heart of the invention is an ultrathin, multilayered material that deals with light, both invisible and visible, in a new way. Invisible light in the form of infrared radiation is one of the ways that all objects and living things throw off heat. Yet in this case, the new material has the ability to reflect it back upward. Not only that, but the material can also act like a mirror and reflect visible light, as well.

"This is a very novel and an extraordinarily simple idea," said Eli Yablonovitch, one of the researchers, in a news release. "AS a result of professor Fan's work, we can now [use radiative cooling], not only at night but counter-intuitively in the daytime as well."

The material is also cost-effective for large-scale deployment on building rooftops. While it's still a young technology, it could one day reduce the demand for electricity by naturally cooling buildings. In fact, as much as 15 percent of energy used in buildings in the U.S. is spent powering air conditioning systems.

"Every object that produces heat has to dump that heat into a heat sink," said Shanhui Fan, the lead researcher. "What we've done is to create a way that should allow us to use the coldness of the universe as a heat sink during the day."

The findings could be huge in terms to saving energy and also reducing excess heat. If this material is widely applied in cities, it's possible to potentially cool the area during the hot summer.

The findings are published in the journal Nature.

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