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Been waiting on this to be available ever since it was first announced. Finally got an email last year from a paint supplier (Gamblin), and a single 37ml tube i
by dclaw 6y ago
Been waiting on this to be available ever since it was first announced. Finally got an email last year from a paint supplier (Gamblin), and a single 37ml tube is $75... with a limit of 2! I really hope at some point that these 'rare earth' ingredients come down and it can be more readily available / cheaper. I'd seriously paint my roof and my whole house with it to keep it cooler in the summer.
- Osmium 6y agoIt's likely expensive because of the synthesis and quality control not because of the raw ingredients (not that they're necessarily cheap either).
- samatman 6y agoIndium is a bit more expensive than silver at the moment, the other two are much cheaper. So yes, synthesis, quality control, probable patent encumbrance, and high demand, more than raw ingredient price: but it'll never be particularly cheap.
- londons_explore 6y agoBut how many grams of pigment in a can of paint?
- leafmeal 6y agoPossibly a stupid question, but why would painting your roof blue help keep it any cooler than painting it white for example, which reflects more light? Edit: Ok it turns out there's 2 parts to a cooling roof, how reflective it is, and how good it is at emitting infrared radiation (emissivity). Reflectivity of visible and UV light prevents more energy from being absorbed, but doesn't necessarily mean the material cools down well once hot. A high emissivity means the material can cool down quickly through radiation. I guess YInMn blue has a high emissivity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflective_surfaces_(climate_engineering) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflective_surfaces_(climate_e...
- neltnerb 6y agoI cannot think of any reason why blue would ever have a lower emissivity than actual white. Rare earths are not going to come down in price, in my opinion. They're used in too many places and have too few sources. The US has a rare earth strategy document that makes clear just how insecure supplies of these elements is.
- leafmeal 6y agoThanks, I was not familiar with the concept of emissivity.
- btilly 6y agoI cannot think of any reason why a material's absorption/emission through the visible spectrum would determine its absorption/emission through the infra-red spectrum.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- neltnerb 6y agoThat is why I said "actual white".
- btilly 6y agoSo "actual white" has little to do with the color that we see. Is it also white to the x-ray spectrum and the radio wave spectrum? If so, I am pretty sure that this doesn't actually exist.
- neltnerb 6y agoRight, it doesn't actually exist. It is a technical definition that by definition absorbs no light, it isn't a practically realizable thing.
- 6y ago
- SECProto 6y ago> I'd seriously paint my roof and my whole house with it to keep it cooler in the summer. It'd likely be more effective to do some combination of insulation, radiant barriers, and thermal breaks.