Every house-owner at least once encountered a roof problem. Imagine this: it’s summertime, hot outside and you only wish for something to cool off. Yet, even in the sanctuary of your home it is not granted, as the sun shines upon your dark roof which absorbs all the heat… And the wisest thing to do would of course be to switch color to as light as possible. But then, after few months the winter comes and suddenly you’re glad that you didn’t go with the roof painting, as the same sun that bothered you during the summer now helps you lower your bills by increasing the temperature. Obviously, re-painting the roof every two seasons is not the best solution. And the problem remains.

That’s where the Thermeleon team comes in. Six people with one simple solution. They came up with an idea for roof tiles that change color depending on temperature. Getting hot? Tiles turn white. Cold again? They turn brown. The concept was met with a lot of optimism, granting the team first place in the MIT MADMEC design competition.

But how does it really work? The answer lays in a polymer gel, sealed in a weather-resistant plastic container. When the surroundings reach a certain temperature, the gel changes its structure which results in becoming white, scattering light and by doing so, not allowing the surface to absorb too much heat. When the temperature drops, the polymer dissolves and becomes transparent, showing a darker layer beneath, which in turn heats easily.

In practice, that kind of technology installed on a roof would lower the cooling costs of the house by reflecting up to eighty percent of sunlight and lowering the inside temperature noticeably. On the other hand, during winter the smart tiles absorb seventy percent of light, also lowering bills a few pounds.

The technology is still being tested but prognosis are very promising. The materials used are easily accessible and at some point, it might become an inexpensive and complex system. Variety of transition temperatures will also allow it to be used in different climatic zones. Hopefully, we will see first color changing tiles in stores soon.

Tags: Heat, heating, roof tiles, Sunlight, Temperature

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 at 3:42 pm and is filed under Appliances, Cleaning Tips, Eco, Home, Interesting, Scalewatcher. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.