98% :)

Xiulin Ruan, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, has created the whitest paint on record with his students.Credit...John Underwood/Purdue University

98% reflectivity, something otherworldly in the push to cool down the planet using paint as the weapon of choice is stellar to the max. Even better, it doesn't look any different from ordinary white. :)

Xiulin Ruan, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, didn’t set out to make it into the Guinness World Records when he began trying to make a new type of paint. He had a loftier goal: to cool down buildings without torching the Earth.

In 2020, Dr. Ruan and his team unveiled their creation: a type of white paint that can act as a reflector, bouncing 95 percent of the sun’s rays away from the Earth’s surface, up through the atmosphere and into deep space. A few months later, they announced an even more potent formulation that increased sunlight reflection to 98 percent.

The paint’s properties are almost superheroic. It can make surfaces as much as eight degrees Fahrenheit cooler than ambient air temperatures at midday, and up to 19 degrees cooler at night, reducing temperatures inside buildings and decreasing air-conditioning needs by as much as 40 percent. It is cool to the touch, even under a blazing sun, Dr. Ruan said. Unlike air-conditioners, the paint doesn’t need any energy to work, and it doesn’t warm the outside air.

Science done right never disappoints. :)

The infrared images showed how a sample of the paint (the dark purple square in the middle) actually cooled the board below ambient temperature, something that not even commercial “heat rejecting” paints do.Credit...Joseph Peoples/Purdue University

Why this matters ...

By 2050, nearly half the world may live in areas that have dangerous levels of heat for at least a month, including Miami, Lagos and Shanghai, according to projections by researchers at Harvard University and the University of Washington.

Question, how does this rise in heat impact the ability for society to function and ...

remember, this is just the beginning.