With applications in clothing, construction and food storage, the new textile reduces heat from both the sun and thermal radiation from nearby buildings By addressing both direct solar heating and the thermal radiation emitting from pavement and buildings in urban heat islands, the material kept 2.3 degrees Celsius cooler than the broadband emitter fabric used for outdoor endurance sports and 8.
In tests under the Arizona sun, the material kept 2.3 degrees Celsius cooler than the broadband emitter fabric used for outdoor endurance sports and 8.9 degrees Celsius cooler than the commercialized silk commonly used for shirts, dresses and other summer clothing. This means many materials that perform well in lab tests won't help city-dwellers in Arizona, Nevada, California, Southeast Asia and China when predicted massive heatwaves hit them over the next few weeks.
The sun and sidewalk cook with different heats. Creating one material capable of protecting wearers from both provided a major engineering challenge for the team. The risk from heat is not distributed evenly, however. In the U.S. and Japan, more than 90 percent of households have an air conditioner, a number that drops to 5 percent in India and parts of Africa.