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Thermeleon: Color Changing Tile

10-29-09thermeleon.jpg

Remember how awesome HyperColor clothing was? Just imagine the same concept, but this time it’s covering buildings instead of bodies. By now we all know how important light colored roofs are for keeping buildings cool – but what should we do in climates with 4 seasons? A team of MIT graduates has developed a tile that can go from light to dark as the temperature changes for the best of both worlds…

 
 

Earlier this month the MIT graduates won a $5000 prize as part of the school’s annual Making and Designing Materials Engineering Contest for their design. The tile, named Thermeleon (a play on chameleon), is designed to turn dark during cold weather and stay white when the weather is warmer. According to the team the tiles would reflect up to 80-percent of the sun’s energy when white, while only reflecting 30-percent when dark.

The researchers hope that because the tile and color technology is made of common and inexpensive material, it could be manufactured and sold at a relatively low price. In the meantime, they’re also looking at integrating the color changing technology into paint, which could be applied directly to existing roofs or other building parts.

For more information visit team Thermeleon's website.

If this actually goes into production, it will be amazing, and we think it’ll change the game of solar building. Would you get a HyperColor roof if you could?


via Ceramic Tech Today

(Image: Patrick Gillooly/MIT)


Related:
Why It's Green: Cool Roofs
Good Question: Cool Roofs in Cold Climate?
Cool Roof Shingles by GAF

Comments (3)

Absolutely! This is a very "cool" idea *harhar* :D

posted by thehalfie on October 29th 2009 at 3:30pm
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I love the idea. I love Hyper color shirts too!

posted by Icanmakeit on October 30th 2009 at 10:49pm
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'bout time!!! I've been working and waiting for this!!

posted by theskip on November 4th 2009 at 3:42pm
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