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WHAT
IT IS: From the most extreme
heat to the most extreme cold, keeping comfortable at home or work can send your heating
and cooling bills through the roof. But now there's a breakthrough technology that
will change the way you think about energy efficiency.
IT'S CALLED RADIANCE™. |
Radiance low-e wall finish is the first interior wall
and ceiling finish that makes rooms feel warmer in the winter and coolers in the summer,
no matter what Mother Nature throws your way. Radiance helps decrease your energy
costs, and increase the comfort level of your home or workplace at the same time.
The physics behind Radiance is similar to low-e glass
windows, which reduce the loss of radiant heat in the winter and the emission of heat into
a building in the summer. The "e" in low-e refers to emissivity, which is
the ability of a surface to emit or absorb radiative energy. The lower the
"e" value, the more efficient it is in managing energy and the greater the
energy savings. You can see the dramatic difference with this infrared thermal
imaging camera.
In warm weather Radiance acts as a barrier to radiant
energy trying to enter a building. To simulate that effect, we coated the front of a
steel plate with Radiance on the left and a standard interior latex paint on the right,
then heated the plate to 120°F. The infrared photos below show the Radiance side as a
cool blue emitting very little radiant energy, while the paint side emits much more.
Imagine the plate as your interior wall, and you see how your rooms stay cooler in summer
with Radiance.
The left side of this wall is coated with Radiance, while
the right side is coated with conventional interior wall paint. On the Radiance
side, the wall reflects a lot more heat from the hand back into the room. On the
right side, heat from the hand is absorbed into the wall and carried to the outside.
And radiant heat feels more comfortable to your
body. Think about it: which would you prefer? Getting warmed up by the intense
heat of a hair dryer or the warm glow of a fireplace? A Radiance-applied room can
feel up to several degrees warmer than a room heated by non-radiant methods. That
means you can set your thermostat at a lower temperature to save energy, and the room will
feel warmer than it actually is. While saving energy is important, the added comfort
in homes, schools, hospitals, offices, and other commercial buildings is a difference you
can truly appreciate.
WHAT IT DOES:
Radiance low-e wall finish is applied
just like conventional paint, but it does a lot more than just make your walls look
good. It's a smart coating, that keeps your rooms feeling warmer in the winter and
cooler in the summer. In winter, it works by reflecting about 40 percent of the
radiant energy that normally would be absorbed by your walls, back into the room. In
the summer, it keeps about 40 percent of the radiant energy from the sun from entering the
room. |
