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Cooling Down with Colour
Does colour alter the thermal heat transmitted through a material?
Did you know that a black roof transmits three times more heat than a white one?
Information on roofing made from COLORBOND® steel available from the BlueScope Steel web site clearly shows that the lighter the colour of the roof, the less heat is transmitted. The darker the colour of the roof, the greater amount of heat is transmitted.
Download Chapter 5 of The Lysaght® Steel Roofing and Walling Manual (pdf file, 90KB), which you can download as an individual chapter. It presents an easy to understand diagram about heat control as well as a list of comparisons, in Table 5.1.1, of approximate thermal transmissions (for comparison only) between roofing made from the COLORBOND® steel colours:
- Off White (renamed Surfmist®)
- Wheat (replaced with Paperbark®)
- Rivergum (renamed Wilderness®)
- Slate Grey (renamed Woodland Grey®)
- Ebony (renamed Night Sky®)
Information in this chapter also shows thermal performances by different insulation systems when using either ZINCALUME® steel, COLORBOND® steel, such as reflective foil laminate and roofing with a 50mm insulation blanket and reflective foil laminate.
So, for a dark coloured roof made from COLORBOND® steel such as Night Sky® or Ironstone® the transmission can be reduced by up to 90+%, and higher for the lighter colours such as Surfmist®, Classic Cream™ or Paperbark®.
With the new insulations you are free to choose any colour and keep cool in summer!
Photos courtesy of BlueScope Steel. COLORBOND®, BlueScope and ®colour names are registered trade marks of BlueScope Steel Limited; ™colour names are trade marks of BlueScope Steel Limited.
Does the colour of your car alter the thermal heat transmitted?
When asked to locate the research on the thermal transmission of heat in cars, the Ford dealer we approached suggested that such research wasn’t needed and that for everyone in the car business it was common sense that black car interiors deteriorated at twice the rate of light coloured cars. Apparently it is well known that the interiors of black cars last half the distance of lighter colour cars in all plastic dashboards, vinyl seats and synthetic fabrics used in contemporary models.
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