As temperatures soar, electric bills often go through the roof. That’s because people tend to turn on their air conditioners during the long, hot summer months.
It’s been predicted that by 2050 about 75 percent of the world’s homes could have air conditioners. If that’s true, the energy required to cool buildings will double. For that reason, researchers continue to look for solutions to keep air-conditioner usage to a minimum. Some innovations are being used already or are in the process of being developed. Certain building materials can feel cooler because of their ability to absorb heat and release it slowly. Other buildings use water cooling systems to cool them. However, these aren’t the only methods. Science has a few more tricks up its sleeve.
Researchers at Purdue University have developed the world’s whitest paint. This paint can keep a building’s exterior surface cooler than the surrounding temperature. On hot days, walls absorb heat and often become 10 to 20 degrees Celsius hotter than the air around them. But walls painted with Purdue’s white paint reflect 98.1 percent of the heat and send it back into space. This creates a cooling effect.
Purdue professor Xiulin Ruan believes that the super-white paint could have a more powerful cooling effect than many home air conditioners. Researchers hope to have the paint on the market in five to 10 years.
Yi Zheng of Northeastern University has created a “cooling paper”. This material reflects the sun’s rays while pulling heat out of a building’s interior, and the paper can be recycled. He and his team discovered that the paper helps bring down a room’s temperature by about 6 degrees Celsius. Zheng hopes that the cooling paper will someday be used on roofs and within building materials.
Now and in the future, perhaps some of these energy-efficient methods will make it easier to beat the heat.
【小题1】Why does the author mention the air conditioners at the beginning of the passage?| A．To describe a fact. | B．To support an idea. |
| C．To provide examples. | D．To introduce the topic. |
| A．It has been on the market. |
| B．It is the world’s coolest paint. |
| C．Walls painted with it reflect most of the heat. |
| D．It can keep the whole building’s surface cooler. |
| A．The surface of a buildings is better covered with paper. |
| B．Buildings will be built mostly with cooling paper someday. |
| C．The cooling paper will be practical and eco-friendly building materials. |
| D．The cooling paper can bring down a room’s temperature more than air conditioners. |
| A．Purdue’s White Paint: A New Material to Cool Buildings |
| B．Cool Buildings: Innovative Ways to Keep Buildings Cool |
| C．Cool Building Materials: Solutions to Fight against Climate Change |
| D．Future Air Conditioners: New Energy-efficient Methods to Beat the Heat |
