Israeli startup SolCold developed a paint that absorbs the sun’s rays and converts them into higher wavelengths, producing a cooling effect.
Speaking to i24NEWS in a tent outside, CEO and co-founder of SolCold, Yaron Shenhav, explained that the coating “basically pumps out energy, using it to make the entire tent colder… it is about a [60-70 degree Fahrenheit] difference.”
Air conditioning accounts for 45 percent of Israel’s electricity consumption, a number that rises each year and poses a significant threat to the environment, i24NEWS reported.
Studies also predict that air conditioning may cause as much as a 33 degree Fahrenheit increase in global temperature by the end of the century.
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Yifat Meirovitz, a city councilwoman of Rishon LeZion in central Israel, called the solution “ingenious” as it can cool down “buildings, cars, and even public spaces.”
“We’re going to start using it on one building, and eventually we hope to install it across the whole city.”
The coating can be used on all kinds of products – clothing, cars, cell phone cases – and absorbs the sun’s rays to make whatever surface it’s on cooler the hotter it gets outside.
“You can put it on any substrate,” Chief Technology Officer of SolCold, Tzvi Templeman, told i24NEWS.
Launched in 2016, the Israeli startup signed a partnership with Volkswagen and is selling the coating at $15 per square meter.
