Researchers Ronggui Yang and Xiaobo Yin show their plastic film capable of cooling buildings without using refrigerants.

(Glenn Asakawa/University of Colorado Boulder)

At a Glance

A new plastic film invented in Colorado could potentially cool buildings without electricity of refrigerants.Nearly 6% of electricity generated in the U.S. is for air-conditioning

A new invention from researchers at theUniversity of Colorado Boulder could mark the first step toward a future where homes and businesses no longer rely on air-conditioning.

In a new study released this week in Science Journal, . The incredible film works through a process known as radiative cooling. Yang and Ying's plastic absorbs almost no light but still manages to pull heat from the surface to which it is attached.

The research team estimated that 20-square-meters of the film placed on top of an average American house would be able to keep the internal temperature down to 68 degrees on aday when it is nearly 99 degrees outside.

Their groundbreaking invention can be produced using routine roll-to-roll manufacturing techniques with a price of around 50 cents per square meter. A similar study conducted at Stanford University in 2014 found a material that was also capable of using radiative cooling for offices and homes. The research used a device made fromseven layers of hafnium dioxide and silicon dioxide laid onto a wafer made of silicon.

according to The Economist.

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The plastic film developed in the University of Colorado Boulder study is made with a combination of transparent TPX plastic polymethylpentene and tiny glass beads. , according to Yang.

“This is very nice work demonstrating a pathway toward large-scale applications of the concept of radiative cooling,” Stanford researcher Shanhui Fan told Science Magazine.

The results of the preliminary study are promising, but more research must be done before the plastic film can ever make it out of the lab. Researchers still need to test film's long-term durability and how it may impact buildings on cloudy days or in the winter months.

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