Top Ten Countdown: 2019 Advances in Solar – #5 Solar is the New Paint

#5 – Solar is the New Paint

It won’t be the color of the year. Or even next year or perhaps five or more years. But, before we know it, there will be a new section in home improvement stores – paint that will ultimately turn into fuel.

This is the year that paint became a potentially viable conductor and collector of solar energy. But there’s a lot more to it. The paint, an innovation from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia, uses both sunlight and moisture to generate energy.

According to a report on theirwebsite, the addition of a silicone gel-typematerial that also acts as a semi-conductor absorbs solar energy as well as moisture from the surrounding air. It will be able to capture moisture even in hot, dry climates that are near oceans. It can then split the water into hydrogen and oxygen, collecting the hydrogen for use in fuel cells or to power a vehicle.

Think about it. In the future, you may be driving your car with clean fuel generated by sunlight, moisture and your house paint.

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Published by
Steven J. Schleider, MAI, LEED-AP BD+C
President, Metropolitan Valuation Services