Energy Matters Forums

[Gordon-Loomberah]

I use Earth Choice Wool Wash to clean Buses on weekends. I prefer it over anything they use which includes industrial degreaser. Its better for me and it cleans everything in there including human body parts.

Do you find many human body parts on buses these days? No wonder people dont like using public transport

[gman]

Hi,
Just my two bob's worth - I recently read a comparison in Earth garden or Grass Roots where a guy painted some tiles with plain white and reflective roof paint. I seem to recall that the rather expensive reflective paint only performed marginally better than plain white paint (within a degree or two C). It might pay to do some more research before shelling out on this product - are there any independant test results available? If this stuff works, surely the manufacturers or distributors should have this? I've seen plenty of snake oil for sale over the years - let the buyer beware. Cheers.

[Red]

It is an ugly job but the pay is good, you need a truck license to do it..

Gets me through school and whatever I pick up through the week is a bonus.
I have had buses come in with all sorts of stuff you just wanna forget. I have no faith in humans..

[richardf]

Dulux make a roof paint safe for drinking water roofs in a near white colour. I painted my green colourbond roof last summer and the roof surface temp difference was almost 15C!

[Red]

It seems we are stuck in a design practice that leads to energy loss. If houses were more "Spanish / Latin American" in design then white roofs would not even be seen.

The arched gabled porch and boxish roof line with a concealed roof hidden behind a wall would perform like no other yet the English, European steep A frame roof just keeps getting built even though we don't have snow.

The benefit of a more flatter or completely flat Spanish / Latin design is that the roof can be extended simply to create a courtyard above your home and in a dense urban area like inner Melbourne or Sydney such design practices would reap rewards beyond energy. The practice would enable multiple level stacking of courtyards, reduce space wasted in larger Mc Mansions, prevent shadow of your neighbors and reduce the actual size of the roof reducing the heat gain and losses. The best part is your solar array can be placed there with considerable ease.

Eg

http://s3.amazonaws.com/atimg/212241/7- ... ect540.jpg
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.luxist.com/m ... ariso1.jpg

Green roofs are better.

[Johnny]

It seems we are stuck in a design practice that leads to energy loss.

Red, I think i might have found some form of move to train Painters and others in the building trade to move away from the old ways.

These guys say that there are a number of accredited house painters who have done a government approved and funded course in sustainable painting.
Maybe there is hope we will see a change in the building practices?

[gully]

Dulux make a roof paint safe for drinking water roofs in a near white colour. I painted my green colourbond roof last summer and the roof surface temp difference was almost 15C!

This would be my main concern with any paint on the roof. I've got a new zincalume roof with anticon, makes a huge difference compared to before. Most people want to 'do' a roof and forget about it. Colorbond even offer certain colours with thermatech. White-haven with coolmax steel is the least solar absorbant at < 0.23 (better than surfmist or zincalume). Having said that, not everyone wants a white roof!

[strjac7]

I also encountered this type of paint in our local country. It also advertised that its an eco friendly paint which has less odor than the usual paint. Yes, it is costly but for me, it should have been cheaper since we are really striving to be eco friendly yet they price things like they are gold or something. That makes it hard to promote using these things. Anyways, you should still try it and see for yourself.

[phmorrow]

Hi Strjac,

A recent edition of Renew showed an experiment with reflective paint. I'm sorry, I can't find it just now. It seemed to me that any white coating was better than a dark paint even if made to reflect heat (at great cost).
Paul

[bpratt]

Hi Strjac,

A recent edition of Renew showed an experiment with reflective paint. I'm sorry, I can't find it just now. It seemed to me that any white coating was better than a dark paint even if made to reflect heat (at great cost).
Paul

I'm in the middle of painting my zincalume roof "Thredbo White", and it really does show up how dark zincalume gets after 30 years in the sun.... almost a dark grey.

I will let you know what difference it really makes when I finish painting the lot.