New paint transforms sun's rays into cool air-conditioning
- Hanan Lipskin
- Jan 16, 2018
- 2 min read
SolCold’s nanotech coating is a potentially game-changing electricity-free solution for cooling buildings or equipment in intensely sunny climates.
January 16, 2018
Coating materials that protect against fire, water or extreme temperatures are nothing new. But an Israeli high-tech paint doesn’t just protect surfaces from the sun. SolCold actually uses the sun’s power to activate a cooling mechanism, effectively providing air conditioning without electricity.
You read that right: This double-layered coating absorbs the hot rays of the sun and re-emits that energy in the form of cold. The hotter the solar radiation the more the coating cools down, making SolCold’s paint a potentially game-changing electricity-free solution for intensely sunny climates such as Africa and Central and South America.
The Herzliya-based startup is raising funds and plans to begin trials within 18 months of closing the Series A round in the first quarter of 2018. Two commercial and one residential building in Israel and Cyprus are waiting to get the trial SolCold treatment.
The double-layered SolCold paint re-emits solar radiation in the form of cold. Graphic courtesy of SolCold
Meanwhile, SolCold cofounder Gadi Grottas tells ISRAEL21c that the company has received hundreds of inquiries regarding orders and distribution rights — which he estimates to be worth around $100 million — from places including Africa, Australia, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, China, France, India, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, Philippines, Turkey and the United States.
SolCold’s product is generating interest for coating anything from chicken coops to cargo ships, malls to stadiums, cars to planes, satellites to hothouses, military equipment to apartment houses.
How did such an early-stage company get so much attention already?
Its first exposure came in June 2016, when SolCold was one of six Israeli companies handpicked by the US State Department and White House to take part in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in California.
And then, in October 2017, SolCold was a finalist in the deep tech competition at the Hello Tomorrow Summit in Paris.
