Not Heat Reflective Paint

Different Names

If you have an eco conscience and are aiming for a sustainable lifestyle, you've no doubt been sold a lot of hogwash masquerading as advice. Unfortunately, corporate greed is willing to bend the rules of moral society to coerce you to buy their inferior products.

Some paints, even roof paints, are marketed as reflective of heat. Beware: any paint is reflective of light, to a certain extent. Even the most absorbent flat black paint is reflecting some light to your eyes, allowing you to see it's texture, and therefore could be said to be reflecting heat as not 100% of the light was converted to heat.

So why use heat reflective paint at all? Because the amount of reflectivity in paints varies greatly depending on not only their colour but also the constituents of the paint. Additionally, heat reflective paint is designed for emissivity. If you haven't already, please read about emissivity and solar reflectance (SRI).

This roof paint from Behr may just be a case example of paint dressed up as heat reflective paint; we're not sure - currently waiting for Behr to return our requests for more information.