If you were offered a way to lower your electric bill by 40 percent, would you do it?
A man who dispenses various tips and hacks on his TikTok account shared information about a hack he claimed is “very, very, very awesome, very powerful, and it can impact the world tremendously.”
The creator, Kavell Kavon (@kavellkavon), talked about the revolutionary effect of painting roofs white, and then shared a clip from an Inside Edition report that provided more details.
@kavellkavon Replying to @KAVELL KAVON ♬ I Got 5 On It – Tethered Mix from US – Michael Abels & Luniz
He claimed in his video that the move can “drop your electric bill by 40 percent.” He then remarked, “And the only thing that can prevent somebody from doing this is if you have an HOA that does not allow you to paint.”
That led one commenter to quip, “HOA Karens could never.”
Another piggybacked, “They would self implode.”
Someone else pointed out that white roofs are the norm in Bermuda, remarking, “In Bermuda we only have white roofs. No other color is permitted. We also have a water collection and purification system using our roofs.”
That commenter’s account was corroborated by a 2016 BBC report. Regarding the roof’s design, the report noted: “The design of the roof has multiple benefits. Made of limestone it is heavy and not easily shifted by hurricanes and in the past it was covered in a lime mortar, which had anti-bacterial properties. Now the mortar has been replaced by paint. It’s still white, because this reflects ultra-violet light from the sun, which also helps to purify the water.”
The creator remarked in his video, “The crazy part about this is why is the governments around the world not using this information to better society?”
But, indeed, the Department of Energy has info posted on its website about cool roofs. The site shares, “A cool roof is designed to reflect more sunlight than a conventional roof, absorbing less solar energy. This lowers the temperature of the building just as wearing light-colored clothing keeps you cool on a sunny day. Conventional roofs can reach temperatures of 150°F or more on a sunny summer afternoon, sun. Under the same conditions a reflective roof could stay more than 50°F (28 °C) cooler.”
The site also notes that cool roofs don’t necessarily have to be white to have cooling properties, adding: “White roofing products stay coolest in the sun, reflecting about 60 – 90% of sunlight. However, since about half of sunlight arrives as invisible ‘near infrared’ radiation, we can boost the solar reflectance of dark materials by using special pigments (colorants) that preferentially reflect this invisible light. Such ‘cool colored’ products typically reflect about 30 – 60% of sunlight, staying cooler than conventionally colored products (though not as cool as white).”
The Daily Dot contacted the creator via TikTok comment for more information.
