Do white houses stay cooler?
Michael King
Updated on March 10, 2026
For exterior paint to keep your house cool, white is a popular choice. It brightens the look of your home and reflects light, and therefore heat, from the sun. If you have excessive cooling costs during warmer seasons, a white house may be the solution.
Does white paint make house cooler?
“Yes, definitely,” said Matt Kowalski, founder and owner of Kowalski Painting in Gilbert. “By painting your house white, you can reduce the overall temperature in your house, which in turn reduces your air conditioning use.”How much cooler is a house painted white?
Outdoors, the paint made surfaces 19 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the air at night, according to their tests. Even during the midday heat, it was effective, reducing surface temperatures to eight degrees below the air temperature. That would make it not only the whitest paint, but also the coolest.Does white paint reduce heat?
Now it's time to shed some light on the other end of the practical paint spectrum: the “whitest white.” Research shows that surfaces coated with a newly formulated white coloring reflect 98.1 percent of sunlight, creating a powerful cooling effect—any of the electricity required by commercial air conditioners.Do black houses get hotter than white houses?
Hothouse Effect. Black houses will absorb more heat from the sun than white houses. A white or light-colored house will reflect more rays, keeping indoor temperatures cooler in hot summer months. Above: White (and other light colors) will reflect rather than absorb the sun's rays.See how white paint dramatically cools your home
What color keeps your house cool?
For exterior paint to keep your house cool, white is a popular choice. It brightens the look of your home and reflects light, and therefore heat, from the sun. If you have excessive cooling costs during warmer seasons, a white house may be the solution.What color absorbs less heat?
If you consider it a color, black absorbs the most heat. A black object absorbs all wavelengths of light and reflects none. Objects that are white, on the other hand, reflect all wavelengths of light and therefore absorb the least heat.Does white paint help insulate?
When the goal is to reduce the amount of heat transfer produced by the sun, virtually any white or light colored paint will perform better than a dark paint on exterior house walls because light-color paint reflects heat away rather than absorbing it.Does painting your house dark make it hotter?
Thinking about heat absorption, dark exteriors are always going absorb more sun energy than whites, creams, and other light shades, which are more reflective. This could mean higher cooling costs during the summer months.Why is white paint cooler?
Most white paints currently sold tend to get warmer, not cooler. But this white paint contains a high concentration of barium sulfate, which is also used in photo paper and cosmetics, that is behind much of its cooling effect, researchers said.Why don't we paint roofs white?
atmosphere, a white roof should act like a natural anti-warming device, while also reducing your energy costs by keeping your house cool in the summer. Turns out, painting your roof white would be simply a massive waste of white paint. negative effect in the winter.What is the most energy efficient color to paint a house?
Dark colors are better absorbing heat whereas lighter colors reflect heat. This keeps the home cooler during the hot months of the year, lowering your cooling costs when you need it most. Any light-colored paint will do, but neutrals are often the way to go. This includes colors like white, beige, and light gray.Do black walls make a room hotter?
When you paint a room with one or two windows a dark color, the light from the sun will absorb into the room more than it would with a lighter color, making the overall temperature of the room warmer and requiring your HVAC system to work harder to properly cool that room.What colour keeps heat out?
The only color that does not attract heat is white because white objects reflect all visible wavelengths of light.How much does house color affect temperature?
The color of your home is directly related to the amount of heat absorption. According to the Department of Energy's (DOE) Cooling Your Home Naturally report, dark, dull colors can absorb 70 to 90 percent of the sun's radiant energy, which can then be transferred into the home.What exterior color house sells the fastest?
In terms of resale value, data via Zillow indicates that “greige” exteriors can boost the selling price of a home. Remodeling site Fixr also cites white and gray to be the top exterior paint colors in their 2020 Paint & Color Trends Report. Similarly, Beauchamp recommends timeless, neutral colors for a home's exterior.Do white houses get dirty?
“However, there are some whites to avoid in the home because it can make a space look dirty,” she says. “Avoid whites that have yellow or brown undertones, unless you are specifically going for a vintage look.”Does grey absorb heat?
White, gray, and black are not colors, though: white reflects all colors, black absorbs all colors, and gray reflects some and absorbs some of all colors. Light is energy. Any light that is absorbed, of any color, becomes heat.What paint reflects the most heat?
Best Heat Reflective Paint - EXCEL CoolCoatEXCEL CoolCoat is a sun reflective paint which has the highest SRI (solar reflective index) value of 122 that ensures high reflectivity and good reduction in temperature.
How much heat does white paint reflect?
Typical commercial white paint gets warmer rather than cooler. Purdue says its product repels infrared heat from a surface and reflects up to 98.1% of sunlight. This outperforms 80%-90% of comparable products and beats the 95.5% of sunlight reflected by the researchers' previous ultra-white paint.Is there a paint that repels heat?
White cooling paints are an established cooling technology that help bring down indoor temperatures and thus save the electricity used for air-conditioning in hot climates.What color is coolest in the sun?
White, silver, and other light colors are coolest, reflecting about 60 percent of sunlight but there are dark "cool" colors that can also stay cooler than traditional dark colors.What is the best color to block the sun?
The Cancer Council in Australia suggests that darker colors absorb UV rays, which helps block them from your skin. That's why dark blue, black, and dark red are the best colors for sun protection compared to white or pastel colors of the same fabric.What colors keep you cool in the sun?
White, yellow, gray, and redIt is commonly said that white is the most appropriate colour for summer temperatures because it keeps the body cool, unlike black which tends to absorb heat.