Buildings could be cooled with zero energy using the Invert shading system, made from a smart material called thermobimetal that changes shape in response to heat.
The invention of architect Doris Sung, Invert looks like a regular decorative shutter, but its metal pieces curl and flip over in the sun, altering how much light and heat can enter a space.
They make use of thermobimetal ? a double-layered composite of two metal alloys, one that expands in heat more quickly than the other. The result is that the material warps. As the heated metal pieces warp they move and block the light.
Huge amount of energy used to cool buildings
Sung, who is based at the University of Southern California School of Architecture, has been working with thermobimetals for years in the hope that they can help cut fossil fuel emissions from the heating and cooling of buildings. She points to statistics that show 38 per cent of energy consumption in the USA comes from residential and commercial buildings, and nine per cent was just from cooling.
Attention tends to be given to cars and factories but buildings consume huge amounts of energy
"There's so much attention on automobiles and coal-burning factories, but buildings are using more than so many of these other industries," she told Dezeen.
She quit architectural practice and moved into research to try to address this problem.
"I was a little frustrated as an architect, because we're limited by the kinds of materials you can speci...