Saturday, June 16, 2012

No. 538: An interior material useful for energy efficient life (June 16, 2012)

Technology:
Dainippon Printing developed a new interior material that makes the room brighter. A white panel on which special treatment is given is put on the wall. The asperity of the panel surface reflects natural sunlight and illumination light and diffuses them in a whole room. Put in a 10-square-meter room, it can reduce power consumption up to 13% to keep the room as bright as the conventional white wall does. The company plans to market the new product to offices and shops that are exploring various ways to conserve energy.

Special treatment in white is given to the panel made of such metals as aluminum and stainless steel. Uniform and refined concavity and convexity are created on the panel surface, and the asperity reflects light that shines the panel in various directions. Even in the light illuminated by LEDs, the new product can lighten the whole room evenly because it can reflect and diffuse it irregularly. As companies, shops, and railway stations will decrease the number of lightings this summer, the company plans to sell this new product through lighting fixture makers and design companies. Although it is 20% higher in price than the existing interior material, the company reckons that saved electricity will make it possible to recover the investment in three years.  

The conventional metal panel (left) and the newly-developed metal panel (right) 














The newly-developed metal panel adopted by the Shinkansen train

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