Alot of light and heat can get reflected back, that is why having dark colors help, the dark objects absorb more of the heat from the sunlight, my parents have a sun room with a light colored floor, it's a cold floor in the winter, light colored rugs are also cold on that floor, the dark rugs get warm, it has to do with the reflective quality of the color, but while a dark color soaks up the infrared radiation it will also give it off, so while having dark curtains in the day will help heat the room you want light colors at night by the windows to keep that infrared radiation from being transmitted out, if you want to use your solar hot water panels for cooling then you run them at night, the nights sky soaks up that heat and cools the panels in the same way the window without a curtain on it lets the heat out of your house.
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Originally Posted by Xringer
Do they all end up absorbed and turned into heat?
It seems they do not remain in their 'light' state. Otherwise they would
accumulate indoors and it would be like living inside a Laser tube..
My guess is, they are mostly converted into heat..
(Unless you have some PV panels in the room)..
So, the question that comes to mind.. If 100 watts of solar power (light)
comes into this room and 10% bounces right back outdoors..
Would the color of the room really make much difference to
remaining the 90 watts of energy left in the room?
Won't it just scatter around and hit surfaces in the room where it will
be absorbed and turned into heat?
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