What colour should you wear to keep cool?

Answer 1

We're all told at school that white reflects light and black absorbs it, so that the paler your clothes are, the cooler you'll be.

But it's not quite that simple.

In many hot countries, locals often wear dark colours. Peasants in China and old ladies in southern Europe traditionally wear black, and the nomadic Tuareg in the Sahara, wear indigo blue.

Dark clothes are effective because there are two thermal processes happening at once. Light is reflecting off your clothes, but is also going outwards from the body. Pale clothes are better at reflecting the sun's heat, but dark clothes are better at radiating the body's heat. If no-one born in hot places stands in the sunlight, dark clothing certainly is better as it makes you cooler in the shade.

Then there's the wind to think about. People who live in hot places wear loose robes that enable maximum air circulation. In 1978 a test examining the significance of colouring in birds' plumage found that, in hot conditions. white feathers let heat escape, but when the wind started blowing, black feathers were the coolers.

On humans, no matter what the wind speed is, black clothes will reflect the heat more than absorb it, so I recommend something like black, indigo, or dark grey.

Partly quoted from The Second Book of General Ignoranceby John Lloyd and John Mitchinson

Answer 2

White and Green! i guess thats all..

Answer 3

fiberglass insulation