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Scientists develop game-changing 'glass brick' that could revolutionize construction: 'The highest insulating performance' (www.thecooldown.com)

submitted 10 months ago by L4s to c/technology

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Scientists develop game-changing 'glass brick' that could revolutionize construction: 'The highest insulating performance'::The team of scientists developed an aerogel glass brick, which is a translucent and thermally insulating material.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Is this a joke or do you just not understand what "insulation" means?

[–] cynar 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Houses can have a "greenhouse" effect. Light passes through, and strikes something. It is absorbed and turned to heat. The object then radiates that as infrared. Thermally shielded windows then trap this in the room. With enough insulation, and enough light, this can become a significant issue.

This is assuming, however, that these bricks are transparent to visible light, but opaque to IR.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

That, and I don't know how much visible light contributes to heat inside a home. Even so, you could just coat the bricks in something to absorb the visible light.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Do you?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I do. Thanks for asking.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Ok, can you help me understand what you don’t understand in the sentence I wrote then?

Insulation helps maintain a difference in temperature between outside and inside. Right?

It doesn’t matter whether than temperature differential is “warmer inside” or “colder inside”. Right?

If you let infrared light into a house it will heat up. Right?

If you aim to keep the inside cool, letting light into the house works against you. Right?

Given that the planet is warming up, many well-insulated houses get too hot in the summer. Right?

I don’t understand how we can both understand how insulation works, yet you can’t understand the sentence I wrote. Maybe you missed my sarcasm, that’s the only thing I can imagine could have gone wrong.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Infrared light is not the same as visible light. Why would you assume that letting visible light in would also imply letting infrared in?

I think the idea here is that controlling the temperature of your house with a heating/cooling system would be much more efficient if your house is better insulated. The fact that this also lets in natural light, makes it better for a living space since you wouldn't need artificial light. I really don't think it's that hard to understand.