While the issue of global warming is becoming more and more pressing, the Toulouse company Solar Paint is innovating with its reflective paint that reflects the sun's rays.
Several months of research and development were needed to develop this reflective coating, which reduces its energy bill by 15%.
This process, very widespread in the United States, is beginning to interest French companies concerned about their environmental footprint.
Read alsoEnvironment: white resin on the roofs to limit the overheating of buildings
“To develop this reflective white paint, we worked with the Ariège manufacturer Maestria, explains Michel Rouault, the boss of Solar Paint.
The buildings built in the 1970s are real thermal sieves, because of their coating on their roof made of bitumen which heats the interior under the effect of the sun.
To lower the temperature inside, air conditioning is installed which further increases the bill.
We must initiate a change and think differently about the consumption of these buildings”.
Diagnosis, production then application of paint
This roof cooling process, whose reflectivity is 92%, uses plant resin, water and recycled glass microbeads.
This paint reduces the heat in buildings by 5% and the use of air conditioning by 30%.
The Toulouse company Solar Paint tested its innovation on the roof of a shopping center in Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales) and the Paprec group in Montpellier (Hérault).
It has just signed contracts with aeronautical companies, Intersport and Intermarché stores.
"We are the only ones to offer the service from A to Z, from diagnosis to production with Maestria and then to the application of the paint", specifies Michel Rouault.
Solar Paint estimates the market at some 500 million m² in France, including 40 million in Occitanie, of roofs of commercial, industrial or public buildings to be refreshed.