temperature

[Stu]

These are two different topics really, clothing vs a small building.

Charic is right, but the nature of the clothing also makes a difference. If you have tight fitting black clothing then the heat absorbed will be trapped against the body. If however you have loose fitting black clothing then the black absorbs the heat which can then be taken away by convection caused by movement and any breeze.

Thinking about it, plenty of Middle East cultures wear white too. Perhaps the net effect of whether it is black absorbing or white reflecting is pretty much the same, and what is most important is the loose fitting nature and the ability to loose heat via convection?

Given that the OP is talking about insulating material, I think the most important factor would be to reflect the heat away from the building. Any heat absorbed by the black interior would be trapped there by the insulation anyway so the internal  colour is largely irrelevant.

[SilverAstro]

Peter> " you can always reverse paint the colours"

Does GIMP (PI/insert your choice) work on buildings as well ?

[brrttpaul]

7 hours ago, freewheeler said:

In theory, with black on the outside, it should be warmer on the inside after a day in the sun. In practice it probably doesn't matter. The proposed building is unlike glass, as in a greenhouse or conservatory where the sun's radiation passes through immediately, is trapped inside and builds up alarmingly. In the proposed building only the outer sheet of steel gets hot, hotter if it's black and less hot if it's white. However that is as far as the radiation gets. from then on it's conduction, slowed down enormously by the choice of insulating material and the fact that conduction is slowed down noticeably when being transferred from one surface to another, both leaving and entering. so as well as the insulation you have "leaving, entering, leaving, entering, leaving" factors slowing down the rate of heat transfer through the building's walls. Meanwhile on the outside breezes are probably removing heat and virtually negating any real difference between black and white. So, just in the case of a building of your construction, I don't think you would notice any difference whichever way round you had the walls.

That was my only concearn "in our climate" I was a bit nervy about the optics etc after the hot day we had last week, if it dont affect it either way im happy, thanks for the help