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A new paint job on your house could be an opportunity to make your home look – and feel – a little cooler.

So-called cool exterior walls are coated with paints or other materials that efficiently reflect the sun’s rays and emit heat that’s been absorbed.

McGarrell: “The material stays cooler in the sun. … And this helps to cool the outdoor air around the exterior wall as well as reduce the amount of solar heat gain into the building.”

Audrey McGarrell is with the Cool Roof Rating Council. The nonprofit tests how roofing materials and exterior paints and finishes perform as “cool” surfaces.

Light colors naturally reflect more visible sunlight, so many cool wall products are white.

But cool walls come in darker colors too. Some paints are made with special pigments that reflect the sun’s near-infrared radiation, which is invisible but transmits heat.

Those paints do cost more, but McGarrell says the investment often pays off over time because cool walls help cut air conditioning costs.

So she suggests people in warm climates consider cool walls when it’s time to repaint.

McGarrell: “Thinking about how comfortable and energy efficient your home is going to be 10, 15, 20 years down the road, it’s important to consider all aspects of resilience to heat.”

Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy / ChavoBart Digital Media