Thermalite paint

Anything which claims "Saves up to 25% on your energy." by adding some polystyrene insulation to your house paint has got to be a joke.

Other indicators are that they don't just want to flog the stuff, they want to sign up affiliates, and the sprinkling of NASA, As Seen On TV, and Tomorrow's World on the site.

In article , p_l snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com writes

My initial reaction was, bollocks!, but thought I really should be a bit more objective.

Objective analysis:

1. They claim to reduce heat transfer by reducing radiated transmission, that's fine when you are working at high temperatures such as the space shuttle usage that they try to piggy-back or trying to reduce heating by strong sunlight. In UK domestic situations very little is lost by radiation so any benefit would be small.
2. Many of the testimonials support the use as protection against intense sunlight or reducing heat loss from high temperature objects such as ovens so not really applicable to UK domestic situations.
3. Buried deep in the site is a test certificate which quotes the thermal conductivity of the material (note the material in bulk and not as a paint additive) as k=0.061 (W/mK?) which is comparable with that of cork. A thin film of insulation with the same thermal conductivity as cork is unlikely to be of benefit in insulating a home.

Conclusion: This product may have benefit in reducing heat loss from high temperature objects or reducing heat gain in intense heat or sunlight but it is unlikely to be of benefit when used as an additive for painting UK domestic walls.

Executive summary: Bollocks!