Smart Roof Tiles Offer Big Energy Savings

University of California – Santa Barbara researchers presented an adaptive tile, which when deployed in arrays on roofs, can lower heating bills in winter and cooling bills in summer, without the need for electronics. It’s a problem UC Santa Barbara researchers Charlie Xiao, Elliot Hawkes and Bolin Liao are hoping to dent. In a paper in the journal Device, the trio presented their new adaptive tile. About half of an average American building’s energy consumption is spent on heating and cooling. That’s a lot of money spent,…