As yet another record-breaking heat dome scorches the eastern portion of North America, scientists in Singapore have developed a new paint designed to passively cool the surface it’s painted on by not just reflecting sunlight, but also by “sweating” water stored by the cement-like material.

Most paint-based cooling methods employ light-colored paint that reflects more solar energy back into the air than it absorbs; while ordinary white paint can do the trick, extremely white paints have been developed that reflect more than 98 percent of the light that strikes it, resulting in a cooling power of roughly ten watts of energy for every square foot of surface that it covers.

While this new “sweating” paint only reflects 88 to 92 percent of sunlight through the nanoparticle pigments used to make it extremely white, it also emits 95 percent of the heat that it does absorb through what is called atmospheric window emittance, an infrared wavelength that isn’t absorbed by the overabundant greenhouse gases currently flooding the atmosphere.

But what really sets this new paint apart is its ability to store water—boasting around 30 percent retention after a rainfall—that cools the surface even further when the fluid slowly evaporates, much like the cooling effect we experience when sweating. The paint is cement-based, with a portion of polymers and salt added to its nanoparticle mix to aid in moisture retention and prevent cracking.

“The key is passive cooling,” remarked Nanyang Technological University material scientist Li Hong, meaning that the paint’s cooling action doesn’t require any added energy. Over a two-year test conducted in tropical Singapore, houses with a coat of this new sweating paint used 30 to 40 percent less electricity than ones painted with commercially-available products. As it stands, “around 60 percent of building energy is used for space cooling” for most buildings around the world, according to study co-author See Wee Koh.

This new paint can also help reduce the urban heat island effect, a phenomenon where urban areas retain more heat than their rural counterparts, by capitalizing on the material’s reflective and specific infrared radiating capabilities. These are qualities that will be welcomed by tropical and desert populations faced with the ever-deepening effects of global warming.