Computer: Algorithm
Computer-generated paint-by-number   (+2, -2)  [vote for, against]
CAD application or add-on that chooses siding materials

Its goal would be to maximize correlation between

* siding material reflectivity per unit of area on sun's eye ortho drawing of building

and

* average outdoor temperature for that time of year.

The ephemeris and meteorological data would be specific for the proposed building site.

Perhaps it would also choose colors for window treatments and interior wall paint.
-- LoriZ, Jul 05 2001

Eureka http://www.math.niu...uses-math/heatloss/
Apparently this trail is already being blazed (baked). Cool. [LoriZ, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

This is perfectly reasonable; I wonder if it's been done. (It's certainly done by hand; this is what passive solar design is all about.) Note that the computer should also manage window placement; a window is a much more effective way to heat a structure than dark siding (which will accept heat but simply radiate it back outside).

I'm sure there are programs which help in the design, but it would be neat to see one that automates the process entirely, if only to chuckle at the result.
-- egnor, Nov 14 2001


[ravenswood] I think egnor is pretending to know what it is. my interpretation is that looking out of train windows is pretty boring especially in the tube. so he proposes to paint the windows with pretty pictures (after all it is art week at the halfbakery) and he takes his idea further by having a computer generate the colours and forms that these pictures take. oh bring back the cows and the sheep and the rabbits for heavens sake
-- po, Nov 14 2001



random, halfbakery