A British engineer has come up with a bizarre but genuinely intriguing idea to help cool down homes during the heat waves still hitting Europe and the United Kingdom. Instead of having to rely on expensive air conditioning units—many homes don’t have them—Tom Greenhill has recommended using a yogurt window coating to help cool your house off.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. Why would you put yogurt on your windows? Well, turns out the reason is that when the yogurt dries, it actually creates this “fritted glass effect” that Greenhill says causes the window to reflect light and heat instead of letting it inside.
Based on the images shared in De Zeen’s report, the outcome looks very similar to frosted glass. Greenhill says he takes the yogurt and uses a roller to apply it to the windows. It doesn’t smell or attract insects. He says the yogurt window coating doesn’t degrade unless there is heavy rain.
Further, if you need to wash it off for any reason, it’s really easy to do. All you need to do is get a cloth and some water and then wash down the windows, and it will come right off.
While putting a yogurt window coating on your house might seem strange, Greenhill says it could be a great, low-cost option for renters especially. The yogurt doesn’t cause any permanent change to the building and can easily be removed at any time.
Greenhill says he got the idea from someone who suggested that a museum put yogurt on its massive glass roof during a summer heat wave one year in the 1990s. He says that the anecdote stuck with him over the years, and he finally decided to give it a try, to astounding results.
