Interested in a little light reading?

“Hey, Bill!” asks the juvenile sporting goods salesman. “Can I have the pool table? Nobody’s gonna buy it.” Bill sighs. Thirty-five more years until retirement. “Isn’t that your job, Pete?” he asks. “Selling pool tables?” Pete runs his hand through his hair to smooth down his cowlick. It immediately sticks right back up. “I can sell the other pool tables fine,” he says. “I sold three pool tables this morning. But nobody wants to buy this one. The legs are different colors. They come in and they say ‘I want a pool table,’ so I say ‘How about this one’ and they say ‘No, the legs are different colors.’ Then I show them another one and they buy that one. So can I just have this one? We’re never gonna sell it.” I’m too old for this, thinks Bill. And I’m only twenty-six. “No,” he says. “Sell the pool table, Pete. You can start by dusting it off. Call me if you need me.” “Where are you going?” Pete asks. “To go call the manufacturer and yell at them for sending us a pool table with different colored legs,” says Bill. “Will that help?” asks Pete. “No,” says Bill. “But it’ll make me feel better.”

An off-colored leg would ruin the way this dark cherry blends with its surroundings. Image Credit: Flickr User dr.coop (CC BY 2.0)

When I’m walking through my neighborhood I can get a little lost in my thoughts. Somehow I tune out all hurly-burly of the busy pedestrians and delivery trucks bustling in the narrow square. I was walking like this the other day, paying no attention to my surroundings, when in my path I spotted an orange traffic cone. It stuck right out. I stopped to look around, and it’s a good thing I did. A crew of workers was dropping branches from the tree above me. The mechanical roaring I had somehow ignored was a wood chipper eating a fifteen-foot limb from a Catalpa tree. If I hadn’t seen the cone, I would’ve gotten yelled at by the workers (and they know some colorful words). Or worse, I could’ve gotten hit by falling limb.

Traffic cones help pedestrians and motorists avoid hazardous areas. Image Credit: Flickr User D Coetzee (CC BY 2.0)

Advances in paint and coating technology allow even dark colored homes to enjoy increased solar reflectance for natural cooling in hot summer months. Image Source: Unsplash user Bernadette Gatsby

Air conditioning can be a significant proportion of a household’s energy consumption and cost each year, representing “more than 8% of all the electricity produced in the U.S., at a cost to homeowners of over $15 billion.”1 Not only can this be a blow to a household budget, it also greatly increases the home’s carbon footprint; for the average home, a single air conditioning system releases almost two metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. Although many homeowners have made the switch to high-efficiency air conditioners, some are looking to decrease their energy bills and carbon footprint even further by reducing the need for air conditioning in the first place through measures such as better insulation, moving toward energy-efficient light bulbs, and getting rid of energy-leeching appliances. However, there is one major area of potential energy saving that is often overlooked: solar reflection.

This modern home incorporates light roofing and walls to maximize solar reflectance. Image Source: Unsplash user Inspiration de

Wine bottle glass colors are carefully chosen to preserve wine integrity and improve marketability. Image Source: Flickr user Alex Brown

I feel blessed to live in one of the most beautiful areas in our country. The Pacific NW offers the perfect climate and landscape for summer recreation and one way to enjoy the great outdoors is to spend a Sunday afternoon driving through the hills and valleys of this region. A quick drive into the country can lead to beautiful landscapes covered with rolling vineyards and architecturally beautiful wineries. The wine industry has grown significantly in this area over the past several decades and in just an afternoon you can stop by more than a handful of destinations and sample a large variety of fine wines. On our last winery tour I was given yet another lesson on wine tasting, but this time the conversation was not about the actual wine itself. In fact, I spent nearly an hour with the vintner discussing wine bottle glass colors. You may be wondering how the color of the bottles could possible warrant that much attention, but in truth it plays a significant role in wine integrity and marketability.

Most wine connoisseurs know that proper storage conditions greatly affect the quality of wines. Light and high temperatures are the main culprits for altering wine integrity and can have a direct effect on taste and color. “Studies have shown that the color of the glass affects the color and aroma of the wine within when exposed to light; specifically it was found that green bottles have a greater protective effect against light than lighter colored bottles when held at a constant temperature. Interestingly, other studies have found the exact opposite, so it’s not completely clear what is going on inside those bottles when exposed to light.”1. Glass color measurement provides insight on how light affects wine after bottling and can help wine producers make important choices when it comes to bottling quality wines.

Monitoring glass color with advanced spectral technology provides the data needed to make the best choices in bottling options. Image Source: Flickr user dpotera

Wood has been prized as a building material for thousands of years. Strong, pliable, and economical, wood has been an integral part of everything from the most modest of homes to some of the most impressive examples of architectural talent ever created. But wood has several drawbacks: it rots, it blocks light, and it serves as a tasty meal for a number of critters. But now, scientists are opening up new possibilities of construction by creating transparent wood that corrects for many of these shortcomings. And spectrophotometric analysis will play an integral role in making the most of this revolutionary new material, helping us realize the potential of transparent wood for homes and buildings.

Lignin naturally lends wood a distinctive yellowing color. By chemically removing the lignin, researchers are able to create a white base to be filled with transparent epoxy. Image Source: Unsplash user Andrew Collins

For the second time, the test slab you’ve mixed has turned out a different color than what the architect approved, and for the second time you’ve had to delay construction. The engineer is getting sick of recasting tests. The architect is getting sick of having to come down to the site again and again. Workers are sitting idle, and you’ve got egg on your face. You’ve been using the same mix every time—so what’s the problem? How can you stop this from happening?

Slight changes in the cementitious materials used in your mix can, of course, result in color variation that exceeds established tolerances. Gravel, aggregate, and additives from different suppliers will produce differently colored slabs, as will variations in your water to cement ratio. But even when all of this is controlled for, improper measurement can cause your team to misidentify sample colors—leading otherwise acceptable results to fail.

Color Delays Cost in Construction

And these failures don’t come cheaply. To ensure that, by the time you need to pour concrete, you know exactly what to pour, sample testing of field batches already needs to be conducted at least a month1 prior to construction. But as any project manager knows, plans unravel easily. Between the need to prepare samples for each separate color, the logistics of coordinating architects’ and engineers’ schedules, and the lead time required for each test, problems with sample slabs can easily delay the initial pour.

Time lost is money wasted on labor and materials, of course, but repeated failures to produce the color specified in your contract can also result in legal squabbles2 with architects, project managers, or building owners. Even a successful lawsuit can damage reputations and cause contractors to lose potential business. Bad news travels quickly.

Color standard delays can cost time and money. Image credit: Flickr User Mikkal Noptek (CC BY 2.0)

My driving habits changed when I got my commercial driver’s license. I started parallel parking like I was shooting pool. I slowed way down. And I started paying much more attention to traffic signs. Large vehicles react more slowly than smaller ones. An accident involving a large vehicle will be more serious. To drive safely, I needed to make decisions well ahead of time. With my attention divided between the condition of my vehicle, other vehicles, pedestrians, road conditions, and navigation, I needed to quickly and easily identify traffic signs. Color differences and reflectivity of signs made this possible. Without them, the roads would be far less safe to drive.

Warning signs are color coded to keep motorists safe. Image Credit: Flickr User Jay Galvin (CC BY 2.0)