Super-wood offers way to create air con that doesn’t need power

Compressing wood to remove defects can make it so strong and tough that it can even stop a bullet. Now, researchers from the same team have shown that if wood is stripped of all lignin before this ‘densification’ the resulting material can also cool in bright sunlight. Buildings constructed using this material would have a significantly smaller carbon footprint thanks to a reduction in the amount of energy needed for air conditioning.