hervé wrote:

> > I read on the Queensland industry department web site
> > (http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/bees/4894.html) that white is the coolest color
> > in summer and the warmest in winter. I understand it is the coolest but
> how
> > can it be the warmest ?

Because NZ is south of the equator and everything is opposite there.
Just kidding.

My guess is the reflectivity of white and absorption of heat by dark in
the warm summer days and black body radiation at night by the darker
colors in the winter. You have a greater differential in temps between
the interior of the hive and its surroundings at night in the winter
than you do in the summer, so blackbody radiation will have a greater
effect in the winter than in the summer.

I would think it really depends on the hive material and its heat
transfer properties more than the color. But if you are only looking at
color, which is what I think they are doing, then what they say is true.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Me