Energy efficient coloured paint coatings utilising flaky aluminium pigment with either single layer (Fe2O3) or double layer (Fe2O3 on SiO2) interference coatings are optically and thermally characterised. Similar pigments with coatings on flaky dielectric particles and standard paints of similar colour are compared. Data presented includes hemispherical and specular reflectance spectra across visible and infra red wavelengths, thermal emittance from an emissometer and light spreading data from a photogoniometer. Solar absorptance, and colour show that, as theoretically predicted, and provided flaky metal pigments are used, a wide range of colours combined with a much lower solar absorptance than traditional paints of similar colour is achieved. Superior thermal performance to ordinary paints with similar colour is thus possible and is demonstrated for two such coloured layers via controlled heating-cooling studies under both an indoor lamp and outdoor clear sky solar illumination. It is seen that heat gains from the sun and associated cooling loads can be reduced by up to 50% for most colours, which is of some benefit for cars and metal roofs in hot climates. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.