It's been a mainstay at Alternative Energy Zone for years -- they have an extensive wiki including a section on Aluminet ( www.ae-zone.org/dokuwiki/doku.php ). It's basically a woven mesh of small strips of aluminized mylar.

I bought some last year and made a nice 4-pole shade structure that I recently modified and made into a tiltable structure (see tribes.tribe.net/shadegeek...6fa3533174 ). I bought 70% shading which makes it like SPF 3. I found it to be much better than a tarp for shade because it is very lightweight (my 10' x 20' piece weighs barely 5 pounds) and allows wind to pass through it so it doesn't tend to form a sail very well. It does collect dust on the Playa like mad but I never noticed that it affected its ability to provide shade.

That said, it would not be appropriate as a dust-shield at all. The dust falls out when you shake it or move it, so a low-lying shade will readily cover people in dust every time they bump their head on it. It does diffuse the strength of the wind, so in conjunction with other dust-proofing, it will help.

I can't really think of any significant disadvantages compared to other available materials. It does pass rain, but who cares on the Playa. It passes wind, so unlike a PVC tarp or canvas, it won't collect heat. It's lightweight and doesn't catch the wind like solid materials, so the structure to hold it in place can be much less substantial. I guess it's quite a bit more expensive, so maybe that's people's problem with it. Either that or they got some other material and they thought it was Aluminet.

Fuck you, I love you,
---Jason Olshefsky

Last year I used it and loved it, Used silver tarp for the ceiling and aluminet for the sides, best shade and still get a breese without having walls for the wind to play with.