<p>You can look up the number of heating degree days and cooling degree days on the NWS website for your climate. Heating and cooling degree days are indicators of how much you use the furance or air conditioner over a year.</p>
<p>If you are in a cooling climate (heating degree days < cooling degree days), it makes more sense to paint your house a light color. If you live in a heating climate (heating degree days > cooling degree days).</p>
<p>I don’t know that I agree painting a house has a significant difference on the interior temperature of the house, but if it does, it should have a similiar affect.</p>
<p>While dark colors absorb more, the total amount of additional energy they absorb is dependent on the material that is dark. Materials that have high heat capacity (like steel or water) will absorb more BTUs of energy than materials that have a low heat capacity (cedar siding). I think the difference of paint color for cedar siding would be fairly small.</p>
<p>Of course, your windows are the greatest source of heat addition and heat loss. Significantly more so than walls or ceilings.</p>
<p>Of course, the assumption is that your house receives the same amount of sunlight year around. It won’t, but that varies from house to house and no study will be able to predict your house.</p>