Effect of Roof Solar Reflectance on the Building Heat Gain in a Hot Climate
Suehrcke, Harry, Peterson, Eric L and Selby, Neville (2008) Effect of Roof Solar Reflectance on the Building Heat Gain in a Hot Climate. Energy and Buildings, 40 (12). pp. 2224-2235. ISSN 0378-7788
Abstract
The effect of the roof solar reflectance on the thermal performance of a building is often ignored. However, there are significant differences in heat gain from light and dark-coloured roof surfaces. In this paper an equation for the average daily downward heat flow of a sunlit roof is derived. Using building simulation, it is first shown that the thermal mass of the roof does not significantly affect the overall daily heat gain (although it causes a time lag and reduction in peak heat flow). As a consequence the daily heat gain from the roof may be estimated by integrating the equation for the steady-state downward heat transfer over the day. For north Australia the derived equation suggests that a light-coloured roof has about 30% lower total (air temperature difference and solar-driven) heat gain than a dark-coloured one. The effect of aging (change in solar reflectance with time) is considered in the calculations and a relationship between the solar absorptance of new and aged material is suggested. A classification of roof colours with respect to their solar absorptance (dark, medium, light and reflective) is proposed to enable a quick and simple assessment of the effect of roof colour on the heat gain and R-value.
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Item type | Article |
URI | https://vuir.vu.edu.au/id/eprint/3979 |
DOI | 10.1016/j.enbuild.2008.06.015 |
Official URL | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S... |
Subjects | Historical > FOR Classification > 0907 Environmental Engineering Historical > SEO Classification > 9609 Land and Water Management Historical > Faculty/School/Research Centre/Department > Institute for Sustainability and Innovation (ISI) Historical > Faculty/School/Research Centre/Department > School of Engineering and Science |
Keywords | ResPubID16080, roof solar absorptance, solar reflectance, roof heat gain, thermal resistance, hot climate, cool roof |
Citations in Scopus | 175 - View on Scopus |
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