Cool roofs are the roofs that can deliver high solar reflectance and high thermal emittance. The benefits associated with cool roofs include reduced cooling energy load, reduced air pollution and greenhouse gas emission, and improved human health and comfort. This study attempts to develop standard measurement method for evaluating the reflectance and emmittance of a cool roof material. First, a literature survey was conducted to analysis the current programs promoting the use of cool roofs in the world, and then more than 2000 cool roof materials¡¦ data were collected in this study. In addition, the dynamic building energy load simulation by using eQuest was conducted to investigate the energy-saving benefits of cool roof applied in Taiwan. The results indicated that the reflectance, emmittance and thermal conductivity have a significant effect on the roof heat gain. The higher reflectance or emmittance of the roof, the less heat gain absorbed in the roof. But, reflectance has a larger effect on roof energy-saving than emittance does. The energy-saving effect by using cool roof on the flat-type roof is larger than on low-slope type roof.

To evaluate the effect of cool roof coatings containing Expancel® thermoplastic microspheres on industrial buildings, a warehouse was built-up in the computer simulation software IDA-ICE. The warehouse was modelled in line with ASHRAE 90.1. 2004 ”Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings”. Four different cases were set up where the coating of the roof was the only variable. Two coatings containing Expancel® microspheres - one white and one red coating were compared to the same white coating without Expancel® microspheres and the ”base case” where there is no coating at all. The same circumstances were also implemented in a practical laboratory test using a model warehouse with a detachable roof. Four interchangeable roofs with different roof coatings constitute the various cases in the laboratory tests. A ”sun” consisting of statically mounted IR light bulbs were constructed, as well as a cooling system to measure the difference in cooling effect (maintaining a constant indoor temperature) between the different cases as a result of the change in insolation. The results of the computational simulations show that for a warehouse placed in Houston, Texas about 50 MWh in combined heating and cooling energy can be saved yearly between the best and the worst case, a reduction of 6.2%. Changing the geographic placement of the warehouse to Tepic, Mexico the corresponding savings were determined to 83 MWh or 13.5%. A way of determining the yearly savings in heating and cooling amount for the warehouse with a generic roof coating, only knowing the SRI value of the coating, was developed. It was determined that for every unit-increment of the SRI value the yearly savings for the warehouse placed in Houston, Texas were 718 kWh and 0.1%. The corresponding savings for the warehouse placed in Tepic, Mexico were determined to be 1252 kWh and 0.22%. The laboratory tests showed that the indoor temperature of the model warehouse decreased by close to 16°C between the best and the worst case.

abstract: The intent of this research is to determine if cool roofs lead to increased energy use in the U.S. and if so, in what climates. Directed by the LEED environmental building rating system, cool roofs are increasingly specified in an attempt to mitigate urban heat island effect. A typical single story retail building was simulated using eQUEST energy software across seven different climatic zones in the U.S.. Two roof types are varied, one with a low solar reflectance index of 30 (typical bituminous roof), and a roof with SRI of 90 (high performing membrane roof). The model also varied the perimeter / core fraction, internal loads, and schedule of operations. The data suggests a certain point at which a high SRI roofing finish results in energy penalties over the course of the year in climate zones which are heating driven. Climate zones 5 and above appear to be the flipping point, beyond which the application of a high SRI roof creates sufficient heating penalties to outweigh the cooling energy benefits. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Built Environment 2011

Les bâtiments commerciaux et industriels présentent une part non négligeable de la demande énergétique. L’objectif de ce travail de thèse est d’étudier par des simulations numériques, le comportement thermoaéraulique des bâtiments de grand volume à usage commercial ou industriel et d’améliorer leurs performances afin de réduire leurs consommations énergétiques tout en assurant le confort thermique des occupants. La première partie de l’étude consiste à définir et à évaluer les paramètres d’enveloppe et de ventilation qui affectent la consommation d’énergie et le confort thermique de ce type de bâtiment. À travers des modèles développés (multizone et zonal) sur un bâtiment « générique », nous présentons l’impact des paramètres les plus importants (orientation du bâtiment, isolation thermique de l’enveloppe, propriétés radiatives de la toiture, sol, inertie thermique interne, diffusion de l’air…) sur la consommation énergétique et le confort. Ces paramètres sont déterminants surtout dans la conception de la toiture et du plancher de par leur influence sur les performances énergétiques du bâtiment étudié. Cette modélisation thermoaéraulique est ensuite appliquée à un bureau-entrepôt commercial existant. L’exploitation du modèle, dont les résultats sont confrontés aux mesures, et des études paramétriques permettent de démontrer l’efficacité de stratégies de ventilation naturelle nocturne. Dans la deuxième partie, nous évaluons certaines solutions de rafraîchissement passif (isolation thermique, ventilation naturelle nocturne, revêtement de toiture « cool roof ») permettant de maintenir le confort thermique en hiver aussi bien qu’en été tout en minimisant la consommation énergétique. Enfin, une étude d’optimisation nous permet de déterminer les paramètres optimums en fonction des conditions climatiques et des deux objectifs de confort et de performance énergétique. Ce travail ouvre de nombreuses perspectives sur la méthodologie de conception des enveloppes et l’adaptation du fonctionnement des installations de ventilation pour le rafraîchissement passif des bâtiments. / Commercial and industrial buildings represent a significant part of total energy demand. The objective of this thesis is to study the thermal behavior and airflows of commercial or industrial buildings (low-rise and large volume) by numerical simulations, to improve their thermal performance in order to reduce their energy consumption while maintaining thermal comfort of the occupants. The first part of this study consists in identifying and evaluating the keys factors that affect the energy demand and thermal comfort of these buildings. Using the developed models (multizone and zonal), we present the impact of the most important parameters (building orientation, thermal insulation, radiative properties of the roof, soil, internal thermal inertia, air diffusion…) on energy consumption and thermal comfort. We have identified here that the main influencing parameters can be found in the design of the roof and the ground floor considering the energy performance of the studied building. The developed model is then applied to a real commercial building. Results showed that the predictions are in good agreement with the measurements and that night-time natural ventilation can be an efficient passive cooling technique to avoid overheating in summer. In the second part, we evaluate the efficiency of different passive cooling techniques (thermal insulation, night-time natural ventilation, cool roof…) applied to ensure the thermal comfort in winter as well as in summer while minimizing the energy consumption. Finally, an optimization study is proposed to determine the optimal set of parameters for both objective functions considering the passive cooling techniques and the energy demand according to different climatic zones.