Cool Roofs in the US: The Impact of Roof Reflectivity, Insulation and Attachment Method on Annual Energy Cost

While it is well-known that cool roofs can efficiently reduce cooling demand in buildings, their overall energy performance in mixed and cold climates has been a topic of debate. This paper presents a comprehensive simulation study to evaluate the combined impact of roof reflectivity, insulation lev...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEnergies (Basel) Vol. 14; no. 22; p. 7656
Main Authors Tzempelikos, Athanasios, Lee, Seungjae
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.11.2021
Subjects
adhered roofs
building energy modeling
Buildings
Climate
Climatic conditions
Climatic zones
Cold
Cold weather construction
Construction
cool roofs
Cooling loads
Cooling systems
Cost control
Durability
Energy consumption
Energy demand
Heat
Insulation
mechanically attached roofs
Reflectance
Reflective roofs
Roofing
School buildings
Schools
thermal performance
United States > US
Alaska
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Summary:While it is well-known that cool roofs can efficiently reduce cooling demand in buildings, their overall energy performance in mixed and cold climates has been a topic of debate. This paper presents a comprehensive simulation study to evaluate the combined impact of roof reflectivity, insulation level, and construction type (adhered vs attached) on annual energy demand and energy costs in the United States, for different buildings and climate zones. EnergyPlus was used to model three building types (retail, office, and school buildings) for the 16 most climate-representative locations in the US using typical reflectivity and insulation values. The results show that (i) roof reflectivity is equally important to roof insulation in warm climates; (ii) for low-rise offices and schools, the benefits of reflective roofs vs dark-colored roofs are clear for all US climatic zones, with higher savings in warm climates; (iii) for big-box-retail buildings, reflective roofs perform better except for cold climate zones 7–8; (iv) dark-colored, mechanically attached roofs achieve slightly better performance than reflective roofs in mixed and cold climates. Decision makers should consider building type, climatic conditions, roof insulation levels, and durability performance, along with roof reflectivity, when assessing the overall potential benefits of cool roofs.
ISSN:1996-1073
1996-1073
DOI:10.3390/en14227656