Cool materials in buildings: Roofs as a measure for urban energy rehabilitation

Abstract

This chapter explores the implementation of cool roofs in the Metropolitan Area of Mendoza (Argentina). The objective is to evaluate their potential as a mitigating strategy for urban heat stress and energy savings in homes during the cooling season. The research demonstrated the potential of the implementation of cool roofs as a solution towards building energy efficiency without incurring an additional economic cost. This knowledge contributes to design guidelines for urban planning aimed at cushioning electrical energy consumption for cooling, mitigating the urban heat island effect and improving indoor and outdoor comfort conditions in urban areas.This book provides the reader with an understanding of the impact that different morphologies, construction materials and green coverage solutions have on the urban microclimate, thus affecting the comfort conditions of urban inhabitants and the energy needs of buildings in urban areas. The book covers the latest approaches to energy and outdoor comfort measurement and modelling on an urban scale, and describes possible measures and strategies to mitigate the effects of the mutual interaction between urban settlements and local microclimate.Despite its relevance, only limited literature is currently devoted to appraising?from an engineering perspective?the intertwining relationships between urban geometry and fabrics, energy fluxes between buildings and their surroundings, outdoor microclimate conditions and building energy demands in urban areas. This book fills this gap by first discussing the physical processes that govern heat and mass transfer at an urban scale, while emphasizing the role played by different spatial arrangements, manmade materials and green infrastructures on the outdoor microclimate. The first chapters also address the implications of these factors on the outdoor comfort conditions experienced by pedestrians, and on the buildings? energy demand for space heating and cooling.Then, based upon cutting-edge experimental activities and simulation work, this book demonstrates current and forthcoming adaptation and mitigation strategies to improve the urban microclimate and its impact on the built environment, such as cool materials, thermochromic and retroreflective finishing materials, and green infrastructures applied either at a building scale or at the urban scale. The effect of these solutions is demonstrated for different cities worldwide under a range of climate conditions. Finally, the book opens a wider perspective by introducing the basic elements that allow fuel poverty, raw materials consumption, and the principles of circular economy in the definition of a resilient urban settlement.