Analysis of retro-reflective surfaces for urban heat island mitigation: A new analytical model

Federico Rossi, Anna Laura Pisello, Andrea Nicolini, Mirko Filipponi and Massimo Palombo

Applied Energy, 2014, vol. 114, issue C, 631 pages

Abstract: Solar reflectance of buildings’ envelope and urban paving represents an important optic-energetic property for the characterization of building energy performance for cooling and to reduce the urban heat island effect. Together with the emissivity, it represents the main feature contributing to the overheating reduction of a surface exposed to sunlight. Additionally, solar reflectance depends, among other factors, also on the angular distribution of the incident energy Additionally, solar reflectance depends on the angular distribution of the incident energy, which effect is rarely taken into account to estimate its cooling potential. This paper deals with an experimental and analytical study for the assessment of the angular reflectance of retro-reflective films. An ad hoc experimental facility is designed to measure the angular reflectance of retro-reflective samples. Measurement results are used to determine an original analytical model which describes the optic-energy behavior of retro-reflective materials. The experimental campaign and a novel analytical model showed that retro-reflective materials could be effectively applied as coatings on urban paving and building envelope, in order to reflect the solar radiation beyond the urban canyon and the urban canopy in general.

Keywords: Urban heat island; Solar reflectance; Cool roof; Energy efficiency in buildings; Urban canyon (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (23)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261913008581
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:114:y:2014:i:c:p:621-631

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2013.10.038

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().