Accelerated biological ageing of solar reflective and aesthetically relevant building materials

Effects of soiling and weathering on the albedo of building envelope materials: Lessons learned from natural exposure in two European cities and tuning of a laboratory simulation practice

“…The protocol underpredicts the reflectance loss due to biological growth on the surface (e.g., by 0.04 for the TPO membrane in Figure 6b), still with an acceptable match in many cases. However, this is out of the scope of the current procedure, and the inclusion of a biofouling step in the laboratory exposure is part of further ongoing investigation and development [32]. In fact, excluding the results when biological colonization is visually detectable, we see that the laboratory procedure is capable of mimicking even complex spectral features (Figure 6a).…”

“…Then, biofouling produces an additional significant reflectance drop [14,29,30]. Biological colonization starts only upon a layer of organic or inorganic matter is deposited on the surface of the exposed material, becoming a growing medium favorable to the development of biofilms [31,32]. Biofouling does not develop on any surface, but only on those that offer favorable surface temperature, moisture content, pH and other conditions, for a sufficient time, exceeding the minimum time for germination, depending on the type of spores [33].…”

Analysis of a New Index for the Thermal Performance of Horizontal Opaque Building Components in Summer

“…A roof with high thermal mass but a dark surface may behave similar to a roof with a relatively low mass and thermal inertia but with a highly reflective surface. A highly reflective surface would almost nullify the effects of the solar cycle; nevertheless, it would be difficult to preserve due to soiling or biofouling, hence the lower solar reflectance of the aged surface must be considered [31,32]. Moreover, highly reflective surfaces are white, but different, less reflective colors may be compulsory for historical or traditional buildings or even entire urban areas.…”

Thermo-optic durability of cool roof membranes: Effect of shape stabilized phase change material inclusion on building energy efficiency

“…Santunione et al [46], for instance, assessed the capability of an accelerated test method to investigate the consequences of biological aggression on coating materials.…”