The potential for cool roofs to improve the energy efficiency of single storey warehouse-type retail buildings in Australia: A simulation case study

Abstract

Australia's commercial building stock exceeds 134 million m 2 of net lettable area, with retail buildings contributing 35% to this sector's energy use. The energy intensity of retail buildings in hotter climates is higher than the national average, as is the energy intensity of smaller buildings (under 1500m 2 ) that are not considered 'high-end' commercial properties. Little attention has been paid to improving the energy efficiency of these types of buildings through regulation (for new buildings) or through market mechanisms (for retrofitting). As many of these buildings are single storey 'warehouse' type buildings, their predominant heat load comes through the roof, and thus are well suited to benefit from cool roof technology. Despite this, there remains a deficiency in quantifying the benefit of such technology in the context of single-storey retail buildings in Australia. This paper reports on an experimentally validated numerical study aimed at addressing this deficiency. Results show that application of cool roof technology to a warehouse type building in a subtropical environment increases the energy efficiency by shifting space temperature towards the design set point (21-23°C), and thus reducing cooling energy demand. This study also indicates an energy saving every month with the application of cool roof, with the largest saving in hotter months and no heating penalty in cooler months. Application of cool roof technology on warehouse style buildings across Australia buildings indicates energy savings can be achieved in all broad Australian climatic zones, with the greatest energy reduction associated with tropical, subtropical and desert environments.

Energy Retrofit in European Building Portfolios: A Review of Five Key Aspects

“…Several works presented the importance and significance of renewable energy use in buildings, suggesting programs, methods, and strategies to incorporate renewable sources in retrofit actions [151][152][153][154][155]. The most frequent type of energy measures in building retrofits concerns the demand side [156][157][158][159][160][161][162][163], where a decrease in a building's energy demand is achieved by introducing new technologies, thermal storage or heat recovery systems [164][165][166][167], or through the use of passive technologies [168] such as shading systems [169][170][171][172], natural ventilation [173,174] and site planning [175][176][177]. Lastly, building energy demand could also be significantly reduced simply by a change in energy consumption patterns [178,179].…”

Comparing Between Best Energy Efficient Techniques Worldwide with Existing Solution Implemented in Al-Ahliyya Amman University

“…In Australia, an amount of 6.5-8.4 kWh/year/m 2 of energy with 2680 kg of CO2 emissions per warehouse building has been saved using cool roof coating. It reflects a maximum amount of sunlight and absorbs less heat [13]. In Pakistan, 47% of the energy for a commercial plaza has been saved using Efficient Electric Lights mainly LEDs as a replacement for old traditional energy consuming bulbs such as fluorescent lamps [14].…”

Heat Transfer Characterization of Test Rooms with Six Different Roofs

“…On the other hand, roofs with high reflectance that are popularly called as cool roofs eventually shows decrease in their performance as they are subjected to dust, corrosion etc. [14]. High reflectance of the roof reduces solar gain during the day time, but it also reduces heat loss from inside to outside during night time.…”