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Impact of Reflective Roofing on Cooling Electrical Use and Peak Demand in a Florida Retail Mall
Abstract
Architects in hot climates have long recognized
that reflective roof colors can reduce building cooling
load. Experimentation spanning nearly three decades
has shown that white roofing surfaces can
significantly reduce surface temperatures and cooling
loads (Givoni and Hoffmann, 1968; Reagan and
Acklam, 1979; Griggs and Shipp, 1988; Anderson,
1989; Anderson et al., 1991 and Bansal et al., 1992).
More importantly, measured cooling energy savings
of white surfaces have been significant in
California's climate (Akbari et al., 1991, 1992,
1997).
In Florida, field research by the Florida Solar
Energy Center (FSEC) since 1993 has quantified the
impact of reflective roof coatings on sub-metered air
conditioning (AC) consumption in tests in a dozen
occupied homes (Parker et al., 1993; 1994; 1995;
1997). The coatings were applied to the roofs of each
home in mid-summer after a month-long period of
monitoring during which meteorological conditions,
building temperatures and AC energy use were
recorded. Using weather periods with similar
temperatures and solar insolation, air conditioning
energy use was reduced by 10% - 43% in the homes.
The average drop in space cooling energy use was
about 7.4 kWh/day or 19% of the pre-application air
conditioning consumption.
Unfortunately, until this project there has been
little objective testing of the impact of roof whitening
on the AC load of commercial buildings in Florida.
Two demonstration sites have been monitored. The
first was an elementary school in Cocoa Beach,
Florida, which was monitored for a year before and
after a white roof coating was applied. A final report
on this project was published in the CADDET
Newsletter (Parker et al., 1996a, b). The project
demonstrated a 10% annual savings in chiller energy
with a 30% reduction in peak cooling electrical
demand. This paper summarizes the findings from
the second demonstration at a commercial strip mall.
Citation
Parker, D. S.; Sonne, J. K.; Sherwin, J. R. (2002). Impact of Reflective Roofing on Cooling Electrical Use and Peak Demand in a Florida Retail Mall. Energy Systems Laboratory (http://esl.tamu.edu); Texas A&M University (http://www.tamu.edu). Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /4592.