Is it possible to Minimize the Energy Consumption of Buildings in the Tropics under Climate Change Conditions , 2050?

Shamila Haddad , Adrian Barker , Junjing Yang , Devi Ilamathy Mohan Kumar , Samira Garshasbi , Riccardo Paolini , Mattheos Santamouris : On the Potential of Building Adaptation Measures to Counterbalance the Impact of Climatic Change in the Tropics, Energy and Buildings. Volume 229, 15 December 2020, 110494

 

Climate change is one of the most significant environmental issues facing communities, while poor construction and absence of effective air-conditioning (AC) predominantly cause indoor overheating. Although AC may help meeting indoor comfort, it increases the vulnerability of low-income residents, triggers large energy consumption, and generates anthropogenic heat, which worsens heat stress outdoor. The capacity of buildings to maintain comfortable thermal conditions without mechanical cooling is the key factor protecting occupants against the rising temperature. Residents of Darwin, Australia, will be largely affected by increasing temperature where the annual peak ambient temperature may increase by 7.4 °C in 2060, while the number of hours above 30 °C will rise by 70%. Based on regional climate modelling for the Australian area and using a building energy simulation platform, we computed that by 2060 the indoor air temperature in a typical residential building may exceed 30 °C for over 4000 h under free-floating condition, with a peak daytime and night-time temperatures of 39 °C and 36.5 °C, respectively.

On the combination of quantum dots with near-infrared reflective base coats to maximize their urban overheating mitigation potential

Samira Garshasbi , Shujuan Huang , Jan Valenta , Mat Santamouris : On the combination of quantum
dots with near-infrared reflective base coats to maximize their urban overheating mitigation potential,
Solar Energy ,Volume 211, 15 November 2020, Pages 111-116

Application of highly absorptive construction materials is proved to be one of leading causes of urban overheating in big cities. To avoid the excessive heat by the conventional construction materials, several advanced heat-rejecting coating technologies were developed during the last decades. The main idea behind heat-rejecting coatings is to have colder coatings with the same appearance and colour of conventional coatings. One of the existing technologies for heat-rejecting coatings are advanced coatings with high solar reflection in the infrared range or so-called cool coatings. Recently, re-emission of the visible-range light by nano-scale semiconductors, known as Quantum Dots (QDs), were introduced as another effective heat-rejecting technology. In this paper, we showed that QDs also demonstrate a very high solar transmission in the near-infrared range, and therefore, a highly near-infrared reflective base layer can significantly improve their cooling potential.

On the energy modulation of daytime radiative coolers: A review on infrared emissivity dynamic switch against overcooling

Giulia Ulpiani , Gianluca Ranzi, Kwok Wei Shah , Jie Feng, Mattheos Santamouris

Solar Energy Volume 209, October 2020, Pages 278-301

Abstract

Passive daytime radiative cooling represents one of the boldest answers to tackle the future cooling needs of the built environment and to mitigate urban heat island effects.

Developing a technology heat mitigation plan for one of the world's hottest cities

We are proud to prepare the Heat Mitigation Plan of the capital city of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. The Royal city of Riyadh will be the first city in the world to  have such an advanced heat mitigation plan based on fully innovative experimental and theoretical techniques as well as on the use of very advanced heat rejection technologies, as developed by our research team and other international colleagues.

Link Article : Heat Mitigation Plan

 

Upscaling of Film Based Elastocaloric Cooling

Giulia Ulpiani, Florian Bruederlin Raphael Weidemann, Gianluca Ranzi, Mat Santamouris, Manfred Kohl

Applied Thermal Engineering, Volume 180, 5 November

  

A new concept of upscaling a shape memory alloy (SMA) film based elastocaloric cooling device is presented by arranging SMA films in parallel to increase the specific cooling capacity at low actuation force, while maintaining the large surface-to-volume ratio needed for rapid heat transfer. Selected materials are cold-rolled TiNiFe films that exhibit maximum adiabatic temperature changes of 27.3 and −18.1 K upon loading and unloading, respectively.

Recent Development and Research Priorities on Cool and Super Cool Materials to Mitigate Urban Heat Island

M. Santamouris and Geun Young Yun

Renewable Energy

161 (2020) 792e807
 

The urban heat island is increasing the temperature of cities up to 10 _C and has a very important impact on energy, environmental quality and health. Materials used in the building and urban fabric affect the urban thermal balance and contribute highly to urban overheating. The article presents the progress achieved on the design, development and implementation of mitigation materials presenting a low and very low surface temperature. The recent technological progress and developments concerning natural, light colour, IR reflective, PCM doped, thermochromic, fluorescent, photonic and plasmonic materials is presented.

On the Energy Potential of Daytime Radiative Cooling for Urban Heat Island Mitigation

Laura Carlosena , Alvaro ´ Ruiz-Pardo , Jie Feng , OlatzIrulegi, Rufino J. Hernandez-Minguill , Mattheos Santamouris: , Solar Energy, Volume 208, 15 September 2020, Pages 430-444

The objective of this paper is to present the potential of daytime radiative cooling materials as a strategy to mitigate the Urban Heat Island effect. To evaluate the cooling potential of daytime radiative cooling materials, 15 theoretical materials and seven existing materials were simulated: two radiative cooling materials, a coolmaterial, two white paints, a thermochromic paint and a construction material. The novelty of this study is that it shows that the optimal spectral characteristics of radiative cooling materials depending on the climate conditions and the type of application.