Energy Impact of Radiative Cooling Paints in Warehouses Under Various United States Climates

Barber, Emily; Kishore, Ravi Anant; Bianchi, Marcus V. A.; Horton, Travis; Ruan, Xiulin

doi:10.1115/1.4070748

Title: Energy Impact of Radiative Cooling Paints in Warehouses Under Various United States Climates

Journal Article · Wed Jan 28 00:00:00 UTC 2026 · Journal of Engineering for Sustainable Buildings and Cities

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4070748 · OSTI ID:3021208

Barber, Emily ^[1];

^[2]; Bianchi, Marcus V. A. ^[2]; Horton, Travis ^[1]; Ruan, Xiulin ^[1]

Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)
National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), Golden, CO (United States)

Although radiative cooling research is widely found in the literature, no comprehensive study has yet been conducted on the impact of novel radiant cooling (>0.91 reflectance) on the energy efficiency of warehouses. Here, in this work, we develop three building models based on a Department of Energy prototype warehouse model using trnsys, representing a typical warehouse with a black roof, a typical warehouse with a white roof, and a warehouse with novel radiative cooling (RC) paint on its roof. These models are run for 15 different cities, each representative of a different ASHRAE climate zone, to better understand the impact of RC in many different climates. It was found that an RC-coated roof in a warehouse could reduce the building's annual heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) loads by up to 14.11 kWh/m² of the roof area compared to a black roof, resulting in a maximum reduction in energy costs of 0.55 $$\$$$$/m² or $$\$$$$2646/year for a large 4835 m² warehouse. Similarly, replacing the typical white roof coating with an RC coating could reduce the warehouse's energy consumption by up to 8.17 kWh/ m² of roof area, thus reducing energy costs by as much as 0.29 $$\$$$$/m² or $$\$$$$1386/year for a 4835 m² warehouse. In addition, applying RC paint to an unconditioned warehouse could reduce the building's ASHRAE Standard 55 indoor temperature exceedance by up to 1330 h/year compared to a black roof and up to 532 h/year compared to a white roof.

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Research Organization:: National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Building Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 3021208

Report Number(s):: NLR/JA--5500-95910

Journal Information:: Journal of Engineering for Sustainable Buildings and Cities, Journal Name: Journal of Engineering for Sustainable Buildings and Cities Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 7; ISSN 2642-6625; ISSN 2642-6641

Publisher:: AMSECopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
air conditioning
black roof
building
clean energy
cost savings
trnsys
demand side management
energy efficiency
energy savings
environment
heat transfer
materials
net-zero energy
occupant comfort
radiation
radiative cooling
resilient buildings
resilient systems
simulation
smart materials
sustainability
temperature exceedance
testing
thermal comfort
thermodynamics
warehouse
white roof

Title: Energy Impact of Radiative Cooling Paints in Warehouses Under Various United States Climates

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