Analyzing the effect of the longwave emissivity and solar reflectance of building envelopes on energy-saving in buildings in various climates

Journal Article · Sat Jan 15 00:00:00 EST 2011 · Solar Energy

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/J.SOLENER.2010.11.009· OSTI ID:21401368

Shi, Zhiyang; Zhang, Xiong ^[1]

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1. Key Laboratory of Advanced Civil Engineering Materials of Education Ministry, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092 (China)

A dynamic computer simulation is carried out in the climates of 35 cities distributed around the world. The variation of the annual air-conditioning energy loads due to changes in the longwave emissivity and the solar reflectance of the building envelopes is studied to find the most appropriate exterior building finishes in various climates (including a tropical climate, a subtropical climate, a mountain plateau climate, a frigid-temperate climate and a temperate climate). Both the longwave emissivity and the solar reflectance are set from 0.1 to 0.9 with an interval of 0.1 in the simulation. The annual air-conditioning energy loads trends of each city are listed in a chart. The results show that both the longwave emissivity and the solar reflectance of building envelopes play significant roles in energy-saving for buildings. In tropical climates, the optical parameters of the building exterior surface affect the building energy-saving most significantly. In the mountain plateau climates and the subarctic climates, the impacts on energy-saving in buildings due to changes in the longwave emissivity and the solar reflectance are still considerable, but in the temperate continental climates and the temperate maritime climates, only limited effects are seen. (author)

• OSTI ID: 21401368
• Journal Information: Solar Energy, Vol. 85, Issue 1; Other Information: Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved; ISSN 0038-092X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
14 SOLAR ENERGY
EMISSIVITY
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
CLIMATES
ROOFS
BUILDINGS
WALLS
AIR CONDITIONING
URBAN AREAS
DIAGRAMS
SURFACES
ANNUAL VARIATIONS
COOLING LOAD
ENERGY CONSERVATION
LONG WAVE RADIATION
SPECTRAL REFLECTANCE
Longwave emissivity
Solar reflectance
Dynamic simulation