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Development of a retro-reflective material as building coating and evaluation

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Article  in  Energy and Buildings · June 2015

DOI: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2015.06.055

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 Energy and Buildings 103 (2015) 107–117

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy and Buildings

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enbuild

Development of a retro-reflective material as building coating and

evaluation on albedo of urban canyons and building heat loads
J. Yuan ∗ , C. Farnham, K. Emura
Osaka City University, 3-3-138 Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka 558-8585, Japan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Retro-reflective materials (RRM) applied as building coatings are a possible means to help counter urban
Received 14 April 2015 heat islands. In this research, to improve the durability and reflective performance of RRM before apply-
Received in revised form 22 May 2015 ing it as a building coating, we have developed a new type of RRM by adding a glass covering with high
Accepted 20 June 2015
transmission and high strength, and investigated its durability and retro-reflective performance by eval-
Available online 23 June 2015
uating changes in solar reflectance and retro-reflectance for a period of 485 days. There was almost no
degradation on the surface of RRM, and both its solar reflectance and retro-reflectance showed no sig-
Keywords:
nificant decrease for the period. Its solar reflectance remained around 0.81, and retro-reflectance around
Retro-reflective material (RRM)
Building coating
0.44. Additionally, we simulated the influence of building surfaces with different reflective character-
Development istics on the albedo of urban canyons. A building surface with RRM is the most effective, compared to
Durability other materials with diffuse or mirror reflective characteristics. Finally, the influence of RRM coating on
Albedo building thermal loads was simulated. The cooling loads and the total annual thermal loads were both
Building thermal loads reduced. Thus, it is possible to apply it as a building coating to both mitigate the heat island and reduce
the building thermal loads.
© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
At present, the heat island phenomenon in urban canyons is
gaining attention, where buildings can account for about 50% of
urban heat emissions [1]. The widespread use of materials with
high reflectivity to solar radiation and high spectral emissivity, i.e.,
cool materials for building envelope applications, is considered as
one of the most effective techniques to reduce energy requirements
for cooling [2] and also to mitigate urban heat islands [3]. The urban
heat island phenomenon yields some increase in building cooling
energy demand and, therefore, of peak electricity demand, it also
exacerbates urban environmental pollution and human discom-
fort together with increased greenhouse gas production [4]. The
passive role of materials in building envelopes is a key factor in
thermal balance and possible means to increase building energy
efficiency. Surface materials are responsible for the absorption of
the solar radiation and for some of the heat exchange rate with
the environment [3]. In addition, analysis of urban albedo change
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: yuanjihui@hotmail.co.jp (J. Yuan),
farnham@life.osaka-cu.ac.jp (C. Farnham), emura@life.osaka-cu.ac.jp (K. Emura).
through cool roof applications has shown global climate mitigation
potential. An increase of worldwide roof and pavement albedo by
0.25 and 0.15, respectively, is estimated to decrease the radiative
forcing by 0.15 W/m2 , with a corresponding 44 Gt of emitted CO2
offset [5,6]. Highly reflective materials (HRM) have been studied for
possible use to mitigate the urban heat island as a building coat-
ing [7]. HRM can reflect solar energy, reduce solar radiation heat
penetration into the urban canyon layer, and prevent some of the
increase in urban surface temperature [8,9]. A research article has
reported that the building surface temperature can be decreased
about 10 ◦ C by using highly reflective surfaces [10]. Increasing the
urban albedo can reduce summertime temperature, resulting in
better air quality and reduced air-conditioning costs. Additionally,
increasing urban albedo can result in less absorption of incoming
solar radiation by the surface-troposphere system, countering to
some extent the global scale effects of increasing greenhouse gas
concentrations [5]. Bonamente et al. [11] provided a test facility,
located at the University of Perugia, Italy, to estimate the effect of
the reflective properties of the canyon surfaces on the urban envi-
ronment, in order to guide the choice of effective solution toward
the urban heat island mitigation. Synnefa et al. [12] reported that
increasing the roof solar reflectance could reduce cooling loads
of residential building by 18–93% and peak cooling demand in

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2015.06.055
0378-7788/© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
108 J. Yuan et al. / Energy and Buildings 103 (2015) 107–117
Fig. 1. Example of solar radiation reflected by building coatings ((a): building with
diffuse reflection; (b) building with retro reflection).
air-conditioned buildings by 11–27%. Romeo et al. [13] reported
the application of cool roofs can significantly improve the energy
efficiency during the summer cooling period and throughout the
year.
Unlike HRM coatings of buildings, which yield diffuse reflection,
RRM can reflect light back along the incident direction (see Fig. 1).
Replacing typical HRM building outer surfaces with retro-reflective
materials (RRM) can partially solve the problem of reflected sun-
light reaching neighboring buildings and roads. Urban architecture
coated with RRMs has the potential to reduce the heat island phe-
nomenon. Research by Rossi et al. [14] showed that RRMs could be
effectively applied as coatings on urban pavements and building
envelopes and these RRMs could reduce the circulating energy into
urban canyons. However, RRM suitable for use as building coatings
are not commercially available in Japan. In order to encourage use
of RRM as building outer wall materials, the durability and reflec-
tive performance of these materials must be evaluated. Methods
to more conveniently measure the retro-reflectance (ret ) of RRM
have been proposed by using different techniques. Yuan et al. [8]
measured retro-reflectance by using the thermal balance of RRM
in the outdoor environment. Rossi et al. [15] use an experimental
and analytical study for the assessment of the angular reflectance
of RRM samples.
Table 1
The properties of glass.
Thickness (mm) 3
Visible transmittance (%) >91.3
UV transmittance (%) >92.5
Reflectivity (%) 2
U value (W/m2 K) 5.8
Fig. 2. Mechanism of the new RRM.
2. Motivation and purpose of this research
For the practical use of RRM applied as a building coating, the
durability and reflective performance of RRM should be ensured,
both in material durability and maintaining high retro-reflection
for a long period. In order to improve the durability of RRM, we have
developed a new type, and confirmed its durability by evaluating
the change in solar reflectance and retro-reflectance for a period
of about 485 days. In addition, the influence of urban canyon sur-
faces with different reflective characteristics on the overall albedo
of urban canyons was verified by a two-dimensional urban canyon
space model. The influence of RRM coating on the thermal loads
of buildings was also evaluated by a simulation for a typical office
building in Shanghai.
3. Development of RRM applied as a building coating
In order to improve the durability of RRM, we have developed a
new type of RRM by using a type of glass covering with high trans-
mittance (visible transmittance 91.3%, UV transmittance 92.5%), a
reflectivity of 2% and high strength. The details of the glass prop-
erties are shown in Table 1. Instead of conventional glass beads
in retro-reflective elements, clusters of plastic micro-prisms with
cubic corners are used, bordered by lines of white-color plastic
photo to give the new RRM a white appearance. It has a very high
reflective luminance when the solar incident angle is small (0–45◦ ).
In addition, the RRM has very strong resistance to UV rays. It is thin
lightweight and difficult to crack. The mechanism of the new RRM
is shown in Fig. 2. The total reflection performance of the RRM was
measured following the procedure of JIS Z 9117 of Japanese Indus-
trial Standards [16], and the measured result is shown in Table 2.
3.1. Experiment on RRM durability
To test durability, the change in retro-reflectance and surface
cracking of the new RRM while exposed to the outdoor envi-
ronment should be evaluated for a long period. An experimental
stand was set up facing south (as shown in Fig. 3a) on the roof
at Osaka City University of Osaka, Japan from January 2014 to
April 2015, with no obstructions to the sky exposure. A square
steel plate with side length of 700 mm and thickness of 0.5 mm
was used as the base reflection plate. We attached the steel plate
to the upper surface of one sheet of insulating material with the
 J. Yuan et al. / Energy and Buildings 103 (2015) 107–117 109

Table 2 is 7◦ , the plate angle was adjusted about every 3 days to keep the
The reflection performance of RRM measured by JIS Z 9117.
solar incident angle at 7◦ ± 1◦ at culmination (as shown in Fig. 3b).
Observation angle Incident angle (◦ ) Coefficient of The detail of deriving the retro-reflectance of RRM is shown below.
(◦ ) retroreflection
(cd/lx/m2 )
3.2. Method to derive retro-reflectance (ret ) of RRM
5 570
12
30 235
A spectrophotometer is designed such that the diffuse reflection
5 400 component can be captured by the integrating sphere. It is con-
20
30 170 sidered that if the building coating material with diffuse reflection
5 300 component is dominant, the solar reflectance of that measured with
30
30 170 spectrophotometer will be reliable. However, the retro-reflecting
5 120 light cannot be captured by the spectrophotometer, as it travels
1
30 50 back to the instrument light source.
It is possible to estimate the total solar reflectance (tmp ) of
building RRM coatings by knowing the outdoor conditions includ-
ing insolation and finding the heat balance of the RRM coatings.
Similarly, we can derive the retro-reflectance (ret ) of RRMs by
subtracting the diffuse solar reflectance (spc ) measured with a
spectrophotometer with (see Fig. 4, its light source incident angle
is designed at 7◦ ) from the total solar reflectance (tmp ) evalu-
ated by the heat balance of the material as found by measuring
its temperature profile in outdoor conditions. The method of deriv-
ing retro-reflectance (ret ) was proposed by Yuan et al. [8], as the
following formulas.

ret = tmp − spc (1)

where, “tmp ” is the solar reflectance evaluated by the heat balance

[–], and “spc ” is the solar reflectance measured by a spectropho-
tometer [–].
tmp is derived from the heat balance of the surface of RRM when
outdoors (see Fig. 5). The measured items include the inner sur-
face temperature (T1 ) of the steel mounting plate, the outer surface
temperature (T2 ) of the underside of the insulating material and
the surface temperature of the roof (Tg ). Those items are measured
with T-type thermocouples and a data logger. The plate is set on a
building roof with no obstructions to sunlight. In addition, global
irradiance (Eeg), diffuse irradiance (Eed), direct irradiance (Ees), air
temperature (Ta ), relative humidity (ϕ) and wind velocity (v) are
also measured by a separate solar irradiance measurement system
on the same building roof. The functions of the heat balance are the
following formulas,

qr = qs + qcv + qcd (2)

4 4 4
qs = −Fsa εs εa ı(Ta ) − Fsw εs εw ı(Tg ) + εs ı(T1 ) (3)

qcv = h(T1 − Ta ) (4)


qcd = (5)
L(T1 − T2 )

where, “qr ” is the amount of short wave irradiance [W/m2 ], “qs ” is

Fig. 3. Setup of experimental reflection plate with 700 mm2 .
dimensions 1350 mm × 910 mm × 30 mm using glue. A plate of the
glass covered RRM was mounted onto the steel plate with glue. T-
type thermocouples were mounted at the center of the steel plate
upper surface (under the RRM) and the center of the bottom surface
of the insulating material.
The retro-reflectance of the RRM could be calculated by com-
bining thermal balance measurement and spectrophotometer
measurement, thus the incident angle of solar irradiance of the two
measurements should be matched. In order to make the incident
angle of solar irradiance on the inclined reflection plate consistent
with the angle used during spectrophotometer measuring, which
the amount of long wave emittance [W/m2 ], “qcv ” is the amount
of convective heat transfer [W/m2 ], “qcd ” is the amount of heat
conduction to the insulation [W/m2 ], “Fsa ” is the form factor from
reflecting plate to air [–], “Fsw ” is the form factor from reflect-
ing plate to ground [–] (=1 − Fsa ), “εs ” is the emissivity of the
reflecting plate surface [–], “εa ” is the atmospheric emissivity [–]
(=0.526 + 0.076 × sqrt(f(ϕ·Ta )), where, f(ϕ·Ta ) is water vapor pres-
sure of air [17]), “εw is the emissivity of ground surface [–], “ı” is the
Stefan-Boltzmann constant(=5.67 × 10−8 W/m2 K4 ), “h” is convec-
tive heat transfer coefficient [W/m2 K] (=2.34v + 3.48) [18], where
“v” is the air velocity [m/s], “” is heat conductivity of insulation
[W/mK], and “L” is the thickness of the insulation [m].
Eq. (4) is applied assuming the temperature gradient at the cen-
ter of the insulation represents the average of the gradient over the
entire sheet. In reality, losses from the edges of the insulation will
yield a non-uniform, non-steady gradient and can potentially be
110 J. Yuan et al. / Energy and Buildings 103 (2015) 107–117

Fig. 4. A Principle diagram of the integrating sphere (S: light source; R: capture of diffuse reflection component).

a major source of error. If the plate and insulation layer are wide measurement method JIS R 3106 of Japanese Industrial Standards
enough such that the edge losses are proportionally small, it will [20], which is based on ISO 9050.
reduce this source of error.
 
The incident irradiance on the reflecting plate can be calculated
by the Perez model [19]. The functions for determination of incident spc = ()E()d/ E()d (10)
irradiance are the following formulas,

() = w ()  ()/100 (11)

Ei = Is + Id + Ir (6)

where, “spc ” is the solar reflectance by spectrophotometer [–],

Is = Ees × cos i
Id = Eed × (1 + cos )
Ir = g × Eeg(0.5 − cos /2)
where, “Ei ” is the global irradiance of an inclined reflecting plate
[W/m2 ], “Is ” is the direct irradiance of the inclined reflecting plate
[W/m2 ], “Id ” is the diffuse irradiance of the inclined reflecting plate
[W/m2 ], “Ir ” is the irradiance reflected by ground to the inclined
reflecting plate [W/m2 ], “i” is the incident angle of solar irradiance
on the inclined reflecting plate [deg], “” is the inclination angle of
the reflecting plate [deg], “g ” is albedo of ground [–], “Ees” is the
direct irradiance [W/m2 ], “Eed” is the diffuse irradiance [W/m2 ],
and “Eeg” is the global irradiance [W/m2 ].
The functions for determination of spc measured by
spectrophotometer are the following formulas following the
(7)
“()” is the spectral reflectance [–], “w ()” is the absolute
reflectance of the standard white plate [–], “’()” is the relative
(8) reflectance of RRM [–], and “E()” is the spectral distribution of
hemispherical solar irradiance specified in ISO 9845-1 of Interna-
(9) tional Organization for Standardization [21].
Finally, the function of determining the tmp is the following
formula,
qr
tmp = 1 − (12)
Ei
which is substituted into Eq. (1) to yield the retro-reflectance
ret .
For determination of the tmp of each day, we calculated the
tmp using the 1-min interval measurements from 30 min before
culmination to 30 min after, using the above formulas. The tmp of
each day was taken as the average of the values over this 1 h period.

Fig. 5. A conceptual diagram of the heat balance of RRMs surface when outdoors.
 J. Yuan et al. / Energy and Buildings 103 (2015) 107–117 111

Fig. 6. Changes in solar reflectance (tmp ) and retro-reflectance (ret ) of the new RRM (both tmp and ret of RRM increase about 0.02 after cleaning the RRM surface).

3.3. Changes in tmp and ret of the new RRM Table 3

The specifications of three types of RRMs and five types of HRMs.

Using the above formulas, we measured and evaluated the Type Specifications
changes in tmp and ret of the new RRM for the period from January New RRM Color: white gray
2014 until April 2015 while exposed continuously outdoors, with Solar reflectance (experimental
no cleaning. The results are shown in Fig. 6 respectively. measurement): about 0.81
It was found that the tmp and ret of the RRM have almost no Prism RRM Color: white gray
Solar reflectance (experimental
change (a little decrease of about 0.02) for the period from January
measurement): about 0.80
2014 until April 2015, about 485 days. Its tmp stays around 0.81, Capsule RRM Color: white gray
and its ret stays around 0.44 for the period of about 485 days. We Solar reflectance (experimental
also measured the tmp and ret of the RRM after cleaning the sur- measurement): about 0.69
HRM A Color: white gray
face with distilled water and soft sponge in April 2015. It showed
Solar reflectance (JIS A 5759 [22]): about 0.7
that both tmp and ret increased about 0.02, compared to the values HRM B Color: pearl gray
before surface cleaning. Solar reflectance (JIS K 5602 [20]): about 0.66
The accuracy of ret , it depends on the accuracy of spc and tmp . HRM C Color: silver gray
The accuracy of spc in the laboratory is ±0.01 based on the most Solar reflectance (Internal measurement by
company): about 0.70
recent calibration data of the instrument supplier. The accuracy of
HRM D Color: white gray
tmp is mainly affected by the wind speed and temperature mea- Solar reflectance (internal measurement by
surement error, yielding about ± 0.005 assuming the heat transfer company): about 0.70
coefficient h is valid. Thus, the accuracy of ret is about ±0.015 in HRM E Color: gray
Solar reflectance (internal measurement by
this experiment.
company): about 0.55

3.4. Verification on the surface degradation of the RRM

0.12 (reduction recovered by cleaning is 84%), HRM D decreased
In order to evaluate the durability of the RRM, we examined
0.26 (reduction recovered by cleaning is 92%), and HRM E decreased
the RRM’s surface cracking for about 485 days. There was almost
0.20 (reduction recovered by cleaning is 90%). Therefore, it is con-
no cracking on the surface of the new RRM when examined by
sidered that the new RRM’s durability can be ensured by the glass
microscope with 100× magnification (as shown in Fig. 7) for the
covering for the period of at least 1.4 years (485 days). The experi-
period.
ment on the durability of RRMs is being continued.

3.5. Comparison of durability of RRMs and HRMs

In order to compare the durability of the new RRM to another
types of RRMs and HRMs, we evaluated the change in solar
reflectance of other materials without glass coverings under the
same exposure conditions for the period of 485 days. The specifi-
cations of three types of RRMs and five types of HRMs are shown
in Table 3, and the measured change in solar reflectance of these
RRMs and HRMs is shown in Table 4. The prism RRM decreased 0.04
(reduction recovered by cleaning is 74%), capsule RRM decreased
0.18 (reduction recovered by cleaning is 61%), HRM A decreased
0.08 (reduction recovered by cleaning is 74%), HRM B decreased
0.12 (reduction recovered by cleaning is 92%), HRM C decreased
4. Influence of RRM coating on the albedo of urban canyons
In order to find the influence of building surfaces with different
reflective characteristics on the albedo of urban canyons, an evalu-
ation of albedo of urban canyons was carried out by using a simple
two-dimensional shape with different reflective characteristics of
building envelope materials. As shown in the Fig. 8, the simula-
tion model consists of the ground surface, two building walls and
a boundary surface between both walls and the sky. The albedo of
urban canyons with different reflective characteristics was calcu-
lated by the Monte Carlo theory [23]. The calculation flow is shown
in Fig. 9.
112 J. Yuan et al. / Energy and Buildings 103 (2015) 107–117

Fig. 7. Surface condition of the new RRM after 485 days exposed outside (microscope: 100× magnification).

Table 4
Change in solar reflectance of three types of RRMs and five types of HRMs.

Type Initial After 485 days Reduction After cleaning Reduction recovered by cleaning (%)

New RRM 0.81 0.79 0.02 0.81 100

Prism RRM 0.80 0.76 0.04 0.79 74
Capsule RRM 0.69 0.51 0.18 0.62 61
HRM A 0.65 0.57 0.08 0.63 74
HRM B 0.58 0.46 0.12 0.57 92
HRM C 0.62 0.50 0.12 0.60 84
HRM D 0.65 0.39 0.26 0.63 92
HRM E 0.52 0.32 0.20 0.50 90

4.1. Overview of the simple two-dimensional urban canyon space
The conditions of the simulation model are shown in Table 5.
The axis direction of the road is east and west (north and south
facing walls). The albedo of urban canyons is calculated for build-
ing reflective characteristics set as various combinations of diffuse
reflection, mirror reflection and retro-reflection. The four cases of
reflective conditions are shown in Table 6. Case A is both simula-
tion building walls covered by diffuse reflective coating, case B is
one of the north-facing wall covered by diffuse reflective coating
and the south-facing wall covered by retro-reflective coating, case
C is both walls covered by retro-reflective coating and case D is
the north-facing wall covered by diffuse reflective coating and the
south-facing wall covered by mirror reflective coating.

4.2. Result and analysis

The result of total albedo for the urban canyon as a whole

is shown in Fig. 10. Comparing the four cases of different wall

Table 5
The conditions of the simulation model.

Calculation location Longitude: 121.22 ◦ E; Latitude:

Sky condition
Solar radiation (average) [W/m2 ]
Axis direction of road
Fig. 8. Schematic diagram of two-dimensional urban canyon space.
31.06 ◦ N
Sunny sky; atmospheric
transmittance = 0.7
Summer: 579.9 [W/m2 ], autumn:
493.6 [W/m2 ], Winter: 292.5
[W/m2 ]
East and west (north and south
facing wall)
 J. Yuan et al. / Energy and Buildings 103 (2015) 107–117
Fig. 9. Calculation flow of albedo of urban canyons by Monte Carlo theory.
Fig. 10. Comparison of albedo of urban canyons with four cases (A: diffuse reflection
(both walls); B: diffuse (north-facing wall) + retro (south-facing wall); C: retro-
reflection (both walls); D: diffuse (north-facing wall) + mirror (south-facing wall)).
reflective characteristics simulated here, case C has the largest
albedo, followed by case B, case A and case D. In addition, for the
ranking of albedo of this east-west urban canyon by season, winter
is the largest, followed by autumn and summer.
Comparing the proportion of the solar radiation absorbed by
both building walls (the remainder is either absorbed by the ground
or reflected back out of the canyon), the four cases showed (see
Fig. 11) that with the exception of case D which is slightly higher,
the proportions of the solar radiation absorbed by both building
outer walls of cases A, B and C in the urban canyon space are
almost the same. In addition, for the proportion of the solar radia-
tion absorbed by both building walls by season, winter is the largest,
followed by autumn and summer.
These results show that the RRM coating of buildings is more
effective to increase the albedo of urban canyons than the other
diffuse or mirror reflective coatings. In addition, except for mirror
reflection, if the reflectivity of the urban surface is the same, the
113
Fig. 11. Proportion of the solar radiation absorbed by the two building walls ((A)
diffuse reflection (both walls); (B) diffuse (north-facing wall) + retro (south-facing
wall); C: retro-reflection (both walls); D: diffuse (north-facing wall) + mirror (south-
facing wall)).
proportion of the solar radiation absorbed by both building walls
in the two-dimensional urban canyon space are not significantly
changed due to the urban canyon surface consisting of materials
with different reflective characteristics, according to the 2D model.
5. Influence of the RRM coating on thermal loads of
buildings
For the application of RRM as a building coating, consideration
of the influence of the RRM coating on thermal loads of buildings
is necessary. Thus, we have evaluated the influence of RRM coating
on building heat loads by simulation using conditions for Shanghai,
China. The thermal load calculation software (New HASP/ACLD-␤
[24]) was used to examine the thermal loads of buildings with cases
114 J. Yuan et al. / Energy and Buildings 103 (2015) 107–117

Table 6
The four cases of reflective conditions.

Aspect ratio (H/D) 1.0

Reflectivity [–]: 0.2

Ground surface
Reflective characteristics: diffuse reflection

Retro-reflectivity Diffuse reflectivity Total reflectivity

Diffuse – 0.81 0.81
Building surface types
Retro 0.44 0.37 0.81
Mirror – – 0.81

Four cases:
A: diffuse reflection (both walls)
Both outer walls B: diffuse (north-facing wall) + retro (south-facing wall)
C: retro-reflection (both walls)
D: diffuse (north-facing wall) + mirror (south-facing wall)

A and B. Case A is the new RRM coating not installed on the building
outer walls, and case B is the new RRM coating installed on the
building outer walls. In addition, the reflectivity of ground is set at
0.2, and the reflectivity of roof is set at 0.5 for both case A and case
B.

5.1. Procedure of the program New HASP/ACLD-ˇ

New HASP/ACLD-␤ is a typical simulation program often used in

Japan to calculate the indoor temperature, humidity and building
thermal loads, which has been developed for the purpose of eval-
uating the energy consumption of air-conditioning in buildings. To
calculate the thermal loads of buildings by New HASP/ACLD-␤, the
following input data are needed for the calculation period.

1) Hourly meteorological data: air temperature, absolute humidity,

direct solar radiation, diffuse solar radiation, cloud cover, wind
direction and wind speed.
2) Building data: the longitude, latitude of the building, wall
Fig. 12. The floor plan of office building (air-conditioning area: 605 m2 ).
dimensions and directions, roof and overhang dimensions,
ground height, solar reflectivity of ground, solar radiation
absorption and long-wave emissivity of outer walls, the struc-
ture and materials of outer and inner walls, ceiling height,
distance to and height of neighboring buildings, and schedule
of indoor activities and occupancy, etc.

The output data can be analyzed for hourly, daily, monthly and
yearly thermal loads of the building.

5.2. Simulation of heat load calculation

The simulation was done for one floor of a building with air-
conditioned area of 605 m2 as shown in Fig. 12. There are no
surrounding buildings (no shadows) in the simulation. The one floor
is a mid-level floor, not ground floor or roof level. The details of the
heat load calculation and the schedule of internal heat generation
are shown in Table 7 and Fig. 13 respectively. Fig. 13. The schedule of internal heat generation.

5.3. Result of heat load calculation

We compared the monthly and annual thermal loads of simula-
tion buildings in Shanghai without RRM coating (case A) and with
RRM coating (case B). The results are shown in Figs. 14 and 15.
The monthly cooling loads of the case B are about 30 MJ/(m2 -
month) (13%) lower than the case A in July, and about
45 MJ/(m2 -month) (15%) lower in August. However, the monthly
heating loads of the case B are about 14 MJ/(m2 -month) (7%) higher
in December, and about 16 MJ/(m2 -month) (5%) higher in January.
In addition, it showed that the biggest difference in cooling loads
occurred in August, and the biggest difference in heating loads
occurred in January.
The yearly cooling load result (Fig. 15) showed that the case
B was about 157 MJ/(m2 -year) (19%) lower. However, the yearly
heating load was about 71 MJ/(m2 -year) (6%) higher.
The simulation indicates that RRM building coatings can
decrease the cooling loads in summer and increase the heating
loads in winter, the same result as a highly reflective coating, while
providing the additional benefit of increasing overall urban albedo.
5.4. Evaluation of carbon dioxide emissions
Using the emission factor of carbon dioxide [25], the annual
thermal loads of case A and case B were converted to carbon dioxide
Table 7
Conditions of the building heat load calculations.

Standard year weather data (Chinese standard weather data)

External condition
Shanghai, China (longitude: 121.22 ◦ E; latitude: 31.06 ◦ N)

Orientation of building East-West Road (South and North-facing wall)

Infiltration Amount of fresh air into room (25 m3 /h person; weekday 9:00–18:00)
Amount of fresh air
0.3 times/h 1.4 times/h

J. Yuan et al. / Energy and Buildings 103 (2015) 107–117

Internal heat Body (latent heat: 0.084 kg/h) Lighting OA equipment (sensible heat)
generation [26] (efficiency: 0.9)
2
0.2 person/m 20 W/m2 5.8 W/m2

Air conditioning service Weekday 9:00–18:00

Heating season Cooling season Middle season

Temperature and
(Dec–Mar) (Jun–Sep) (Apr–May;
Humidity
Oct–Nov)
Temperature (degree) 22 26 22–26
Humidity (%) 40 60 40–60

Outer wall coated with Structure Reflectivity [–]

RRM Mortar (20 mm) + concrete (150 mm) + mortar (20 mm) + RRM (3.5 mm) tmp = 0.81, ret = 0.44

Structure Reflectivity [–]

Roof coated with HRM
Rock wool tmp = 0.5, ret = 0
(12 mm) + decorative gypsum
board (9 mm) + air
layer + concrete
(150 mm) + mortar
(15 mm) + asphalt
(10 mm) + light weight
concrete (60 mm) + HRM
(2 mm)

Ground Reflectivity [–]: tmp = 0.2,

ret = 0

115
116 J. Yuan et al. / Energy and Buildings 103 (2015) 107–117
Fig. 14. The monthly heat loads of simulation building in Shanghai before and after
the developed new RRM (ret = 0.44, tmp = 0.81) installed on the outer walls of build-
ing ((A) RRM coating is not installed on the outer walls; (B) RRM coating is installed
on the outer walls).
Fig. 15. The yearly heat loads of simulation building in Shanghai before and after the
developed new RRM (ret = 0.44, tmp = 0.81) installed on the outer walls of building
((A) RRM coating is not installed on the outer walls; (B) RRM coating is installed on
the outer walls).
emissions. The result showed that annual carbon dioxide emissions
reduction is about 3.3 kg/(m2 -year) for case B, compared to case A
in addition to the expected decrease due to reducing the urban heat
island.
6. Conclusions
(1) In this research paper, in order to improve the durability of
the RRM, we developed a type of RRM with a glass cover-
ing with high transmission and high strength. We verified the
durability and reflective performance of this RRM for a period
of about 485 days, and compared the solar reflectance of the
new RRM to another types of RRMs and HRMs under the same
exposure condition over the same period. The new RRM reflec-
tivity decreased about 0.02 with 100% reduction recovered by
cleaning. The durability and reflective performance could be
maintained by the glass covering.
(2) From the calculation of a two-dimensional urban canyon space
model, it was found that the RRM coating of buildings is the
most effective to increase the albedo of urban canyons, com-
pared to the other materials with diffuse and mirror reflective
characteristics. In addition, except for mirror reflection, the
proportion of the solar radiation absorbed by both building
walls is not changed due to the coatings with different reflective
characteristics.
(3) From the thermal load simulation of a building located in
Shanghai, China, it is shown that RRM building coatings can
decrease the cooling loads in summer but increase the heat-
ing loads in winter. For the purpose of thermal loads, they are
the same as highly reflective coatings. The biggest decrease of
cooling load occurred in the summer, about 15%. The biggest
increase of heating loads occurred in the winter, about 5%. Com-
paring the annual thermal load of a building with RRM coating
to that with no RRM coating, the annual cooling load decreased
about 157 MJ/(m2 -year) (19%). However, the annual heating
load increased about 71 MJ/(m2 -year) (6%). In total, the thermal
loads of the simulation building decreased about 86 MJ/(m2 -
year) (4.3%) by using the RRM coating. The equivalent annual
carbon dioxide emissions are reduced about 3.3 kg/(m2 -year)
by the RRM coating.
For the RRM applied as building coatings, not only is it effec-
tive to increase the albedo of urban canyons, compared to the
other reflective materials, but it is also effective to reduce the total
annual building thermal loads the same as highly reflective mate-
rials (HRM). Thus, it is considered that the RRM coating of urban
constructions is a more effective countermeasure for mitigation of
the heat island phenomenon and building energy savings, com-
pared to the highly reflective materials (HRM).
Further development of this research will focus on continuing
development of other RRMs and evaluation of the durability of
RRMs. In addition, the relationship of RRMs and incident angle will
be better examined in order to apply the developed RRMs on not
only vertical walls, but also walls with different slopes.
Acknowledgments
The authors are sincerely grateful to the Foundation of Con-
struction Materials Industrial Promotion Tostem Corporation, the
Architecture Research Foundation of Takenaka Scholarship Foun-
dation of Japan, Keyence CO., LTD of Japan, and the Urban Studies
of Osaka City University (representative researcher: Prof. K. Emura)
for their support.
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