Abstract
Climate change intensifies the Urban Heat Islands (UHI) in hundreds of cities around the globe. Even though tests on traditional cool materials have shown promising results in terms of UHI mitigation, novel advanced solutions are deemed necessary for strategically counteracting UHI. Unlike traditional materials, phosphorescent materials can not only reflect incident shortwave radiation but also reemit it back, i.e. the phenomenon of phosphorescence. Even though this unique reflection-reemission mechanism known as effective solar reflectance (ESR), has been widely tested for sustainable lightning applications, its cooling potential has been surprisingly overlooked. Here, we examine, in-lab, and numerically, the thermo-optical properties of several phosphorescent coatings of different colours and we evaluate their effective cooling potential. Results reveal that the phosphorescence mechanism could be effectively optimized for obtaining phosphorescent-based coatings with an improved optical performance and hence substantially mitigate surface overheating in the built environment.
Highlights
Within recent decades, rural areas are turning to urban ones due to the rapid evolution of urbanization [1]
Even though tests on traditional cool materials have shown promising results in terms of Urban Heat Islands (UHI) mitigation, novel advanced solutions are deemed necessary for strategically counteracting UHI
The corresponding surface energy balance is substantially modified, leading in many cases, to a high surface and air temperature values within cities [2]. This phenomenon known as Urban Heat Island (UHI) is typically magnified during the hot months of the year and has been widely reported as responsible for detrimental effects, such as morbidity and mortality, increased green-house gasses emission, and increased energy consumption [2, 3]
Summary
Rural areas are turning to urban ones due to the rapid evolution of urbanization [1]. The corresponding surface energy balance is substantially modified, leading in many cases, to a high surface and air temperature values within cities [2] This phenomenon known as Urban Heat Island (UHI) is typically magnified during the hot months of the year and has been widely reported as responsible for detrimental effects, such as morbidity and mortality, increased green-house gasses emission, and increased energy consumption [2, 3]. The main property of CMs is the high reflection of shortwave radiation especially within the near-infrared wave-range [5] They can maintain lower surface temperature than conventional materials and contribute towards lower values of air temperature above them. This twofold solar rejection mechanism is known as Effective Solar Reflectance (ESR) [9]
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