Hygrothermal performance of cool roofs with reflective coating material subjected to hot, humid and dusty climate

Abstract

The measurements for the short-wave solar reflectivity of a Reflective Coating Material (RCM) with various cleaning operations that were obtained in a previous study were used in this study to conduct numerical simulations in order to assess the moisture and energy performance of cool and black roofs when they were subjected to the weather conditions of Saudi Eastern Province and Kuwait City. The results of the numerical simulations showed that black roofs always work with less moisture than cool roofs. Because the highest relative humidity in the different components of the black and cool roofs was well below 80%, there was no risk of condensation and mold growth in these roofs. For both weather conditions of Saudi Eastern Province and Kuwait City, the results showed that installing cool roofs have resulted in increasing the heating energy loads in relation to black roofs. Conversely, the results showed that the decrease in the cooling energy loads due to installing cool roofs were typically much greater than the increase in the heating energy loads. As such, cool roofs have resulted in net energy savings in relation to black roofs. Replacing black roof by cool roof in Saudi climate, the results showed that the annual energy savings in the total energy load was 25% and 34% as a result of installing cool roof with RCM at no cleaning and weekly homemade cleaning, respectively. Additionally, replacing black roof by cool roof in Kuwaiti climate, the results showed that the annual energy savings in the total energy load was 23% and 31% a result of installing cool roof with RCM at no cleaning and weekly homemade cleaning, respectively.