Performance evaluation of radiative cooling for commercial-scale warehouse

Abstract

Many radiative cooling materials have been developed recently with promising potential for reducing cooling loads of buildings. However, there lack real-world applications. In this work, we applied a scalable-manufactured radiative cooling metamaterial film to the roof of a commercial warehouse (152.0 m × 54.0 m × 11.5 m [length × width × height]) and measured the indoor air temperature, roof temperatures, and the building cooling energy consumption. The radiative cooling film decreases the roof temperature significantly and further decreases thermal stratification and temperature fluctuation in the warehouse subsequently. The air conditioning energy consumption is then reduced significantly. A building simulation model for the warehouse using EnergyPlus was developed and validated with the experimental measurements and then used to evaluate the energy performance of the radiative cooling roof in four different locations under hot climates. Compared with the baseline of conventional steel roof, annual cooling energy saving can reach 65.2% when the radiative cooling metamaterial is applied on the roof.