IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v88y2011i12p4343-4357.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Potential benefits of solar reflective car shells: Cooler cabins, fuel savings and emission reductions

Author

Listed:
  • Levinson, Ronnen
  • Pan, Heng
  • Ban-Weiss, George
  • Rosado, Pablo
  • Paolini, Riccardo
  • Akbari, Hashem

Abstract

Vehicle thermal loads and air conditioning ancillary loads are strongly influenced by the absorption of solar energy. The adoption of solar reflective coatings for opaque surfaces of the vehicle shell can decrease the “soak” temperature of the air in the cabin of a vehicle parked in the sun, potentially reducing the vehicle’s ancillary load and improving its fuel economy by permitting the use of a smaller air conditioner. An experimental comparison of otherwise identical black and silver compact sedans indicated that increasing the solar reflectance (ρ) of the car’s shell by about 0.5 lowered the soak temperature of breath-level air by about 5–6°C. Thermal analysis predicts that the air conditioning capacity required to cool the cabin air in the silver car to 25°C within 30min is 13% less than that required in the black car. Assuming that potential reductions in AC capacity and engine ancillary load scale linearly with increase in shell solar reflectance, ADVISOR simulations of the SC03 driving cycle indicate that substituting a typical cool-colored shell (ρ=0.35) for a black shell (ρ=0.05) would reduce fuel consumption by 0.12L per 100km (1.1%), increasing fuel economy by 0.10kmL−1 [0.24mpg] (1.1%). It would also decrease carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2.7gkm−1 (1.1%), nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by 5.4mgkm−1 (0.44%), carbon monoxide (CO) emissions by 17mgkm−1 (0.43%), and hydrocarbon (HC) emissions by 4.1mgkm−1 (0.37%). Selecting a typical white or silver shell (ρ=0.60) instead of a black shell would lower fuel consumption by 0.21L per 100km (1.9%), raising fuel economy by 0.19kmL−1 [0.44mpg] (2.0%). It would also decrease CO2 emissions by 4.9gkm−1 (1.9%), NOx emissions by 9.9mgkm−1 (0.80%), CO emissions by 31mgkm−1 (0.79%), and HC emissions by 7.4mgkm−1 (0.67%). Our simulations may underestimate emission reductions because emissions in standardized driving cycles are typically lower than those in real-world driving.

Suggested Citation

  • Levinson, Ronnen & Pan, Heng & Ban-Weiss, George & Rosado, Pablo & Paolini, Riccardo & Akbari, Hashem, 2011. "Potential benefits of solar reflective car shells: Cooler cabins, fuel savings and emission reductions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(12), pages 4343-4357.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:88:y:2011:i:12:p:4343-4357
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2011.05.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261911002972
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2011.05.006?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. N/A, 2005. "The World Economy," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 194(1), pages 8-33, October.
    2. N/A, 2005. "The World Economy," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 193(1), pages 11-32, July.
    3. N/A, 2005. "The World Economy," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 192(1), pages 11-32, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Miranda, Á.G. & Chen, T.S. & Hong, C.W., 2013. "Feasibility study of a green energy powered thermoelectric chip based air conditioner for electric vehicles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 633-641.
    2. Rossi, Federico & Pisello, Anna Laura & Nicolini, Andrea & Filipponi, Mirko & Palombo, Massimo, 2014. "Analysis of retro-reflective surfaces for urban heat island mitigation: A new analytical model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 621-631.
    3. Yuan, Jinchao & Yin, Hongle & Yuan, Dan & Yang, Yongjian & Xu, Shaoyu, 2022. "On daytime radiative cooling using spectrally selective metamaterial based building envelopes," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    4. Srivastava, Raj Shekhar & Kumar, Anuruddh & Thakur, Harishchandra & Vaish, Rahul, 2022. "Solar assisted thermoelectric cooling/heating system for vehicle cabin during parking: A numerical study," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 384-403.
    5. Anisur, M.R. & Mahfuz, M.H. & Kibria, M.A. & Saidur, R. & Metselaar, I.H.S.C. & Mahlia, T.M.I., 2013. "Curbing global warming with phase change materials for energy storage," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 23-30.
    6. Fiori, Chiara & Ahn, Kyoungho & Rakha, Hesham A., 2016. "Power-based electric vehicle energy consumption model: Model development and validation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 257-268.
    7. Soulios, V. & Loonen, R.C.G.M. & Metavitsiadis, V. & Hensen, J.L.M., 2018. "Computational performance analysis of overheating mitigation measures in parked vehicles," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C), pages 635-644.
    8. Xiaoxiao Ding & Weirong Zhang & Zhen Yang & Jiajun Wang & Lingtao Liu & Dalong Gao & Dongdong Guo & Jianyin Xiong, 2022. "Effect of Open-Window Gaps on the Thermal Environment inside Vehicles Exposed to Solar Radiation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-18, September.
    9. Lee, Hoseong & Hwang, Yunho & Song, Ilguk & Jang, Kilsang, 2015. "Transient thermal model of passenger car's cabin and implementation to saturation cycle with alternative working fluids," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P2), pages 1859-1868.
    10. Anna Laura Pisello, 2015. "Experimental Analysis of Cool Traditional Solar Shading Systems for Residential Buildings," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-14, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Piotr Ciżkowicz & Andrzej Rzońca & Stanisław Umiński, 2013. "The determinants of regional exports in Poland -- a panel data analysis," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(2), pages 206-224, June.
    2. John S. Wilson & Xubei Luo & Harry G. Broadman, 2010. "European Accession And The Trade Facilitation Agenda," Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 1(02), pages 227-249.
    3. Peter Dorman, 2007. "Low Savings or a High Trade Deficit?:," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(4), pages 49-64.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:88:y:2011:i:12:p:4343-4357. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.