IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i9p4969-d798470.html

Mapping the Potential of High-Reflective Roof Coverings in Residential Buildings in Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Francesco Baldi

    (Energy Efficiency Unit Department (DUEE), Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Via Martiri di Monte Sole 4, 40129 Bologna, Italy)

  • Enrico Genova

    (Energy Efficiency Unit Department (DUEE), Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Via Martiri di Monte Sole 4, 40129 Bologna, Italy)

  • Alessandra Gugliandolo

    (Energy Efficiency Unit Department (DUEE), Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Via Martiri di Monte Sole 4, 40129 Bologna, Italy)

  • Maria-Anna Segreto

    (Energy Efficiency Unit Department (DUEE), Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Via Martiri di Monte Sole 4, 40129 Bologna, Italy)

Abstract

The current warming trend of the earth’s climate is making it increasingly necessary to focus on solutions to improve indoor comfort while reducing energy demand for buildings during the hot season. The use of high-reflective products on the building envelope, and particularly on the roof, has been suggested as a potential solution. The overall impact of using high-reflective products on roofs largely depends on the local climatic conditions and on the characteristics of the building, making it difficult to determine whether the use of these products is beneficial without the use of detailed modelling approaches. In this context, this study aims to propose a method to provide indications for designers and policymakers to make early decisions on the potential benefits of the use of high-reflective products on residential buildings, based on simple and readily-available climatic data of the location. The approach, based on the use of state-of-the-art simulation software, allows researchers to obtain a multi-linear regression of the effect of high-reflective products on roofs as a function of the heating degree days and of the local value of the climate vector. The approach is applied to the case of the Italian territory, where a block-of-flats is selected as the reference building, with features common to a significant part of the national residential stock. The proposed approach allows for the provision of a quantitative estimate of the expected impact of high-reflective roof coverings on the energy performance of residential buildings in all Italian municipalities. The analysis shows that high-reflective products on roofs are likely to reduce the building annual energy demand for heating and cooling in 9% to 25% of Italian municipalities, depending on the building energy renovation state. The proposed approach, whose results are expressed also by means of thematic maps, can be replicated to other geographic areas and can be extended to different energy saving technologies.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesco Baldi & Enrico Genova & Alessandra Gugliandolo & Maria-Anna Segreto, 2022. "Mapping the Potential of High-Reflective Roof Coverings in Residential Buildings in Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-22, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:9:p:4969-:d:798470
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/9/4969/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/9/4969/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Werner, Sven, 2016. "European space cooling demands," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 148-156.
    2. Mutschler, Robin & Rüdisüli, Martin & Heer, Philipp & Eggimann, Sven, 2021. "Benchmarking cooling and heating energy demands considering climate change, population growth and cooling device uptake," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    3. Testa, Jenna & Krarti, Moncef, 2017. "A review of benefits and limitations of static and switchable cool roof systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 451-460.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Martin, Melissa & Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2025. "Beyond the thermostat: Critically reviewing the scientific evidence for global cooling and air conditioning demand," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 401(PC).
    2. Rüdisüli, Martin & Romano, Elliot & Eggimann, Sven & Patel, Martin K., 2022. "Decarbonization strategies for Switzerland considering embedded greenhouse gas emissions in electricity imports," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    3. Hemmatabady, Hoofar & Welsch, Bastian & Formhals, Julian & Sass, Ingo, 2022. "AI-based enviro-economic optimization of solar-coupled and standalone geothermal systems for heating and cooling," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    4. Rao, Congjun & Zhang, Yue & Wen, Jianghui & Xiao, Xinping & Goh, Mark, 2023. "Energy demand forecasting in China: A support vector regression-compositional data second exponential smoothing model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PC).
    5. Dehwah, Ammar H.A. & Krarti, Moncef, 2021. "Energy performance of integrated adaptive envelope systems for residential buildings," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    6. Alhazmi, Mansour & Sailor, David J. & Levinson, Ronnen, 2023. "A review of challenges, barriers, and opportunities for large-scale deployment of cool surfaces," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    7. Yan, Ran & Zhou, Nan & Ma, Minda & Mao, Chao, 2025. "India's residential space cooling transition: Decarbonization ambitions since the turn of millennium," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 391(C).
    8. Ayou, Dereje S. & Wardhana, Muhammad Fa'iq Vidi & Coronas, Alberto, 2023. "Performance analysis of a reversible water/LiBr absorption heat pump connected to district heating network in warm and cold climates," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    9. Gopalakrishna Gangisetty & Ron Zevenhoven, 2023. "A Review of Nanoparticle Material Coatings in Passive Radiative Cooling Systems Including Skylights," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-59, February.
    10. Hoofar Hemmatabady & Julian Formhals & Bastian Welsch & Daniel Otto Schulte & Ingo Sass, 2020. "Optimized Layouts of Borehole Thermal Energy Storage Systems in 4th Generation Grids," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-26, August.
    11. Dai, Jie & Yuan, Qiong & Cai, Helen Huifen & Zhang, Vince & Hasanuzaman, Md. & Selvaraj, J., 2025. "Business-oriented optimization of EV-to-building energy flows: Predictive modeling and scenario evaluation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    12. Nikola Pesic & Jaime Roset Calzada & Adrian Muros Alcojor, 2018. "Assessment of Advanced Natural Ventilation Space Cooling Potential across Southern European Coastal Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-21, August.
    13. De Masi, Rosa Francesca & Gigante, Antonio & Ruggiero, Silvia & Vanoli, Giuseppe Peter, 2021. "Impact of weather data and climate change projections in the refurbishment design of residential buildings in cooling dominated climate," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 303(C).
    14. Werner, Sven, 2017. "International review of district heating and cooling," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 617-631.
    15. Perera, A.T.D. & Hong, Tianzhen, 2023. "Vulnerability and resilience of urban energy ecosystems to extreme climate events: A systematic review and perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    16. Sommer, Tobias & Sulzer, Matthias & Wetter, Michael & Sotnikov, Artem & Mennel, Stefan & Stettler, Christoph, 2020. "The reservoir network: A new network topology for district heating and cooling," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    17. Butt, Afaq A. & de Vries, Samuel B. & Loonen, Roel C.G.M. & Hensen, Jan L.M. & Stuiver, Anthonie & van den Ham, Jonathan E.J. & Erich, Bart S.J.F., 2021. "Investigating the energy saving potential of thermochromic coatings on building envelopes," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 291(C).
    18. Francesco Calise & Massimo Dentice D’Accadia & Carlo Barletta & Vittoria Battaglia & Antun Pfeifer & Neven Duic, 2017. "Detailed Modelling of the Deep Decarbonisation Scenarios with Demand Response Technologies in the Heating and Cooling Sector: A Case Study for Italy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-33, October.
    19. Sommer, Tobias & Sotnikov, Artem & Sulzer, Matthias & Scholz, Volkher & Mischler, Stefan & Rismanchi, Behzad & Gjoka, Kristian & Mennel, Stefan, 2022. "Hydrothermal challenges in low-temperature networks with distributed heat pumps," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    20. Pieper, Henrik & Krupenski, Igor & Brix Markussen, Wiebke & Ommen, Torben & Siirde, Andres & Volkova, Anna, 2021. "Method of linear approximation of COP for heat pumps and chillers based on thermodynamic modelling and off-design operation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:9:p:4969-:d:798470. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.