Cool Roofs, a Solution to Reduce the Effects of Heat Islands

Nowadays heat islands are one the major topics in building designing. Heat islands bring about a number of detrimental effects including climate change, increased energy consumption, greenhouse gas emission, reduced water quality and human health threats. Any of these threats are going to become problems for now and future mankind. The roof surfaces of buildings in urban areas are one of the major surfaces that absorb sunlight and raise the temperature of cities through producing heat islands. One way of reducing such harmful effects is pay attention to materials used in roof surfaces so as to bring about a considerable decrease in urban heat islands. Using these materials which named in this paper, can build a roof called cool roof. It is one easy way to gain the goal. Roofing a building by these materials to achieve cool roof could pave the way for a more sustainable architecture. This paper attempts to introduce cool roofs as one of the three proposed strategies of reducing heat islands by a comparative and analytical study on heat islands and their damaging effects. A comprehensive table showing various materials that can create cool roofs is provided.

Keywords:

Urban Heat Islands , Cool Roof , Albido , Energy Calculators