A Study of Highly Reflective Insulation Materials in Indoor Cooling and Contextual Factors (Weathers) Affecting That

Global warming and urban heat island are seriously affecting human survivals. Proper design and material employment could significantly avoid their effects. Sites covered by materials of high albedo were relatively cool as sunlight radiation was reflected. This was available in both indoor and outdoor spaces. This study tested the effects of the Beihui Reflective Insulation Coating (TBRIC, albedo = 0.97) about its cooling intensity and impacts of contextual factors (weathers) on that. Through comparing indoor thermal environments between buildings coated by TBRIC and the reference (albedo = 0.55–0.75), it was found, TBRIC caused cooling intensities of 10 (air temperature) and 20 (surface temperature) °C. The intensity, in addition, increased as getting warmer in sunny days. Nevertheless, little temperature lowering was witnessed on sunless days (cloudy etc.). TBRIC could be employed for building construction or retrofitting in thermal comfort improvements in areas suffering from heat stress caused by strong solar radiation.