CEFIPRA

Controlled experiment for estimating the energy saving potential and indoor thermal comfort improvement by us of high albedo surfaces on pitched concrete roof

Project Year: 2015-17 (On-going)

Funding Agency: Indo French center for the promotion of advanced research

Awarded to IIIT Hyderabad:  Rs. 41.88 Lacs

Principal Co-coordinator: Dr. Vishal Garg

Co-PI: Mr. Rathish Arumugam (SGRI)

In India there is an increase in trend of high end homes and resort to have steep sloped roofs particularly in places with high precipitation and coastal regions. These high end homes are typically air conditioned and have a high potential for energy savings.  Using cool roofing solution could help in bringing down the air conditioning energy consumption. Based on the market input collected by the collaborator SGRI, shingles are preferred to be used in sloped roofs for better moisture management, thermal benefits and aesthetics. SG marketing has also given an input that the most common slope used in the installation is 30o.

Currently there are only very few studies and standards for choosing the roof albedo for sloping roofs. Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) prescribes roof albedo only for low sloped roofs (less than 20o from the horizontal). There are few voluntary standards such as LEED India which gives the minimum roof albedo for sloping roofs.

To understand the effects of high albedo roof and to test future materials and technologies developed by industries, it is proposed to have test huts in two different climatic zones of India. Using this ground data a virtual model will be created using commercially available energy simulation programs, which will help in quickly understanding the benefits of cool roofs.

R&D organisation and academic institutions

IIIT Hyderabad and Saint Gobain Research India

Outcomes

  1.  Test facility for physical testing of roof solutions (existing & new technologies) for sloped roofs
  2.   Energy Simulation model which could be simulated to find the performance of sloped roofs
  3. Journal/ conference paper based on the data collected using the physical model