Solar Reflection Capacity of Roof Surfaces in Reducing Cooling Energy Consumption of Urban Housing, Case Study: Shahr-e-Rey Mehr Building

The purpose of this paper is analyzing the reflective surfaces with high Albedo effect which can be considered as one of the passive design approaches for controlling the absorption of suns radiative energy and reducing temperature and building energy consumption, especially in hot and dry climates. The methodology of this research was based on an analytical approach with a simulation which contained experimental study and computational simulation of reflective roofs with different levels of albedo using Energy Plus software. This study has been done for two types of common roofs existing in Tehran residential buildings as well as containing accurate temperature fluctuations and cooling energy consumption in one year. The results of the research showed that increasing Albedo of roof surfaces with reflective materials had a noticeable effect on decreasing the surface temperature and the roof surrounding air temperature. Furthermore, as a result of the reduction of suns heating absorption by external surfaces, the consumption of cooling energy was reduced.