The impact of cool roof on the solar PV applications on building rooftops: Experimental case in Sharjah, UAE

Cool roof is the technology that delivers higher solar reflectance and higher thermal emittance than standard roofing products. In addition, It is one of the technologies that is developing in the resent years, and its fastest developing applications is in the built environment with various benefits, such as reducing the UHI effect and minimizing the air pollution and related temperatures. As a result, cool coating paint has been experimented in this research, while the impact was measured in terms of an integration with the Solar PV technology. With this, the intention was to provide guidance for both architects and building designers considering longer-term benefits. On the other hand, the aim of this research is to investigate cool roof applications on building’s rooftop together with PV panels for the Middle East climatic conditions, and its impact on the electricity generation. Experimental method was considered in this study where an experiment has been conducted on the laboratories rooftop of the University of Sharjah, which is at the same time integrated within the competition housing project of the Solar Decathlon Middle East 2018 Dubai. Moreover, to record the generation of electricity and to compile the analysis report for PV modules, PV-Analysator and PROFITEST PV were used. The preliminary findings of the experimental study indicated that there is a likely impact of 5-10 % improvement with the cool roof applications. Such findings could help with significant impact on the longer-term benefits. Overall, the domestic building sector could improve and benefit through the electricity generation.