The Solar Reflectance Index as a Tool to Forecast the Heat Released to the Urban Environment: Potentiality and Assessment Issues
Overheating of buildings and urban areas is a more and more severe issue in view of global warming combined with increasing urbanization. The thermal behavior of urban surfaces in the hot seasons is the result of a complex balance of construction and environmental parameters such as insulation level...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2018-02-01
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| Series: | Climate |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2225-1154/6/1/12 |
| _version_ | 1811223155916668928 |
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| author | Alberto Muscio |
| author_facet | Alberto Muscio |
| author_sort | Alberto Muscio |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Overheating of buildings and urban areas is a more and more severe issue in view of global warming combined with increasing urbanization. The thermal behavior of urban surfaces in the hot seasons is the result of a complex balance of construction and environmental parameters such as insulation level, thermal mass, shielding, and solar reflective capability on one side, and ambient conditions on the other side. Regulations makers and the construction industry have favored the use of parameters that allow the forecasting of the interaction between different material properties without the need for complex analyses. Among these, the solar reflectance index (SRI) takes into account solar reflectance and thermal emittance to predict the thermal behavior of a surface subjected to solar radiation through a physically rigorous mathematical procedure that considers assigned air and sky temperatures, peak solar irradiance, and wind velocity. The correlation of SRI with the heat released to the urban environment is analyzed in this paper, as well as the sensitivity of its calculation procedure to variation of the input parameters, as possibly induced by the measurement methods used or by the material ageing. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T08:28:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-029ab03b004941a28a9bc9e36e7dd1bd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2225-1154 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T08:28:13Z |
| publishDate | 2018-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Climate |
| spelling | doaj.art-029ab03b004941a28a9bc9e36e7dd1bd2022-12-22T03:40:18ZengMDPI AGClimate2225-11542018-02-01611210.3390/cli6010012cli6010012The Solar Reflectance Index as a Tool to Forecast the Heat Released to the Urban Environment: Potentiality and Assessment IssuesAlberto Muscio0Energy Efficiency Laboratory, University of Modena & Reggio Emilia, Modena 41121, ItalyOverheating of buildings and urban areas is a more and more severe issue in view of global warming combined with increasing urbanization. The thermal behavior of urban surfaces in the hot seasons is the result of a complex balance of construction and environmental parameters such as insulation level, thermal mass, shielding, and solar reflective capability on one side, and ambient conditions on the other side. Regulations makers and the construction industry have favored the use of parameters that allow the forecasting of the interaction between different material properties without the need for complex analyses. Among these, the solar reflectance index (SRI) takes into account solar reflectance and thermal emittance to predict the thermal behavior of a surface subjected to solar radiation through a physically rigorous mathematical procedure that considers assigned air and sky temperatures, peak solar irradiance, and wind velocity. The correlation of SRI with the heat released to the urban environment is analyzed in this paper, as well as the sensitivity of its calculation procedure to variation of the input parameters, as possibly induced by the measurement methods used or by the material ageing.http://www.mdpi.com/2225-1154/6/1/12ageingemissivitymeasurementsolar reflectancesolar reflectance indexthermal emittanceurban heat island |
| spellingShingle | Alberto Muscio The Solar Reflectance Index as a Tool to Forecast the Heat Released to the Urban Environment: Potentiality and Assessment Issues Climate ageing emissivity measurement solar reflectance solar reflectance index thermal emittance urban heat island |
| title | The Solar Reflectance Index as a Tool to Forecast the Heat Released to the Urban Environment: Potentiality and Assessment Issues |
| title_full | The Solar Reflectance Index as a Tool to Forecast the Heat Released to the Urban Environment: Potentiality and Assessment Issues |
| title_fullStr | The Solar Reflectance Index as a Tool to Forecast the Heat Released to the Urban Environment: Potentiality and Assessment Issues |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Solar Reflectance Index as a Tool to Forecast the Heat Released to the Urban Environment: Potentiality and Assessment Issues |
| title_short | The Solar Reflectance Index as a Tool to Forecast the Heat Released to the Urban Environment: Potentiality and Assessment Issues |
| title_sort | solar reflectance index as a tool to forecast the heat released to the urban environment potentiality and assessment issues |
| topic | ageing emissivity measurement solar reflectance solar reflectance index thermal emittance urban heat island |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2225-1154/6/1/12 |
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