This report outlines the key outcomes of research project RP1037u1 ‘Above-Roof Temperature Impacts on Heating Penalties of Large Cool Roofs in Australian Climates’, an extension to project RP1037 ‘Driving increased utilisation of cool roofs on large-footprint buildings’. The research has been focused on two key aspects of roof thermal performance that had, up until the...

Conventionally in building performance simulations (BPS), it is assumed that air entering outdoor HVAC equipment is at the outdoor ‘ambient’ temperature, obtained from a weather file. However, significant spatial variations exist in outdoor air temperature fields, especially within the thermal boundary layers that form near exposed surfaces like roofs.

This is the first interim report for project RP1037u1, an extension to the recently completed project RP1037 ‘Driving increased utilisation of cool roofs on large footprint buildings’. Progress so-far in the project and preliminary findings have been summarised in this report. The research has been focused on two key aspects of roof thermal performance that...

Over 1.7 Australian households have taken the opportunity to generate some of their own power and reduce both their electricity bills and carbon emissions by installing rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems on their homes. However, regulatory, technical, financial and organisational challenges have largely prevented Australia's growing number of urban apartment dwellers from accessing these benefits.

In Australia, there is an increasing interest in using extensive green roofs to make buildings more sustainable and provide a number of social, ecological, aesthetic and thermal benefits to cities. The potential of green roofs to reduce building energy consumption has been extensively studied overseas in a variety of different climates. However, in Australia the...