Monitoring the energy-use effects of cool roofs on California commercial buildings

Using the measured data and calibrated simulations, we estimated savings for similar buildings installing cool roofs in retrofit applications for all 16 California climate zones. For similar retail stores in climate zones 2 and 4-16, installing a cool roof can save about 6-15 kWh/m2/year of conditioned area. In climate zones 2-16, estimates of average peak demand savings for hours noon-5 p.m. range from 2.9 to 5.8 W/m2. For similar school buildings in climate zones 2-16, installing a cool roof can save from 3 to 6 kWh/m2/year of conditioned roof area. For all 16 climate zones estimates of average peak demand savings for hours noon-5 p.m. range from 2.6 to 3.8 W/m2. In similar cold storage buildings in all 16 climate zones, installing a cool roof can save about 4.5-7.4 kWh/m2/year of conditioned roof area. In all 16 climate zones, estimates of average peak demand savings for hours noon-5 p.m. range from 3.9 to 6.6 W/m2.